PASADENA, Calif. — Those popping sounds you heard on Sept. 2 were all the minds being blown by the finale of the series Mr. Robot. If you missed it, grab your head and find a way to catch up because the second season has already started.
This is a series about Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), a guy who spends his days working as a cyber-security technician but at night turns into a vigilante hacker. He’s recruited by a super secret hacking group to take down the corporations who control the majority of the wealth.
Mr. Robot, airing Wednesdays on Showcase, also stars Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday, Martin Wallstrom and Christian Slater.
Malek’s mind was blown before filming on the series started.
“I knew before the pilot. I was, like: ‘That’s really cool, and I just hope we can keep it a secret,’ which was difficult at times when you are on set,” Malek says.
Malek has been around long enough to know he needs to be careful when dealing with the press. Along with playing Ahkmenrah in Night at the Museum and Benjamin in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2, he was in the TV series The War at Home and 24. The Los Angeles native also was in the mini-series The Pacific.
The task for Malek in the second season will be how his character becomes aware of the delusion he’s been having. Series creator Sam Esmail says that will be a tough pill to swallow.
“And we are really going to go into the mind of a person who just has become aware of that and what is the next step to that? How do you reconcile that? Will twists organically derive of it? I don’t know. I would probably if I were a betting man, I would say yes,” Esmail says. “In Season 2, there will be a lot more back story that will be shown.
“The time line is going to get a little clearer, not 100 per cent clearer because what’s the fun in that, but a little clearer.”
It’s the monumental twist of season one that proved Esmail wrong about his original predictions regarding the show’s fan base. This is a series that deals heavily with the cyber world and he was certain the biggest number of fans would be those who spend a lot of time in that world.
Those are viewers with whom Esmail can relate. He talks about growing up a nerd where girls rejected him. He loved being on the computer or going to the library to read. Those were his two favourite things to do.
“I was also a film nerd. I mean, I was watching, like, French Connection when I was eight years old,” Esmail says. “I was doing (director Stanley) Kubrick film festivals at my house when I was in high school. These are not cool things. Do you know what I mean?”
It became clear that the audience was much broader than the nerd herd, mostly because the tech side of the show is second to all of the personal matters.
“It’s about the people behind the computers. I think that’s kind of the distinction that I made from the past shows or movies I tried to do,” Esmail says.
A majority of the personal elements were connected to Slater’s role. He’s no stranger to working on a TV series set in a cyber world having starred in the short-lived Breaking In.
The difference has been the personal elements. In the case of Slater, they have been so poignant that he he picked up a Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for his work in Mr. Robot.”
Being on Mr. Robot has made Slater stop and think.
“Doing a show like this, it raises your level of awareness and paranoia about those things. So updating passwords is vitally important, and using complicated things,” Slater says. “Pet names are a killer. Don’t do that.
“My new password is Golden Globe.”
