Untamed Season 2 Given the Green Light by Netflix

Netflix has given the green light to Untamed Season 2 following the first season’s formidable debut in the Netflix Top 10. The mystery thriller series comes from a writer of The Revenant and American Primeval.

Untamed follows Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. In the first season, an investigation of a brutal death sends Turner on a collision course with the dark secrets within Yosemite National Park and in his own past.

“I am absolutely thrilled that we get the chance to bring another season of Untamed to life,” said Eric Bana. “The response to Season 1 has been a testament to the incredible effort by our crew to deliver something truly unique. I can’t wait to take Kyle on his next journey. Massive thanks to Netflix, John Wells Productions, Warner Bros. Television and our fans.”

Eric Bana will return as Kyle Turner, Investigative Services Branch agent of the National Parks Service — and in Season 2 of the series, co-created by Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith, the grizzled park veteran will be investigating a whole new mystery.

“Elle and I envisioned it as a stand-alone, six episodes,” Mark L. Smith told the Netflix blog Tudum. “But then the more that we got into it, it was just such a great cast … it was just like, ‘Oh yeah, how do we keep this going?'”

The answer comes at the end of Season 1. Having solved one of the most devastating cases of his career, Turner finally leaves Yosemite and hits the road. It’s a moment of catharsis for the character as he lets go of the years of emotional baggage he’s stored in the park’s wilderness.

Real-life ISB agents routinely travel from park to park, and Turner will have made his way to quite a few between seasons before landing at his Untamed Season 2 destination. “This won’t be the first park he’s been in since Yosemite,” said Mark. “He’s been to a lot of parks. He’s been busy, taking on a lot of cases. This will be the latest, and it’ll be more impactful for him.”

The new season will showcase a park as distinct from Yosemite as possible. “We’ve done Yosemite. What’s the next park that could feel different from that?” Elle said. “Each national park has such a different cultural identity, geographical identity. Being able to explore those places through the case and through Turner’s journey is what’s so fascinating.”

The mystery, too, will change with the locale. “We can make the case organic to a different kind of park, a different kind of landscape, [and] not have someone just fall off another mountain,” Mark added.

“Our theme has been that this park is our main character, this park is sort of alive,” said Elle. “We do want to maintain that thread. Whichever park we choose will be a character, and it will kind of play a role in Turner’s emotional frame of mind.”

Most importantly, the shift in scenery means Turner will be far less at home in the wilderness. In Untamed Season 2, he takes on a role more similar to his rookie sidekick Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) in Season 1.

“Turner was so comfortable in Yosemite,” said Mark. “He was the one leading this charge, and people followed him. And now, [we’re] putting Kyle on his back foot, making him very uncomfortable … This time we get to follow Turner into a park and let him lead us, and we stumble along with him as he’s kind of finding his way.”

Turner will be getting to know the new park while simultaneously encountering its inhabitants. “We’re going to make sure we populate it with characters that are interesting and help him in ways both good and bad,” added Mark.

Does that mean we might see a few of Turner’s colleagues from Yosemite make a return appearance? Maybe. “We’re trying to figure that stuff out because my God, we loved our cast and we loved the characters that they brought to life,” teased Mark. “In an ideal world, we would be able to pull something off.”