Before the show even debuted, producer M. Night Shyamalan promised a mind-blowing reveal in Episode 5 of Wayward Pines that would tear the miniseries wide open. The dude wasn’t kidding.

Spoilers ahead for Fox’s Wayward Pines!

The mysterious series, which has a Twin Peaks vibe running through its veins, has been following a Secret Service agent (Matt Dillon) and his family as they wake up and try to figure out what the heck is going on in the creepy, idyllic little town of Wayward Pines. We already knew the town was locked behind a massive, electrified wall — and now we know why.

Long story short: The events of the series take place 2,000 years in the future, in 4028, millennia after the human race has died out and been replaced by vicious de-evolved creatures called Aberrations (or “Abbies”). The reveal was laid out in two parallel stories, one of which mimicked the storyline of Blake Crouch’s book that inspired the show. One thread follows a group of school children who are given all the details via an orientation class (that was invented for the show), while a separate arc follows Dillon’s Secret Service agent as he scales a cliffside to escape the city and finds the 2,000-year-old ruins of Boise (and several killer “Abbies”) outside.

The creative team added the kid angle, mostly because it made logistical sense to them that the founder of Wayward Pines (David Pilcher, aka Dr. Jenkins) would be focused on the children who will eventually lead the town (and what’s left of humanity) in the future. Showrunner Chad Hodge also went on to explain why they’ve made it such a major point not to tell the adults what is actually going on (namely: that 2,000-year time jump).

Here’s an excerpt from what Hodge told TV Line:

"What you’ll see is that there are reasons that they had to keep the adults in the dark, because as Megan Fisher hinted, adults can't handle the truth. I liken it to when you’re in third or fourth grade and your teacher teaches you about the planets and space and galaxies, all of this stuff that you can't actually see or touch but you accept it and you learn it and you don't think it’s crazy. But if you knew nothing of that and you’re a 40-year-old guy, and someone on the street tries to sell this “bill of goods,” that there are nine planets out there, you’d think this person was crazy, because as adults you can’t accept things like that. But the mind of a child… is much more open to new ideas. Telling them and making them feel special and all of that is integral to Wayward Pines and to the way that Pilcher envisioned it."

For fans hoping to see the miniseries continue for another year, Hodge said they do have an angle that could work for a second season — but made it very clear they plan on wrapping pretty much everything up within this 10-episode series order.

Wayward Pines is actually an interesting case study for ratings, pulling in mediocre live numbers but ballooning to respectable stats as one of the top scripted shows on the night once DVR numbers are factored in. It’ll be interesting to see how (or whether) that might factor into Fox’s decision for a return trip once the event series wraps.

What did you think of the big reveal? Was it classic Shyamalan enough for you, or a bridge too far?

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(Via TV Line)