WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of HBO's Beforeigners.
HBO's Beforeigners ends on a very intriguing note after diving deep into the mystery surrounding the death of Mariana, who appeared to be a time migrant on a Norwegian beach. Season 1 focused Lars (Nicolai Cleve Broch) and the Viking Alfhildr (Krista Kosonen) investigating her death but the cops soon discovered a prostitution ring run by high-ranking politicians who were kidnapping time-displaced women when they came to the present from the Stone Age, Viking era and the 19th century.
With Tore Hund (Stig Henrik Hoff) and his Viking clan also suffering a major loss after a xenophobe killed his shield-maiden Urd (Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir), Alfhildr finds herself further torn because while she's mourning her best friend, she discovers she's not actually from the past and could be tied to a secret government project experiment. With that in mind, let's look at how the first season sets up the show's next outing.
THE RETURN OF THE KINGS
Lars' daughter, Ingrid, lost her friend Maddie in the timestream after a prank at sea went awry. Maddie returned to the present and began acting strangely, with visions of the Christian crusade that swept through Norway in the past. It turns out while she was gone for minutes, she was actually in the past for decades and she escapes to go dig up a sword at a mysterious church.
The season ends with a runaway migrant meeting her on horseback and he's revealed to be the Christian warrior and saint, Olav the Stout. His army swept through Europe, killing and pillaging in the name of Christ, and is a major character in Norway's history. The giant warrior picks Maddie up after she turns out to be his concubine and heads off to go fight his mortal enemy, Tore. Season 2 will be looking at them resuming their feud, hunting each other's clans. Maddie already dropped hints she knows where the rest of the Christian warriors are so Olav will be reforming his legion by finding these migrants to finish his centuries-old vendetta.
THE DARK RING
Lars and Alf will have a tough time with their own cops as it turns out the sex ring was protected by corrupt police. However, they do have a lot of good officers in their department which means there will be a civil war, and in addition to this internal affair, they will have to go after the politicians who seem untouchable. They already brought down a trawling company, Cro Magnon, that was abducting women when they arrived through temporal rifts in the sea, rubbing a lot of shoulders the wrong way.
The press does seem to be on their side but they'll need more than the media's help. The Neo-Luddites could become allies as they're intent on taking down magnates they think exploit time migrants. Mariana actually went undercover for them and lost her life, but Season 2 could bring in the soldier, Ada, into Lars' ranks. The ex-drone operator provided info to expose the ring but with the Neo-Luddites being a cult where women convert to the mentality they're time migrants, all so they could become lovers of the Doctrand, Alf may have a problem with them as well. Season 2 will also look at the 19th century Bohemians striking back as this ring made them a lot of money.
EXPLORING THE TIME HOLE
Lars discovered co-ordinates that may well be the time hole that drops all these migrants into the sea. However, the gateway can work both ways, with people from the present get tossed to the past and then come back changed. The big twist was that the government was kidnapping and experimenting on people so Season 2 could look at these internment camps, the people in charge and how they appear to be manipulating the past to change history in their favor.
It's still a mystery as to how the hole came into existence or who could be operating it for the government so it's a tall order for Lars, Alf and the Neo Luddites to explore. What's intriguing is Alf actually got sucked into the Viking era as a child and her memories are now coming back, so a second season will most likely find her looking for her original family in the present, which could unlock clues on who gets chosen to go back and why. Season 2 may even expose operatives in the past working in tandem with the government in the future to create this temporal stranglehold.
Beforeigners is currently streaming on HBO Now and HBO Go, with new episodes scheduled to be released every Tuesday in the US.