{"id":2044075,"date":"2026-07-14T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044075"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:00:09","slug":"sugar-showrunner-on-how-its-changed-now-that-the-audience-knows-the-sci-fi-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044075","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Sugar\u2019 Showrunner on How It\u2019s Changed Now That the Audience Knows the Sci-Fi Twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sugar_dogs-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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When Sugar<\/em> debuted in 2024, audiences initially thought Colin Farrell\u2019s character was just a regular ol\u2019 Los Angeles private detective. Sure, he was unusually empathetic, could seemingly communicate with animals, and spoke an alarming array of languages. But most folks were not<\/em> anticipating the mid-season twist that revealed John Sugar\u2019s quirks were because he\u2019s not from planet Earth.<\/p>\n

That reveal was the big shake-up in season one; now that season two is here, the fact that Sugar<\/em>\u2018s main character is an extraterrestrial is an open secret\u2014sort of. The people in Sugar\u2019s orbit are still unaware, but viewers know he\u2019s hiding a blue complexion behind his human disguise, and his loneliness now that the rest of his species has departed is a major emotional theme throughout the season.<\/p>\n

Sam Catlin, who came aboard as showrunner for season two of the Apple TV show, knows nothing will ever top the alien reveal. So he avoided even trying to do that. Instead, he went for a more slow-burning sort of tension.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuspense is usually better than surprise,\u201d he told the Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. \u201cGive the information to the audience, and then let it percolate. After a short while, those types of surprises and turns kind of suck. You can very often feel that the narrative is constructed to make them land, and it\u2019s very often at the expense of the organic evolution of the character, which is really what should always be the priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also careful not to let Sugar<\/em> lean too much into its sci-fi elements. Instead, he approached it as a neo-noir detective show whose protagonist\u2014who becomes obsessed with the missing-persons cases he\u2019s drawn to, thanks to his own family history\u2014just so happens to be from light-years away.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, what resonated most in season one\u2014other than the tone of the music and Colin\u2019s performance\u2014was the nostalgic noir detective show set in Los Angeles. My introduction to the detective genre was through the \u201970s noir shows set in Los Angeles. How I first saw Los Angeles on TV was probably through those detective shows,\u201d Catlin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in terms of season two, we still wanted him to be a private investigator who\u2019s trying to help people that need his help. The mystery of his sister is still something that\u2019s festering, but he\u2019s tied to this idea of himself as a PI. It\u2019s very important that he cling to that and help other people find the missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

New episodes of Sugar<\/em> arrive Fridays on Apple TV.<\/p>\n

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

When Sugar<\/em> debuted in 2024, audiences initially thought Colin Farrell\u2019s character was just a regular ol\u2019 Los Angeles private detective. Sure, he was unusually empathetic, could seemingly communicate with animals, and spoke an alarming array of languages. But most folks were not<\/em> anticipating the mid-season twist that revealed John Sugar\u2019s quirks were because he\u2019s not from planet Earth.<\/p>\n

That reveal was the big shake-up in season one; now that season two is here, the fact that Sugar<\/em>\u2018s main character is an extraterrestrial is an open secret\u2014sort of. The people in Sugar\u2019s orbit are still unaware, but viewers know he\u2019s hiding a blue complexion behind his human disguise, and his loneliness now that the rest of his species has departed is a major emotional theme throughout the season.<\/p>\n

Sam Catlin, who came aboard as showrunner for season two of the Apple TV show, knows nothing will ever top the alien reveal. So he avoided even trying to do that. Instead, he went for a more slow-burning sort of tension.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuspense is usually better than surprise,\u201d he told the Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. \u201cGive the information to the audience, and then let it percolate. After a short while, those types of surprises and turns kind of suck. You can very often feel that the narrative is constructed to make them land, and it\u2019s very often at the expense of the organic evolution of the character, which is really what should always be the priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also careful not to let Sugar<\/em> lean too much into its sci-fi elements. Instead, he approached it as a neo-noir detective show whose protagonist\u2014who becomes obsessed with the missing-persons cases he\u2019s drawn to, thanks to his own family history\u2014just so happens to be from light-years away.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, what resonated most in season one\u2014other than the tone of the music and Colin\u2019s performance\u2014was the nostalgic noir detective show set in Los Angeles. My introduction to the detective genre was through the \u201970s noir shows set in Los Angeles. How I first saw Los Angeles on TV was probably through those detective shows,\u201d Catlin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in terms of season two, we still wanted him to be a private investigator who\u2019s trying to help people that need his help. The mystery of his sister is still something that\u2019s festering, but he\u2019s tied to this idea of himself as a PI. It\u2019s very important that he cling to that and help other people find the missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

New episodes of Sugar<\/em> arrive Fridays on Apple TV.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sugar_dogs-1200×675.jpg”] When Sugar debuted in 2024, audiences initially thought Colin Farrell\u2019s character was just a regular ol\u2019 Los Angeles private detective. Sure, he was unusually empathetic, could seemingly communicate with animals, and spoke an alarming array of languages. But most folks were not anticipating the mid-season twist that revealed John Sugar\u2019s quirks were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-2044075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2044075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2044075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2044075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2044075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}