Charles Alexander & Alex Fitzalan Discuss Season 2 Of The Wilds - Exclusive Interview
Season 1 of "The Wilds" follows a group of teenage girls coming together to overcome the elements after their plane crash-landed on a deserted island. While their circumstances seem like a terrible accident, it's revealed that they're actually unwilling and unaware participants in a social experiment run by Gretchen Klein, played by Rachel Griffiths. Along with continuing the original story, Season 2 is bringing in a completely new cast of characters, as it's revealed that there is also an island of teenage boys on whom Klein is running the same types of experiments.
Charles Alexander plays Kirin O'Conner, and Alex Fitzalan plays Seth Novak, two of the new characters this coming season. Throughout Season 2, fans can get to know the new characters along with following the old cast, whom they already know and love. In an exclusive interview with The List, the actors shared what their experience was like coming into the show for the second season. They also discussed how they approached their characters and what it was like being in a series where those roles evolved so much throughout the season.
How they approached their evolving characters in The Wilds
With you guys joining the cast for Season 2, did you feel any pressure since the show was kind of already established, and then you're jumping in?
Alex Fitzalan: Absolutely no pressure. There was a lot of support. Also, [with] the two islands, the girls' story and the boys' story are totally isolated from one another. We could hit the ground running and act as if it was Season 1 of a totally different show. We're still getting to know everyone and everything, so it was not really too much pressure.
Did you feel the same way, Charles?
Charles Alexander: Seconded, yeah. 100%. I mean that — aside from whenever you're going to be shooting something on this scale, it's going to be exciting and a joy to be a part of. Definitely, if there was any pressure, it was good pressure to come into something as successful as what was made in Season 1, and then add to that, we wanted to [do just that].
Alex, your character steps into this leadership position with the group. Especially at the beginning, what was that like for you to play?
Fitzalan: It was great. It's an interesting character to play because the first half of the season is quite light ... He was a leader-type character, I suppose. [It] was interesting and fun to play with that dynamic, but then that shifts as well, so that was also fun.
Did you like having characters who kind of changed so much throughout the show?
Fitzalan: Of course. It's fantastic.
Alexander: Yeah, to have something where you have an actual arc to play with and...
Fitzalan: Something to aim for.
Charles, in the beginning, your character is maybe one of the more dislikable ones at first. What was that like for you?
Fitzalan: Ouch.
Alexander: That's your interpretation. I wouldn't think that. He's unapologetically himself and yet, at the same time, very deliberate in his rejection of being the macho leader. It was fun, because the way he rips into the other, bullies the others, he does it with ... I wanted to inject some humor about it, the way that he says certain things and the whole, "What the f*** are you doing, bro?" Not like, "What are you doing?" I have fun with it and try to make it a bit weird as like teenage boys speak.
The biggest challenge while filming may surprise you
Was there anything about this project that you guys found challenging?
Fitzalan: Yes.
Alexander: I had a f***ing breeze, eh?
Fitzalan: We were shooting on location, so the weather and stuff was a weird challenge. The Australian summer, [almost 90-degree] heat on some of those days, and we would stay on location. Those days were massive as well, staying in North Stradbroke Island.
Alexander: Oh, Straddie. It was so good. This place is an actual island, but all the hotels and stuff were made in the '90s. It's castles made of that orange tile, terracotta. So much terracotta.
Fitzalan: [There's] really limited structure as well on the island.
Alexander: And one pub where you could get food. One.
Fitzalan: Yeah, that was actually ... That was absolutely a challenge going to get food after you finish work, and then...
Alexander: There's one food place.
Fitzalan: You'd finish your work, and everyone's like, "Good luck getting food." That was awful sometimes, but we make it work.
Alexander: We are intimately acquainted with the menu of the Stradbroke pub.
Fitzalan: The Manta Ray Stradbroke!
"The Wilds" Season 2 premieres on Prime Video on May 6, 2022.
This interview has been edited for clarity.