How Taken Will Handle That Huge Cliffhanger From Season 1

taken clive standen

Taken brought the story of Bryan Mills to the small screen, and Season 1 delivered some pretty epic twists for the character that many viewers thought they knew from the movies. The series fills in backstory for Bryan, and the Season 1 finale ended on a huge cliffhanger that has had fans waiting for more ever since it aired back in May. CinemaBlend recently visited the Toronto set of Taken to learn more about what's to come in Season 2, and new showrunner Greg Plageman had this to say about how the show will pick up after the big cliffhanger:

There is a time jump. You are going to meet Bryan Mills in a Mexican prison. And he's got to get out. [Laughs] He has to get out, and he has to find a way back. And then I think Christina Hart (Jennifer Beals) bears a certain amount of guilt or responsibility to try and figure out how to help this guy, when we don't even know where he is. And that's what the premiere is all about. Along the way, we're picking up these misfit toys of Killroy (Adam Goldberg) and Santana (Jessica Camacho), and that's kind of fun.

Season 1 ended with Bryan injured and isolated without his team south of the border in Mexico. At the time, there was no saying if Taken could ever get back to where it began in the series premiere. We now know that Taken will indeed be going in a brand new direction for Season 2, with almost an entirely brand new cast. The only two actors to return for Season 2 are Clive Standen as Bryan and Jennifer Beals as Christina Hart. Greg Plageman's comments about how Season 2 will pick up indicate that Bryan won't have an easy time recovering from the events of the Season 1 finale.

Of course, if anybody can make his way out of a Mexican prison without much in the way of permanent damage, that person is Bryan Mills. Between the particular set of skills Bryan showed off in Season 1 and the talents that were on display in the Taken films, we know that there's not much that can stop him when he's motivated. It certainly sounds like Taken won't waste any time in getting us back into the action.

It also sounds like the newcomers to Taken (played by Adam Goldberg and Jessica Camacho) should have some pretty interesting introductions. If they're the kind of people Bryan is running into while fighting his way out of a Mexican prison and back to his life, they're probably going to bring some quirks to the table.

Greg Plageman revealed that Season 2 is going to focus a lot more on Bryan Mills' resourcefulness, which will be applied to storylines that are very personal for other characters instead of just Bryan. NBC ordered 16 episodes for Season 2, which is six more than the order for Season 1. Some new directions will clearly be explored to mix things up for Bryan moving forward.

You can catch the Taken season premiere on Friday, January 12 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more on Taken, and don't forget to check out our midseason TV premiere guide for all the other 2018 dates you need.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).