“Raised by Wolves” returns for its second season on HBO Max this month, but given how dense the sci-fi series is, you’d be forgiven for needing a bit of a refresher on everything that happened in Season 1. The Ridley Scott-produced series kicked off with a bang, with a pilot that seemingly ran through an entire season’s worth of story in just one episode, but that was merely the beginning. This story, set in the 22nd century, follows a pair of androids trying to raise humans on a distant planet, beginning a new colony separate from the war that tore Earth apart. But they soon discover that escaping humanity’s failing nature is easier said than done.
Check out our full “Raised by Wolves” Season 1 recap below.
During the war, in the 22nd century, two androids are captured by the Atheists – one a service model (Father, played by Abubakar Salim) and one a Necromancer (Mother, played by Amanda Collin). Necromancers were created by the Mithraics and are the most destructive weapons known to mankind.
The androids are programmed to be the protectors of multiple human embyros, and are sent to Keplar-22b. It’s a barren planet populated by primitive creatures, but is also scattered with massive snake bones. While they are meant to raise multiple humans, only one survives – a boy named Campion (played by Winta McGrath). Campion sends a signal to a hovering ark that’s holding Mithraic soldiers, and when it lands Mother and Father kidnap the children aboard while Mother lays waste to the ark, bringing it crashing down.
On the ship are two Atheists disguised as high-ranking Mithraic dignitaries – Caleb (Travis Fimmel) and Mary (Niamh Algar), who kill a couple named Marcus and Sue and assume their identities, only to discover the couple had a young boy they planned on taking with them on the ark, Paul (played by Felix Jamieson). They bring Paul with them, assuming the role of his parents.
The survivors of the ark seek to rescue the children from the androids, but while marooned Marcus begins hearing voices that he comes to believe are that of the Mithraic sun god Sol. He decides that he’s the Prophet that was foretold in the scriptures (an orphan boy who will come to lead the race into the next evolution of humanity), much to Sue’s dismay. Marcus subsequently becomes the group’s leader, but his behavior become increasingly erratic, leading Sue to escape with the children.
Sue and the children search for the fabled “Tropical Zone,” an area of the planet said to be much warmer and more fruitful in terms of edible vegetation. But Paul starts to hear voices of his own – voices that tell him Sue isn’t actually his mother. So he shoots Sue, injuring her but not killing her.
Meanwhile, discovering that their food is contaminated, Father decides to hunt the indigenous creatures on the planet for food. Mother, on the other hand, finds an abandoned simulation pod and while interacting with a memory of her creator Campion Sturges, falls in love and has sex with him, soon afterwards becoming pregnant with what she believes will be the savior of civilization.
Mother has visions of an ancient ritual and is determined to give birth at the site, but when she’s attacked by a hooded assailant she discovers he’s carrying an undeveloped human skull. Mother and Father realize humans have actually populated Kepler-22b but instead of evolving, they’re devolving. The creatures that they’ve been hunting are actually devolved humans. Mother discovers another skull, this time of an android from her visions of the ritual, and the realization that the ritual involved impregnating androids and forcing them to birth something sends her into labor, where she gives birth to a serpent.
Mother and Father decide that in order to protect their family from the serpent and themselves, they’re going to steal a ship and fly into one of the planet’s pits. They do so, but instead of exploding in the planet’s core, they fly right through the core and out into the other side of the planet, where they discover the Tropical Zone. The serpent, having matured, escapes.
Marcus, meanwhile, kills a scouting team of Atheists as a new Atheist ship arrives.
“Raised by Wolves” Season 2 begins on Feb. 3 with new episodes airing weekly, only on HBO Max.
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