DIRK GENTLY Season 2: Interview With Samuel Barnett and Elijah Wood

While attending last summer’s San Diego Comic-Con the cast of DIRK GENTLY HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY was in attendance to preview Season 2 and the continuing wacky, outrageous adventures through the twisted timelines. Here is what was gleaned from the interview with stars Samuel Barnett and Elijah Wood:

We’re curious exactly where are your characters pickup up on this next season. Is there a time jump?

SAMUEL: It’s like two months later.

What is Todd’s mindset? Is he traumatized by the fact his sister is gone?

ELIJAH: Yeah, Todd is desperately searching for Dirk and desperately searching for his sister with a great deal of conviction and belief in what Dirk stands for. They’re sort of following the universe in that everything is connected and the universe will lead you to where you need to go. Todd was very slow to come on board with that, but he is absolutely fully convinced now.

SAMUEL: But Dirk’s having an existential crisis because Dirk’s finding he has friends. That’s the problem when you have friends is that you have people to care about. Once you have people to care about, they could get hurt and then you could feel sad. Also Dirk’s realizing that he’s kind of misconnecting the fact that his so-called kind of powers and belief in the universe when everyone around him keeps getting hurt because of it. So his thing is that this actually maybe just nonsense. So he’s going to do a complete 180 degree, more to where Todd began — which is, “I don’t want to do this and I think it’s nonsense. I need to really kind of have this crisis about that.”

Todd and Dirk had a really complex relationship throughout the first season. What can you guys tease about how that dynamic will evolve going into Season 2?

SAMUEL: There’s still a push and pull between the two of them, but it’s at opposite ends of the spectrum. Whereas before, so much of their conflict and the draw was about Dirk trying to get Todd on board to the way that the universe operates and what that can bring. It’s reversed them. But it is a similar dynamic.

ELIJAH: It is. There is still that push-and-pull. And I think they definitely become friends. So friends can argue and friends can fight. So the friendship has got deeper, which is nice. I think what’s good is there’s still that question of how much they can fully trust one another when they’re both still opposite ends of the spectrum.

What do you guys think of all the fan theories?

ELIJAH: What theories? I’ve seen a lot of fan art.

SAMUEL: Please, tell me about the fan art you’ve seen.

ELIJAH: Well, I want to know about the fan theories first. We’ll discuss that later.

SAMUEL: I’ve not read anything.

ELIJAH: I think we’re both a bit careful about not — really not to read stuff like that ‘cause you don’t want it to influence you, or even that frustration sometimes that you have where you put something out there and everyone’s going get something completely different from it and you cannot control that. I have noticed the fan art. That you can’t avoid. And what has been nice is seeing how fans have taken the characters really to heart and they really seem to get them and connect with them and connect to that part of Todd and Dirk that is frightened or a bit broken or a bit damaged but can still be brave and heroic. And same as all the characters. Bart’s loved. Bart is loved and she’s like an assassin. She kills people and yet people see the heart in here. It is kind of what to remember about the show: that you can have these extreme characters that are also full of humanity and heart.

Is Bart going to be actually tracking Dirk down and chasing him again this season?

SAMUEL: Both, right? I mean, I can’t reveal too much about that. She’s very much there.

Because they kind of came face-to-face and you weren’t quite sure what they were going to do in that moment.

SAMUEL: That gets explored more here and there. I mean, I think that the central mystery with this season feeds into it in really clever ways. It’s essential. But when all the characters are acting like themselves again, it will be: “What are you doing here? How are you anything to do with this?” And it all becomes clear eventually.

Where do you stand in your own lives with this idea of the fates and universe guiding your path and has anything in this show changed the way you feel about it?

ELIJAH: Changed? No.

SAMUEL: It’s not changed. Really, if anything, it’s just kind of solidified it. I’ve often felt the sense that, not so much that there is fate or that I’m being guided, but certain this idea that if you, sort of what you, that the of an equal and opposite reaction. Like what you put out there gets supported right back at you 100%.

ELIJAH: I believe that 100%.

SAMUEL: Like, really, it’s never, “If I put this out, then that happens.” It’s that thing: if you shake the apple tree and oranges fall over there. That’s kind of how I do things and, if anything, Max is right in his idea how the universe works, it just solidifies that.

To see if Dirk will be able to get his mojo back and see how the universe is speaking to him and can then find Todd in the midst of it, be sure to tune in for the Season 2 premiere of DIRK GENTLY HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY on Saturday, October 14th at 9:00 p.m. on BBC America.