Damon Lindelof explains Mrs. Davis’ surprising finale and possible season 2 plans

[Ed. note: This post spoils the ending of Mrs. Davis season 1.]

Mrs. Davis is a lot, but you can hardly call it predictable. Maybe nothing confirms that other than the finale, where we Finally learn the origins of the titular AI, Simone’s and Wiley’s epic sagas come to an end, and it all ends in… a happy ending?

This may not be the outcome people expected when it came to the story of a nun who goes to war against an AI and is swept up in a web of magic, religious conspiracies and secret societies. But it was important to co-creators Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof that this story landed at a point that felt like it could be a final note for the series.

“Look, we live in a time where it’s a miracle to make a show; for it to get a second season is a miracle on top of a cherry and whipped cream miracle,” says Lindelof. “And so it would be irresponsible if we ended the season with a cliffhanger. So we wanted there to be a beginning, middle and end.”

Still, it’s hard to believe that Simone’s quest ends so happily. Not only does she find the Holy Grail and drink it, and not explode, and make amends with her mother, and get Mrs. Davis to shut herself off – she also gets to ride off into the sunset, presumably happy and in love with an undead Wiley .

So what is Mrs. Davis?

But so much about Mrs. Davis was about finding purpose, and how important that feels in people’s lives, both for their own journey and for others. Simone could see Mrs. Davis for what she did used to be, versus what everyone wanted her to be: “You weren’t made to care,” she tells Mrs. Davis (via her mother). ‘You were made for it to fulfil.”

Which, as we learn in the finale, is true. Ms. Davis origin is an AI for a Buffalo Wild Wings app. But the idea that Ms. Davis, as we know it, was based on the altruistic intentions of the actual coder (and someone whose pitch just totally rejects Buffalo Wild Wings) came from finale co-writer Nadra Widatalla — something Lindelof says the writers’ room loved it, even if they didn’t always know they were going to answer that question for the audience.

“Whether or not the show answers the question, it would be irresponsible if we didn’t know the answer,” laughs Lindelof. “And so we got a little carried away with the idea that this omnipotent algorithm that was given a kind of cultural omnipotence by its users was really just built to sell chicken wings in its earliest incarnation. [And that] really delighted us and was ingrained in the premise.

By acknowledging that her main goal is to satisfy customers, Ms. Davis admits defeat. While Ms. Davis’s journey is clearly more algorithmic than Simone’s or Wiley’s, it echoes their arcs and the themes repeated throughout. Like Mrs. Davis, Wiley accepts his mortality, and in the finale turns himself in to expire.

“It’s the first time he actually has to act on a decision that he’s made and not choose the coward,” says Jake McDorman, who plays Wiley. “And really feel the impact of that decision and get dramatic about it – [all while] being on a rollercoaster.”

Meanwhile, Simone makes peace with what it means to love and lose – whether that be her father, or Jay, or her mother, or even Wiley.

“I think if you asked her in the pilot, she’d say, Oh I’m at the end of my arc, I’ve found the love of my life, I’ll be in the monastery forever, I’ve fully evolved. […] Nothing to see here!‘ says Simone’s actor Betty Gilpin. “And I think she needs to go back out into the world and interact with this AI, and Wiley, and her mom — she realises, Oh, I still have so much work to do.” During that journey, Simone learned where her faith really should lie: in the people around her.

“I think she’s learning that being alive and loving someone — you have to consider the possibility that they’re not always going to be there, or that it’s not just comfort and just security,” says Gilpin. “And I think that’s nun, and that’s being human. And I think she learned that lesson the hard way.

Is there a Mrs. Davis season 2?

Photo: Trae Patton/Pauw

Possible. If we are to believe Emmy nomination categories, then Mrs. Davis isn’t coming back, at least not in the way we know it. In a last-minute switch-up was the show included in the limited/anthology series categorieswhich apparently indicates that if Mrs. Davis is getting a second season, it won’t be with the same stories we’ve been following here.

But that certainly doesn’t rule out a new season — for all his thoughts on how rare a season 2 renewal is in today’s TV landscape, Lindelof tells Polygon that he and Hernandez have more ideas for the show.

“We hope that the audience will feel there is more story to tell,” says Lindelof. And if they liked the show, and our end of the show, and feel like there should be more, we’d certainly love to get the gang back together — and already have some vague ideas about what could happen without undoing what’s already there.” happened.”

Will Simone be involved? Not clear. But for her part, Betty Gilpin at least hopes so. “We [went] to the craziest places,” Gilpin laughs. “Ten seasons could kill me, but I hope to do four.”