“It was one thing we mentioned even earlier than we began taking pictures the primary season. I used to be adamant about wanting one thing like this to occur,” Kurt Russell tells Den of Geek. “We really tried one thing within the first season that was so highly effective that they referred to as me and so they mentioned, ‘We will’t do that. It simply takes the entire present into an entire completely different course.’ After which in season 2, I used to be as soon as once more instantly like, let’s make this occur. So we began speaking about attainable methods to do this, and the best way they… what they got here up with to do this was actually proper within the zone of what the present is. In the long run, I actually appreciated the whole lot that episode 7 has to supply.”
“Sting Concept” takes full benefit of Legacy of Monsters’ time-bending premise to tug off a twist that might, on nearly some other present, be not possible. Whereas testing out his machine to summon Titans, Dr. Suzuki and the 2017 version of Lee by accident handle to contact the time-displaced model of Shaw’s youthful self. Trapped within the mysterious portal realm after Monarch’s failed Operation Hourglass mission — the one we noticed happen through the present’s first season that might finally price Lee 20 years in the true world — the youthful Shaw initially assumes he’s speaking to his superiors earlier than studying he’s talking to his older self.
“We knew Kurt and Wyatt had at all times needed to work collectively, and I feel that this present was a extremely thrilling alternative for them in that regard,” Monarch govt producer Tory Tunnell says. “I don’t suppose they anticipated enjoying the identical character, and so they’ve had a lot enjoyable with that. You see Lee getting a scar previously timeline, after which Kurt having the bodily scar, after all. However you additionally see the emotional scars born of the previous tense that carried into the current tense. We additionally knew that we needed to get them onscreen collectively, which is a problem once they’re enjoying the identical particular person. In order that was one thing we had been fascinated by. What do now we have in our toolbox? Is there a solution to obtain that? And [still] have it’s one thing that doesn’t simply really feel prefer it’s a trick or an occasion for an occasion’s sake? However [this] really feels actually baked into our storyline; it feels inevitable that you’d want a second like that.”
And whereas their two variations of Lee are technically separated by each a long time and an interdimensional rift, the actors enjoying the character nonetheless discovered a solution to tie their performances collectively on set.
“It was cool,” Wyatt Russell says. “The way in which we did it was, I used to be there when he was doing his half, and we had this command trailer the place you would see and watch, as a result of it was essential for us that we had been in one another’s ear. Having nothing towards the set PA was who was studying, however clearly it’s not the identical. It doesn’t elicit the identical responses. We had a whole lot of enjoyable being there for the opposite whereas we had been doing our respective traces.”
Whereas the duo’s surprising interplay is entertaining sufficient for followers from a meta standpoint, it’s equally essential throughout the emotional context of the collection’ second season, which reveals us a Lee who not solely acknowledges his love for Keiko, however acknowledges that he can’t threat the longer term — to not point out the existence of her grandchildren — by interfering with the established timeline to to save lots of her. (And stop her from lacking over fifty years in the true world.)
