'The Tomorrow People' Interview: EP Phil Klemmer Teases the 'Reign of Cara'

Tonight marks the return of one of our favorite new shows of the year – The Tomorrow People!

In the first half of the season, we watched as Stephen (Robbie Amell) attmpted to balance his human life with his paranormal one, all the while being forced to work against his own species with his uncle Jedekiah (Mark Pellegrino).

We also saw as John’s (Luke Mitchell) secrets started unraveling and a wedge was driven between him and Cara (Peyton List).

JJJ caught up with executive producer Phil Klemmer to get the scoop on the back half of season one, teasing Cara’s newfound leadership, the history of the Founder, and even some new romantic relationships!

Click inside to read our interview with Phil Klemmer…

JustJaredJr.com Interview – Phil Klemmer

JustJaredJr: When we last left off, Stephen was still determined to find his dad, nearly killing himself in the process. Not everyone is convinced he’s still alive. Is he pretty much alone in this mission going forward?

Phil Klemmer: I will say that the mission to find his dad gets put on ice, not to give anything away. The episodes coming back become much more clear and present. We will reignite his search for his dad, but the episodes that follow are much more about the revolution that’s happening among the Tomorrow People and the fact that John is being undermined, and Cara is emerging as a leader in her own right, and what that means for their relationship. But yeah, the first few episodes back are kind of the reign of Cara, which are really interesting because we’re certainly seen what John is as a leader, and any sort of gender stereotypes are out the window on our show. We will realize that having a woman as a leader, she’s much more hawkish and much more bold, and militaristic when it comes to taking on ULTRA, taking risks, and taking the fight tot Jedekiah. As much as Stephen wants to find his dad, hell is really going to be a’poppin and they’re going to do everything to do to stay alive.

JJJ: Every time we seem to think Jedekiah is their biggest worry, we remember that there’s something much bigger going on, with the Founder and everything. Will we learn more about him in these upcoming episodes?

PK: That’s the primarily what the mythology in the back half is about, realizing who the Founder is, how he sort of plays into the backstory and foundation of ULTRA as it pertains to both Roger and Jedekiah. In present time, we’re going to be with Stephen as he’s forced to decide who to hitch his horse to. Because both the Founder and Jedekiah are clearly very gifted manipulators and both have secret agendas that we’re only slowly starting to uncover. Stephen only gets one choice to decide. He knows he can’t trust either of then. That’s certainly going to impact his search for his dad. The Founder or Jedekiah, that’s the choice in the second half [of the season].

JJJ: Stephen stills works for ULTRA, but Jedekiah isn’t stupid. He knows his loyalty isn’t 100 percent. Do you think he’s going along with it partly because he wants to protect his nephew?

PK: Absolutely. I think when we begin Jedekiah is merely using Stephen as a pawn. I think the founder’s accusations that Jedekiah has a soft spot for his family is absolutely true. In a bizarre way, killing his brother Roger, Jedekiah did it for all the right reasons and Stephen will gradually come to understand why he did what he did. The two are constantly being brought closer and being thrown apart because Jedekiah is never able to tell Stephen the whole story, and therefore there’s these secrets that come out like bombshells. Just when you realize think Jedekiah is capable of goodness, he’ll do something completely sh-tty and diabolical (laughs). It’s a really interesting character because I don’t think there’s ever been a series whose villain, his over-arching goal was to protect mankind. It’s fun as a writer to make you hate a guy for basically trying to protect us. He’s the kind of guy who’s not afraid to spill a little blood to achieve the greater goal.

JJJ: Definitely. And one of our favorite things about the entire show is his relationship with John as well. There is such an amazing dynamic there and so much going on under the surface.

PK: Yeah, I gotta say, watching episode 12, we have another flashback story. If you saw episode four when we met young John who was rescued from his stepdad. You know, Jedekiah shot a guy in the heart and you never loved him more because you realize he saved this young boy that for John, was the closest thing to a father he ever had. So we get the next installment of that story. The fact that we found this young actor who looks exactly like Luke Mitchell (laughs). There’s one of the most tragic moments, which is sort of a musical montage, believe it or not, sung my one of our characters, which is overlay to a scene in which you see Jedekiah cry. If you don’t cry with him, you don’t have a heart (laughs). When you watch the pilot, it’s the last thing you’d expect to see in 11 episodes, you’re villain crying. It’s tremendous.

JJJ: Wow. And as for Cara and John’s relationship. We haven’t seen too much about how or why they got together. It seems more than just convenience. Will we witness that story?

PK: We’re absolutely going to see that. We have a Cara backstory coming up very soon, in just an episode or two, in which we realize that John was not the first of the Tomorrow People…there was another Tomorrow Person that took Cara under his wing. He was perhaps not as nurturing and good-hearted as John. In the same way we reveal these surprising things about all of our characters in their past – the fact that she was deaf, and that Russsell was a gifted pianist and card shark – the next backstory on Cara, we’re going to basically explore her bad girl days. We’ll see a chapter in her life, the dark version of Cara that could have been.

JJJ: Is the Stephen and Cara romance on the backburner at this point?

PK: I really think Stephen’s conviction when he said that they were inevitable. I believe that he believes it. And I believe that a part of Cara believes it as well. The fact that she remains with John doesn’t change that fact. I think it will be simmering and Stephen will have additional love interests in his life, and John will have additional love interests in his life. Cara, heading into the back half of the season, finds herself married to the job. She’s almost like Queen Elizabeth, holding the sword, defending their species. Not that she doesn’t want to love, but it takes a backburner because she’s too busy kicking ass to sort of let herself get caught up in her own emotions.

JJJ: Lastly, Stephen’s mother has a new love interest as well. The timing seems suspicious. Is there more than meets the eye there?

PK: I will say this: Stephen is on high alert. He believes this guy Peter is too good to be true. Whether he is or not, Stephen is going to basically force the guy’s hand, and when he does so, his secret blows up in a huge way. The firewall that he’s put up between his human life and his paranormal life is going to be breached. And the people that he tries to protect from this so-called “Shadow War” are going to be exposed in the process.