Freeform’s hit mermaid drama Siren returns with all-new episodes on June 13. The summer premiere is going to pick up where we left off after the explosive spring finale. Ben, Maddie and the other humans will be dealing with the fallout from the attack on the oil rig, while the mermaids reacclimate to their ocean home. Ryn comes back to land to follow through on an agreement she made with the military, despite not knowing what their ultimate goals are.
The show has already been renewed for season 3, so there is so much more Siren goodness coming your way. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Alex Roe ahead of the season 2 summer premiere about what’s next. He teased that there will be difficulties ahead for Ben, Maddie, and Ryn’s relationship. The complicated dynamic between Ben and his father will continue to be explored. Check out our Q&A below.
So, where does this summer premiere pick up in terms of the storyline?
Alex Roe: The mermaids have got to deal with the death of Sarge. For now, their home is habitable. They’ve got to try and figure out how many mermaids are left. These sonic cannons have been going now for quite a while, so what is the state going to be of their home at this point? So, we’ve got that looming over us. We’ve got this oil company that for now was taken down, but as we all know, the amount of money and power that these guys have, they’re definitely going to be trying to find out who’s responsible for this. It’s two marine biologists and a mermaid. So, that is going to be interesting to see what happens there. We’ve got Nicole and the military who are all in town now. We know from season 1 that they are incredibly dangerous, and that their motives are not good motives at all. Whether Nicole might seem to have a little bit of a slightly more altruistic way she wants to do her job, but we know that ultimately the higher ups of the military don’t represent that kind of an idea. So that’s pretty scary. The look that Ben’s dad gives him at the end of the season, that looks pretty suspicious. There’s a lot going on. Then apart from that, you’ve got a relationship between two humans and a mermaid that seems to be progressing as well in the mix of all of this craziness. So the writers are really working overtime right now.
What can you tease about how the polyamorous relationship between Ben, and Maddie, and Ryn is going to evolve this season?
Alex Roe: I’d love to see what would happen if they’re all just working their jobs and going on dates every weekend and trying to slowly figure out what each other were about. Like slowly see if they were who they wanted to be with and figure out how this relationship could work. But all that’s happened is it’s three people who are incredibly attracted to each other and drawn to each other for seriously meaningful reasons. You know, I don’t think their relationship is shallow in any way. But then they’re thrown into the situation where they have to do whatever they can to keep each other safe, so I think their relationship ends up being this place of solace. What could be incredibly complicated and could be the main storyline is actually this moment of breath within all of this craziness that goes on. I think that there’s something beautiful in that, and there’s something that is speeding up and ramping up the development of this relationship because of that. Because they are kind of finally able to breathe when they’re with each other. But I don’t think it’s going to stay that simple forever.
I was going to ask you if you think it can work long term…
Alex Roe: I think that love trumps all, you know. I think that if their love exists long term, and their communication is there, then I think they can potentially. But I think it’s going to be difficult. Not only is it a polyamorous relationship in a society that doesn’t really understand that as it is, but it’s also now a polyamorous relationship with someone who is half human and half of another species. So, yeah, it’s incredibly complicated and good for them for going for it.
Ben’s relationship with his father is a really complicated relationship in and of itself. What can you say about how that’s going to be explored in this second half of this season?
Alex Roe: His dad is definitely suspicious. Ben and his dad, they see the world differently. I think that there’s probably a lot of people out there who see the world differently to their parents and that is okay, you know? It’s something that hopefully people can work through. I’d like to see Ben and his dad be able to work through those differences because ultimately they share all these genes, and ultimately a lot of what Ben has inherited from his dad is what enables him to be the guy that he is. So, it would be great to see that relationship repair in some way, but I think that as it stands, there’s a line in the sand that is probably going to be drawn pretty soon. Are they going to be able to help each other across that line, or are they going to be adversaries? That’s an exciting thing to see develop through the season.
There’s also this military agreement that Ryn has made. What can you tease about that aspect of the show this season?
Alex Roe: It’s worrying. Everything that we’ve learned about the military especially through season 1 is that they are not to be trusted. The way that they look at the mermaids is like even worse than the way initially Xander and the fishermen looked at the mermaids. They are not trustworthy. So we’ve got Nicole, who we battle over whether or not she is trustworthy. But we’ve got to look at who she ultimately works for. We can tell that she’s incredibly ambitious. With her relationship with Xander, how much of that is real feelings? How much of that is ambition? So, I think that it’s definitely a dangerous choice to work with the military. What’s interesting, and what I can tease about it, is everyone’s going to have to be keeping their cards so close to their chest. Ben, Maddie, and Ryn, they want something from the military, so everyone’s going to be double-crossing each other trying to be on top at the end.