'Terra Nova' Showrunner Rene Echevarria Promises Results

Brook Rushton/Fox

"Terra Nova"

Terra Nova’s two-hour premiere set up a number of questions for the 13-episode time-traveling series. Among them: why the Sixers so against Taylor (Stephen Lang) and the Terra Nova community.

Showrunner Rene Echevarria tells The Hollywood Reporter that there will be results to the number of mysteries the Shannon family encounter 85 million years in the past.

“We decided early on, let’s not play that withholding game,” Echevarria says. “We explain everything that we tee-up this year.”

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Who’s on the Eleventh Pilgrimage? In the premiere, a very love struck Josh Shannon (Landon Liboiron) vows to bring his girlfriend, Kara, to Terra Nova. However, shortly after arriving in the settlement, the angsty teen meets Skye (Allison Miller) and is immediately taken with her.

“Josh promises Kara that he’s going to do everything in his power to get her here, so one of the big questions is, is she going to be on that Pilgrimage?” Echevarria warns. “Is there going to be an unpleasant surprise coming through from the future?”

In the meantime, an interesting love triangle will develop between Josh and Skye and the idea of Kara. “How does a girl compete with an idea?” he teases.

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Dinosaurs, friend or foe? Executive producer Brannon Braga told THR in August that dinosaurs wouldn’t be a target but instead become a “huge bone of contention as the season progresses” between Taylor and the Sixers.

“The philosophy is to not make the same mistakes we made the first time around, and that includes maiming and killing animals,” Braga noted.

Adds Echevarria of the prehistoric creatures: “They are not to be taken lightly. In self-defense, you have to shoot them, but it shouldn’t be your first thought.”

Could the ethical treatment of dinosaurs – and the Sixers’ desire not to make the same mistakes this time around be the underlying mystery why they splintered off from the settlement? Echevarria was mum, noting that it’s “definitely an underlying mystery that will be solved.” 

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Ultimately, Echevarria notes that the arrival of the Eleventh Pilgrimage will hold several answers as to who the Sixers are, who sent them to Terra Nova and why as well as what the overall conspiracy is about.

What are your theories? Sound off in the comments below. Terra Nova airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit