WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the first three episodes of Raised by Wolves, available now on HBO Max.
HBO's Raised by Wolves plays a sneaky game when it comes to Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and his wife, Sue (Niamh Algar). Initially, they seem to be loyalists and knights of the Mithraic, humans devoted to a mysterious sun god, Sol, giving the impression that in time they'll want to eradicate the Atheist colony on Keppler-22B. However, by the time the first three episodes end, a unique twist plays out from their past that shows how they became soldiers with these religious zealots.
Marcus initially takes shelter with fellow soldiers after they try to broker peace with Mother and Campion at their settlement. However, they see the boy as a prophet and intend to kidnap him, only for the raid to go awry as Mother's Necromancer form kills the contingent off, except for Marcus. He's eventually recovered by a resistance when their Ark crashes on the planet, but while he's reunited with Sue, their son, Paul, and four other kids have been kidnapped by Mother.
But the ironic thing is, Marcus and Sue aren't who they say they are. It turns out in Boston in 2145, as the religious war broke out, they were Caleb and Mary. They rescue a med bot after a chopper goes down, and while they're fighting for non-believers, they think the Atheists will lose the war, especially since the Mithraic have Necromancers slaughtering them. They think they've found their saving grace, however, and use the bot to perform reconstructive surgery, turning them into Marcus and Sue -- two people who have been green-lit for the Ark.
They then find the couple and kill them, taking their belongings and whatever they need to adapt to these new identities. But it gets tricky because they're still destined to be soldiers for the Ark, and on top of that, they've got a son. They meet the kid, but he's taken aback by how emotional and loving they are, which actually leads to them bonding as they all project their minds into a digital realm during stasis. Paul no longer has cold parents and he thinks they've shaken their military past, keen on being a family. And admittedly, Marcus and Sue are shocked how much they're enjoying this deception and the love of their "son."
This is why they're tracking him now that Mother has him, but it's sure to get interesting as they share her beliefs too. Marcus is getting tired of the survivors and his ruse, and he and Sue could turn on them, possibly even allying with Mother. Seeing them trying to coexist as a family would be intriguing especially since Mother was initially a Mithraic war machine. That said, the couple has gained redemption through Paul, so they'll pick whatever path keeps him safe, even if it means persisting with the Mithraic and their false pretenses a bit longer.
Created by Aaron Guzikowski and produced by Ridley Scott, Raised by Wolves stars Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Niamh Algar, Jordan Loughran, Matias Varela, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Aasiya Shah, Ivy Wong and Travis Fimmel. New episodes arrive each Thursday on HBO Max.