Netflix Archive 81 Season 2: everything we know so far

Beneath all his brooding horror and found footage, Archive 81 is pure Netflix thriller nonsense. After archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie) was called in 1994 to restore a collection of videotapes distorted by a fire at the enigmatic Visser apartment building, the mystery grows from every angle.

As with many Netflix thrillers before it, the show’s dialogue is often lackluster, even if the overall vibe feels like it’s slowly cooking you alive. That coupled with the visuals — the way time slips so easily between a 1990s VHS tape and the present, or a woman tearing her face apart over what she sees in a vision — well, of course I can’t stop looking at something like this.

And ultimate Archive 81 answers much of its central mystery by the season finale (something not all mystery box shows are willing to do). But when it looked like the series was headed for a tidy ending, something else was coming. Showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine has said she intentionally left some juice in the tank for a second season. And while Netflix has yet to renew the show for a second season, here’s what Sonnenshine says about two of the biggest mysteries that could be covered in a new chapter.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the end of season 1 of Archive 81.]

What happened on the Visser

Photo: Netflix

After hours of looking through Melody’s (Dina Shihabi) tapes, Dan discovers that what happened at the Visser is just regular old cult stuff – but it happens to be a cult based on real magic. The Vos Society attempted to free the demon Kalego from a statue in which it had been imprisoned by a Baldung coven around the 14th century.

Virgil (Martin Donovan), the mysterious tech CEO who hired Dan to restore the tapes, believes Melody burned down the Visser and killed his brother Samuel (Evan Jonigkeit). But as the tapes show, Melody freed the teenage Jess (Ariana Neal) from possible sacrifice, but failed to stop the ritual entirely. The ritual caused the fire, burning down the Visser and obscuring the fact that Melody and Vos’ leader, Samuel, was sent to Kalego’s “Otherworld”.

While this is one mystery, others loom – like what happened at Dan’s house when he was a kid, burning his house down and killing his family. While Dan finds out that his father knew Melody and some of the shenanigans at the Visser, Sonnenshine has confirmed that she has plans to uncover the story behind the house fire more fully in a possible second season.

“There’s a lot of little Easter eggs or little things like that, if you’re like, ‘I wonder if that’s part of the mythology and will be further explored?’ And, yes,” Sonnenshine said Weekly entertainment. “Some things just didn’t make it into the season.”

what happened to dan

Photo: Quantrell D. Colbert/Netflix

After going to the Otherworld to save Melody, Dan gets separated from her and wakes up to find himself in an apartment… in 1990’s New York, reflection of the Two Towers and all. But if you thought there might still be some otherworldly shenanigans playing tricks on Dan’s perception, Sonnenshine assures you there isn’t.

“I can tell you he’s in his 90’s,” the showrunner said said variety the last shot of the season. “He’s in his real 90’s and the clue is that there aren’t any particles floating around. The year is 1994. And the question we’re asking is that we’ve seen people disappear into the Otherworld at different times, right?

“It means there are little holes, little stitches, little stitches – little points of entry and exit. And that people there kind of got mixed up trying to get out and maybe didn’t get out through the right door.

Since the Otherworld spits out humans at various points in time, sunshine means that Samuel is “still a part of the story.” If Netflix renewed them for season two, the stories of Samuel and Virgil would make up a much larger part of it.

“It’s at the top of our list for Season 2 because we’re not quite there yet, but I can also say that everyone on the show is doing what they think is right,” Sonnenshine told EW.

Considering the podcast the show is based on has aired for three seasons, this is probably just the beginning archive 81‘s Web (if Netflix is ​​required to do so). And Sonnenshine has confirmed that there will be plenty of cross-media magical madness in this event.

“We’re definitely not giving up [the found footage aspect]. There’s all sorts of possibilities when you think oh how would he communicate with you? Sunshine versus Variety. “It wouldn’t be the same device, but it would be a different window with a similar device. […] We’re ready to go, should we be lucky enough to get a Season 2 we’ve got some really cool stories to tell.”