“Dead of Summer” EPs Talk Show’s Future, Elizabeth Mitchell on “Highly Enjoyable” Episode
Tuesday’s episode of Freeform’s Dead of Summer marks the halfway point for the freshman series. While the co-creators opted for an anthology style format, they say that potential upcoming chapters of the supernatural-thriller will have a common anchor.
“The way we’re approaching the show should we do multiple seasons is as kind of an anthology where the mythology of the lake and the camp we’d continue to explore in different years and we’d use our cast in different roles,” Executive Producer Adam Horowitz tells OMFGTV.
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“So while they wouldn’t necessarily be the same characters, we would get to see them do different things and there would probably be some stuff that carries over mythologically speaking in the new seasons.”
“[In Deb Carpenter’s episode] we’re going to see her in some of 1970, so already there’s a connection [we can further explore],” Edward Kitsis adds about the same characters appearing in subsequent seasons. “So we could do a potential year where somebody’s the camp director but it’s played by a different character.”
Speaking of the camp director, the Deb-centric installment airs on Tuesday. Her portrayer Elizabeth Mitchell tells us that working on the episode was “highly enjoyable.”
“There was a sweetness to it that I hadn’t really played in a while,” Mitchell tells us, “so I thought it was really fun.”
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“I think Deb’s backstory is fun,” she continues. “I really enjoyed working with [Dylan Neal]. It was a fun story line and going back through the ages and getting to kind of have those experiences was great.”
“I think a lot about my mom with this character because she was a kid in the 60s and then came of age during that time and that was such an informative time period for her. It kind of shaped who she is as a person and she’s this gentle, lovely, engaging soul and I was kind of hoping to bring a little bit of that to the creepiness [of the show].”
With the episode being titled “The Dharma Bums,” some devotees of her previous massive sci-fi hit series may think it’s a nod to LOST, something we along with Mitchell had initially thought. Then she explains that the title actually originated from the novel of the same name written by Jack Kerouac.
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Fans of LOST and the Adam Horowitz-Edward Kitsis-created Once Upon a Time are on the prowl for easter eggs. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed Alex (Ronen Rubinstein) giving a camper an Apollo bar in episode 3.
When asked if we’d get other easter eggs Lost or even Once related in “The Dharma Bums” or any of the future episodes, Kitsis teases, “Maybe one more.”
Dead of Summer airs Tuesdays at 9pm on Freeform.