Tonight Freeform debuts its newest series Beyond, a sci-fi thriller about Holden, a young man who wakes up from a coma after 12 years and discovers new abilities that propel him into the middle of a dangerous conspiracy. Now Holden must try and figure out what happened to him during those 12 years; how to survive a world that changed while he was gone; and answer the question, why did this happen to him?
OMFGTV recently spoke with Holden’s portrayer, Burkely Duffield, where he provided us with five adjectives to describe his new series, and previewed why viewers will want to tune in.
“Wow, so cool!” | For the very first time, the teen-skewing network has opted to make available the ENTIRE season on digital platforms, including its official website, on the same day as its premiere.
“I’m excited to give fans the ability for them to have that momentum in the show,” Duffield tells us. “There’s a lot of cool cliffhangers and questions that we ask that when you come to the end of the episode, you might not be happy to be able to turn it off. So to be able to give our fans the ability to be able to see more and to really immerse themselves in this world that we’re creating in Beyond, I am only excited for. That’s how I love to be able to watch TV shows and I’m excited to be able to give fans that opportunity to be able to do that for Beyond.”
With the series’ first 10 episodes immediately available to binge-watch simultaneously on premiere date, Duffield says there is “always a possibility” of spoilers being plastered all over the internet, but is “not really worried” for fans who want to experience the show spoiler-free.
“A lot of fans in forums and people that talk online, they’re really quite respectful these days,” he says. “Everyone loves a good TV show and everyone loves the intensity and the crazy stuff that happens in every show. There’s always pretty good spoiler alerts or people saying, ‘Oh, my gosh. Tune in. You’ll never guess what happens.’ Until you see those forums where people talk about it, people tend to stay away from those.”
“Dramatic” | Viewers who are looking forward to the show, can expect “a lot” from tonight’s 2-hour series premiere. “You really are given the first insight into what our show is and you meet a lot of characters,” Duffield says. “You meet our protagonist, Holden, and what it means and what our show is going to give the audiences.
“We’re giving you a story of a boy who turns into a man pretty much over night in his eyes and has to realize what it means to be living a life without those building blocks of his adolescence that he’s missed. On top of that, we have some really cool elements to our show — some action, and some very cool antagonists too that will keep you on your toes.”
“Action-Packed” | The first half of tonight’s 2-hour premiere features a really cool and beautifully shot action sequence that Duffield says was an “intense” shoot to do. “We had a lot of rain, we had stunts, we had a lot of action stunts going on. It was a really, really fun time to shoot and I think we got some really exciting action sequences that you’re going to see in the pilot. It was great.
“It is the first time that Holden exhibits these abilities. It’s a scary thing for him. He still doesn’t know whether to recognize that it was for sure him. He doesn’t understand how he can control them. It’s definitely something that we will dive into throughout the season — what it means and what that first exhibit of his abilities means for the rest of the show.”
“Intense” | Possessing these abilities puts a big target on his back, and as we learn from the premiere, a group of individuals from what is — as of now — known only as “The Organization” will stop at nothing to capture him.
“That is where our antagonists lie,” Duffield says of the organization. “It is something that is definitely going to be explained more in future episodes. It is perhaps a force that of course Holden, being this regular guy, being given these unbelievable abilities that he exhibits has caught the attention of someone or something or some organization so perhaps they are not quite as genuine at heart as Holden is and are out there to figure out how he got those powers or what they are to them.”
“Emotionally Full” | With the series being dramatic, intense and action-packed, Duffield says that there is a lot “in quite literally episode to episode” that fans can look forward to. He also credits the show’s “very talented” writing staff that has written some “really, really cool hour-long episodes.”
“I can honestly say every episode really brings something to the table that I’m looking forward to seeing, whether it be something of action, whether it be something of discovery for the momentum of the show, whether it be some relationship drama through love or through hate. It really is a show that is fast paced in its narrative to keep you intrigued. I’m very excited to have audiences experience the whole roller coaster that we’re going to put them on.”
Beyond premieres tonight at 9|8c on Freeform.