'The Mosquito Coast' Season 2 moves past 'simple' character trajectory for Justin Theroux, Melissa George
Justin Theroux and Melissa George are back for Season 2 of The Mosquito Coast on AppleTV+ and we start the season by finally getting details on why the Fox family is on the run.
“I think the trajectory of the characters was very simple in Season 1, but obviously you start to see Margot change,” George told Yahoo Canada. “Allie, his trajectory is very simple, this is Allie, he's the inventor, the genius, and he's a bit of a narcissist.”
“Then in Season 2, it gets more complicated because Margot, when we reveal what happened in episode one, she’s got nothing to lose any more. If she stays with him, if she doesn't stay with him, the secret's out. There's no point in faking it anymore. Does she love him? Does he really love her? Or is he still in the family to control them? He gets off on controlling them I think. I can't speak for him but I feel like that's the sense I get, that we're just his little puppet show, and I'm cutting the strings.”
'The dimension of this family unit starts to fall apart'
Allie (Theroux), Margot (George), Dina (Logan Polish) and Charlie Fox (Gabriel Bateman) begin Season 2 of The Mosquito Coast seemingly at a distance from the American government. Through flashbacks, the show reveals that Margot’s personal secrets from her past as an activist have been kept from her children, and when she can’t keep it a secret any longer, Dina and Charlie are forced to face the new reality of who their mother is.
“It's been really great to see the kids express, because the first episode of Season 1, you see them living under their parents' roof and they know nothing, and then they start to go on the run,” George explained. “Once they find out why they’re on the run, that's when the attacks start and that's when the dimension of this family unit starts to fall apart.”
“They also become little adults with an opinion, an idea of what they want for their life. They don't feel dependent on their mom and dad anymore, and they come with attitude and all of that. But at the end of the day, [Margot] reminds them, you're not going anywhere if I'm not going with you, just get that out of your head.”
If you enjoyed George’s performance in Season 1, the number of tools and avenues the actor is given to dive deeper into the character of Margot is extensive.
“I wanted to have a voice and a purpose, and they did that tenfold for Season 2,” George said. “So I came out of it very, very fulfilled, I would say, as Margot and as Melissa.”
“We had some exceptional directors this season, just like the first season, and they were very passionate about finding the sort of nuances within Margot to try and really stretch her out… There were many, many moments of this season that I felt that I got to do good things and show who Margot really is.”
