The cast and crew of Mr. Robot are currently filming Season 2 of the USA Network show, and on a pretty tight schedule according to Variety. Showrunner Sam Esmail has insisted on directing every episode for his show’s sophomore season, and has broken up the production of the show into bite-sized chunks to manage.
The writing for Mr. Robot was finished in Los Angeles before shooting began March 7, but the current production schedule sees Esmail film three or four episodes during the week, then editing them during the weekend. The show is set to premiere sometime this summer, leaving Esmail precious little time to prepare the final episodes before then, and only two small breaks have been planned out.
“I am so very specific in how I want to shoot the show and the visual grammar of how I want to tell the story,” Esmail said. “It’s nothing against our directors in the first season, because they were all great to work with. For me, it feels like it would be easier to manage day to day. I’m on the set every day anyway, and I just think it would make the whole show be more efficient.”
Being on set and in tune with the cast of Mr. Robot is one of the many reasons Esmail cites for wanting to shoulder on the extra responsibility. Season 2 of the show is rumored to focus on Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) main motivators buried in his past, and as Esmail points out in the Variety interview, his actors are co-creators of the show’s characters.
“I don’t cover my scenes,” he says flatly. “We approach it visually. Sometimes we go out of our way to do awkward blocking, so that we can tell whatever the emotional heartbeat is of that scene in the most interesting way possible.”
Unfortunately Variety didn’t uncover any spoilers in time for the Mr. Robot Season 2 release date, but they did uncover this juicy quote. It seems Esmail knows the overarching story arc for Mr. Robot , and is planning on taking the audience there much more subtler than the first season of the show.
“USA is very supportive of the fact that I know how to end it, and we’re going to end it when it’s right,” Esmail said. “ I’m honestly not tricking anyone. I don’t want to trick anyone. I want people to feel the reveals and have the reveals impact them in a way.”
