Endings of shows usually demand another season when certain characters could come back together, an ominous plot point gets left open or the story lends itself to more world-building. Apple TV+’s “Strange Planet” adaptation of Nathan W. Pyle’s webcomic contains all three.
Season 1 ended with a literal cliffhanger.
The owner of cliffside diner Careful Now (Lori Tan Chinn) accidentally blows a hole near the restaurant with fireworks. It’s up to the Careful Now manager (Hannah Einbinder) and their new love interest, the regular customer (Danny Pudi), to find a solution to the thick fog that spews from the hole. The fog obscures the eclipse that populace celebrates on Double Shadow Day.
At the end of the day, the hole is filled by flipfloppers (pancakes) and Double Shadow Day is seemingly saved. But when the owner begins eating the pancakes, the fate of “Strange Planet” inhabitants is left uncertain.
“Rare astronomical events are so intriguing because, at a core level, there are very few ideas or events that literally affect an entire planet. Everyone on the planet might be affected by a rare astronomical event, and it comes with a lot of mystery. All these people have these ideas about which one comes first, do our ideas about the day create a behavior?” Pyle told TheWrap. “Is there something about those moons intersecting? I love the idea of how humans are just trying to make sense of our world, and the same would be true of any planet out there. They’re just trying to make sense of it.”
The sixth episode, “Key Change,” hinted at undiscovered species and territory when the manager and the engineer venture down into the void to restore the electricity to Careful Now. Their adventure to the main circuit takes them deep into the crevasse. As they rewire the central circuit, some exotic-looking beasts confront them. They also come across someone’s living quarters as well as cave drawings.
“What is most intriguing about ‘Strange Planet’ is you can tell that it’s a little better than our world, but it would be really interesting to find out what happened there. What were some of the choices that were made and some of the big events that made that world the way it is?” Pyle said. “Also to ask, ‘Alright, are there beings in this world that have been farther away than most of us have?’ There are a lot of questions that you have about where they are in space, what Galaxy they’re in. I think we tried to create a moment here at the end that really just involves a little bit more open-ended mystery.”
Pyle also hinted at co-creator Dan Harmon’s ability to visualize dozens of episodes as well as the layers of lore that he and Harmon could create for future seasons of the show.
“There’s much to be discovered, and frankly much to be created on our end that gives this world just the grandiosity, the largeness that I think really reflects our universe,” Pyle added. “And so many galaxies out there Yeah. love the idea that they have the same thought that we do, which is surely we’re not alone.”
As for future relationships and the fate of certain characters, the manager at Careful Now gets accepted to the Prestigious Cocoslapb Island Hospitality Learnstitution, but they don’t want to leave their new love interest the Regular customer. The couple ultimately decides to give a “far-away” (long distance) relationship a shot.
All ten episodes of “Strange Planet” are now streaming on Apple TV+.
