Recently, the second season of Outer Range premiered on Prime Video. The series follows rancher Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin), who last season found a dark void on his farm, which allows someone to travel through time. One of the big reveals of the first season was that Autumn (Imogen Poots), who had been staying with the Abbotts, was actually Royal and Cecelia (Lili Taylor)’s granddaughter, Amy, from the future.

Poots, recently spoke with SciFi Vision about season two and talked about how fate plays a role for her character this season. “I think she's on more solid ground this season in the sense of, she's got sort of empirical truths,” the actress told the site. “She's got evidence, and she's got pieces that she can begin to put together to understand who she is and where she has come from.”

The actress went on to explain that that gives it more of an “emotional engine” as she’s not just reacting to everything now. “There is also this sort of sinister element to it, which is an understanding of one's own power,” Poots added. “When she has that information, it's sort of, does she use that for the greater good? Does she use it for her own selfish intentions and motivations? So, in terms of her fate, I think, obviously, we see her getting closer to that in this season, which just allows for a more grounded space to be in.”

She also talked more in depth about that sinister part of it and how she thinks Autumn actually feels about the Abbots family. “I think people who have lost trust can act in very reckless ways,” she explained. “I think it would be a mistake to think that someone like her who has been alive as long as she has without information would be so easily trusting of other people. So, she very much still has her guard up, and I think symptoms of that are sort of the way that she behaves. They're not always the right ways, but she's a sort of a lone ranger [because] she has been that way for so long. I think her defense mechanisms kind of manifest in these these ways that aren't necessarily the best.” 

For more from Poots, including how she approached filming Autumn’s visions, how knowing the twist that Autumn is Amy helped her with the role, and more, watch the full interview or read the transcript below, and check out Outer Range season two, now streaming on Prime Video.




SCIFI VISION:   Last time we talked a bit about Autumn’s faith (Imogen misheard as fate), can you talk about how that continues to play a role and sort of how she adapts? Because I feel like sometimes she knows what she wants, while other times she seems to not know what's going to happen and is sort of making it up as she goes along. 

IMOGEN POOTS:   Well, I think she's on more solid ground this season in the sense of, she's got sort of empirical truths. She's got evidence, and she's got pieces that she can begin to put together to understand who she is and where she has come from. That really enables me as an actor to give her more of a like an emotional engine as well, which was really special. So, she's not just kind of reacting all the time to everything. But with that, there is also this sort of sinister element to it, which is an understanding of one's own power. When she has that information, it's sort of, does she use that for the greater good? Does she use it for her own selfish intentions and motivations? So, in terms of her fate, I think, obviously, we see her getting closer to that in this season, which just allows for a more grounded space to be in. But yeah, she's still on the quest. 

SCIFI VISION:   You talk about the sinister part of it; that was the other thing I wanted to ask you. It seems like this season, I feel like sometimes I really thought she cared about the family, and other times, I wasn't sure. Is a lot of that a facade? I mean, how do you feel that she really feels about them this season? 

IMOGEN POOTS:   I think people who have lost trust can act in very reckless ways. I think it would be a mistake to think that someone like her who has been alive as long as she has without information would be so easily trusting of other people. So, she very much still has her guard up, and I think symptoms of that are sort of the way that she behaves. They're not always the right ways, but she's a sort of a lone ranger [because] she has been that way for so long. I think her defense mechanisms kind of manifest in these these ways that aren't necessarily the best. 

SCIFI VISION:   Can you talk about filming the scenes with her visions, and was that hard to sort of not go overboard, but yet make it believable? Can you talk about balancing that? 

IMOGEN POOTS:   Yeah, it just feels like a day in the life, right? [laughs] Like, I feel like I move through the world as a person who’s always being like, “No, don't look at the bird for too long” - I feel like it's just understanding the tone of the scene and then calibrating according to that, but in terms of, you know, I really believe that she can see these things. And I think we all do that. Not to sound like we're all moving through psychosis all day, every day, but it doesn't seem so out of the ordinary to me that she would have this sort of living dream in front of her. You just want to make sure that you're not kind of going overboard. 

SCIFI VISION:   When I watched it, I kept wondering, what is the rock made of that you are eating? [laughs] 

IMOGEN POOTS:   Yeah, right. No, can we get some? It'd be nice. 

SCIFI VISION:   It doesn't look appetizing. 

IMOGEN POOTS:   I don't think it's an over the counter kind of material. You've got to get a prescription for that stuff. [laughs] 

SCIFI VISION:   Is there anything that you learned last season that helped you this season, that you sort of brought into it that changed at all? 

IMOGEN POOTS:   …Well, obviously, the Amy and Autumn information was huge, because that gives me somewhere to sort of like, plan to stick and then move outwards from that, so it didn't feel so sort of fragmented. There was a sort of - I had a center to it, which was very, very helpful. But really, yeah, I love working on the show, and sort of part of the trick to it all is it's all a bit nuts. So, I think just rolling with that is important, and I had an amazing experience on season one. I love our show runners, and I had a great experience with season two, and I adored Charles Murray, so it was great.