Black Summer (season 2)
# Black Summer (season 2)

The second season of the American post-apocalyptic drama series Black Summer was released by Netflix on June 17, 2021, with 8 episodes. The series is produced by The Asylum, the same production company behind Z Nation, is written and directed primarily by John Hyams, and featured 4 starring roles, most notably being Jaime King in the lead role as Rose, and Zoe Marlett as her daughter Anna. Other stars in the season include Justin Chu Cary & Christine Lee.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 9 | 1 | "The Cold" | John Hyams | John Hyams | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| Lance is shown fleeing from a zombie, before letting a seemingly pregnant woman named Sophie into his car. She opens his door, allowing another man named Luke to kill him. Shot in the neck and tossed on the road, Lance turns and attacks them, continually chasing Luke. Four months later, Rose and Anna are shown living in a fortified house on a snowy mountain, and kill both the living and the dead that approach them. Another hostile group in the mountains has captured a few people, including Sun, and interrogate a man about a plane that drops supplies and a house that is fortified. They are attacked by another group and many people are killed in the gunfight, though the leader of the group escapes on a snowmobile with a few of his men and Sun. Spears is shown in a forest, injured. Another man named Freddy has encountered Rose and Anna, and tries to get them to trust him. Luke, revealed to be a veteran, temporarily escapes from Lance, and is refused help from other survivors in the area. He eventually manages to start a car, but is once again attacked by Lance. ||||||
| 10 | 2 | "Prelude" | Abram Cox | Karl Schaefer & Daniel Schaefer | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| Officer Ray Nazeri, the leader of the hostile group is shown escaping from his zombified family while their neighborhood is evacuated. Anna tricks two men looting a store into letting her in, from where she lets Rose, Spears and Sun in, and they force the men out and loot the store themselves. The group continues on their way, where they find a crashed car and Sun finds an injured man, who she helps. They are attacked by a group of men in trucks, Sun and Spears are separated from Rose and Anna who regroup with them only to find Spears shot. Rose and Anna flee, while Sun throws Spears down an embankment to protect him, before she is captured by the group, led by Nazeri. A man attempts to help an injured friend in the mountains, and they talk about getting to a plane, only for his friend to die, turn, and begin chasing him. Spears, still injured, travels through the mountains, eventually finding a group of dead bodies, and takes the gloves from one of them. Rose and Anna arrive at the house, but find a zombie outside. After failing to kill it, they distract it and make it to the door, where they are allowed in by a group of people living there, which includes Freddy. ||||||
| 11 | 3 | "Card Game" | John Hyams | Sarah Sellman | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| Rose and Anna meet the residents of the house, including Freddy, his aggressive younger brother Sonny, and their mother. Another resident, Mark, shown to be the interrogated man from "The Cold", reveals he is in contact with the group in control of the plane, and leaves to pick up the most recent supply drop. When he does not return before dark, Sonny forces Mark’s wife Rhonda to contact him. She and Freddy try to call him by radio, but it fails, and Rhonda discovers her axe missing. When the house becomes cold, Freddy's family forces him to go outside and get wood for a fire. He does, but is attacked by the zombie and forced up a tree. While waiting, Sonny grows more unhinged, and eventually kills Rhonda when he believes he heard her talking to someone on the radio. Rhonda turns and kills another resident, and Rose kills both infected after Sonny and his mother fail to. Later, Sonny hears a transmission come in on the radio upstairs, however ends up destroying it out of frustration after he cannot communicate with the person on the other end. His mother accuses Rose and Anna of taking the rations, and Rose kills her, while Anna kills Sonny. Another man is shown to be in the house, having taken the axe. ||||||
| 12 | 4 | "Cold War" | Abram Cox | Abram Cox | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| Sun and the others are found by the survivors of their group, and they approach the house and kill the zombie outside. They attempt to get into the house, but the ones inside resist. Sophie's group arrives at the house, and a three way fight ensues. Several people are killed, including Freddy, while Rose and Anna are hidden by the man in the house, who tells them he works on planes and can get them to the airstrip the plane will land at. They leave the house with him at gunpoint. Sun witnesses Nazeri kill one of his own after he is attacked by a zombie and claims he was not bitten, and attempts to escape, but is caught again by Nazeri after meeting Sophie and witnessing the plane drop a parachute. ||||||
| 13 | 5 | "White Horse" | John Hyams | Henry G.M. Jones | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| Spears encounters a man named Braithwaite who claims to recognize him, though cannot remember his name. After failing to kill a man riding a horse, they find and kill a zombie, and find a gun, liquor, and supplies they use to start a fire. That night, after Spears mentions he has a nut allergy, Braithwaite remembers that he is "Big James'" little brother, and claims he knew him by working for him. They reminisce about Big James, but it ends in a fight after Braithwaite asks to check if Spears is injured. During a rainstorm, after Braithwaite determines Spears' wound is infected, and tells Spears they are heading to a cabin where they can survive. The next morning, Spears remembers that he shot Braithwaite twice to kill him, presumably on his brother's orders, and Braithwaite brings up the idea of "bygones". Spears brings up a gun to shoot him, but instead lets him walk away to the horse, which has arrived, now riderless. ||||||
| 14 | 6 | "Currency" | Abram Cox | Jen Derwingson-Peacock | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| The surviving members of Sophie's group find a crate dropped by the plane, and encounter a member of Nazeri's group named Sam, who agrees to split the food within fairly. Nazeri, Sophie, Sun and another man find another crate containing weapons, which Nazeri claims for themselves after three other men show up. Rose, Anna and the other man head for the airfield, and the man tells them he knows of a place they can rest the night. When he is unable to find it, Rose decides he was lying about it and attempts to execute him, but is unable to do so with Anna watching. While looting, the other group kills the other man, and they get into a standoff which Sun tries to defuse. After they are attacked by zombies, Sun gives the other group some of the weapons and they depart, causing Nazeri to release her. The other group struggles to get the crate up the mountain, and some of them eventually give up, causing the crate, along with Sam and another member, to fall back down the hill and break. Sam breaks his leg, and is attacked by the other member, who was killed by the fall and zombified. Rose, Anna and the man eventually arrive at the place, revealed to be a ski lodge. ||||||
| 15 | 7 | "The Lodge" | John Hyams | Abram Cox | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| Rose, Anna and the man, Boone, arrive at the ski lodge and decide to spend the night. Anna keeps watch, and finds the door open. She closes it, but later finds another open door, and follows a sound to a sealed room containing infected. The next morning, Rose finds Anna with the person who entered, Spears. The group eats, and contemplate staying or going to the airstrip, and Anna eventually reveals Spears is dying. When Anna leaves to deal with the zombies in the other room, Rose tells Spears her only mission is to protect her daughter, and does not regret abandoning him. She leaves to check on dessert, and returns to find Anna has shot Spears. They leave for the airstrip, but Boone runs away from them. A flashback reveals Spears, knowing he was dying and unable to commit suicide, asked Anna to kill him, and she obliged. ||||||
| 16 | 8 | "The Plane" | Abram Cox | Karl Schaefer | June 17, 2021 (2021-06-17) |
| Rose and Anna arrive at the airfield and encounter Boone, now a zombie, who attacks them. The remaining members of the other group, including Mance arrive. Rose and Anna meet Nazeri, Sophie and Sun, and attempt to bargain with them, before they are attacked and chased into a hangar by the zombies. The group that met Nazeri's in the mountains joined two former members of Nazeri's group, captured Boone, and killed him after they had no more use for him. In the hangar, Rose and Nazeri's groups are captured by the others, who reveal they will take two of them along on the plane. They beat Nazeri, but he fights back and injures one of them. The leader has Anna get a first aid kit, and she returns with a flare gun she gives Rose. The zombies break in, and the women and Nazeri manage to escape and lock their attackers inside. Nazeri holds the others at gunpoint and admonishes them for not working together, but as he is about to kill them, they witness the plane land. Rose causes an explosion with the flare gun, injuring her leg, while Nazeri, the closest to the explosion, is incapacitated. Rose sends the others to the plane, intending to shoot herself, but is unable to. The others make for the plane, but the zombies break out of the hangar and pursue them, killing Sophie. Anna refuses to board the plane, instead running away. Sun gets on the plane, and it leaves. Mance distracts the zombies from Anna, and manages to kill all of them with pieces of debris, before taking a gun and killing the zombified Boone. Rose and Nazeri end up in a standoff, but Anna arrives. Seeing Rose alive, she gets in a car and brings it to the others, but Rose does not get in. On the plane, the pilot is shown to speak Korean, and communicates with Sun, telling her they are going far, and all that matters is now. ||||||

## Cast and characters

### Starring

* Jaime King as Rose, a woman who is now reunited with her daughter Anna, and is now trying her best to stay alive alongside her in the cold
* Justin Chu Cary as Julius James, a man who is mostly on his own and has a grudge against Rose for leaving him for dead after injuring his leg
* Christine Lee as Ooh "Sun" Kyungsun, a Korean woman who is now a prisoner of Ray Nazeri and who was previously a member of Rose’s group
* Zoe Marlett as Anna, Rose’s daughter who she tries to protect

### Recurring

* Bobby Naderi as Ray Nazeri, a former police officer leading his own group
* Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz as Boone, a talkative man who knows the mountain area
* G. Michael Gray as Freddy, a man whose family encounters Rose and Anna
* Dakota Daulby as Sonny, Freddy's aggressive younger brother
* Travis Friesen as Mark, a man in contact with a plane which drops supplies
* Kumiko Konishi as Rhonda, Mark’s wife
* Linda Kee as Sophie, a member of a group in conflict with Nazeri's group who later joins Nazeri
* Jesse Lipscombe as Mance, a member of Sophie's group
* Chantelle Han as Jase, a member of Sophie's group
* Elaine Yang as Natalie, a member of Sophie's group
* Duff Zayonce as Sam, a member of Nazeri's group who encounters Sophie's group

**Unnamed Characters**

* Brenda Robins as Freddy and Sonny's mother
* Joe Perry as a member of Nazeri's group
* Owen Crow Shoe as a member of Sophie's group
* Andrew Misle, Cliff Liknes and John Dylan Louie as members of another group which comes into conflict with Nazeri

### Guest

* Kelsey Flower as Lance, a young survivor with no family and a former member of Rose’s group
* Bechir Sylvain as Braithwaite, a man who knew Spears before the apocalypse
* Daniel Diemer as Luke, an acquaintance of Sophie who encounters Lance
* James Yi as The Pilot, the pilot of the plane which drops supplies

## Reception

Additional information needed

On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 100% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.

## Production

Additional information needed

### Development

On November 20, 2019, Netflix renewed the series for an 8 episode second season. Netflix announced on September 28, 2020 that production of season 2 was underway following a months-long shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

### Filming

Filming for the second season originally began in early 2020 but on March 18, 2020 production was postponed for 2 weeks. The pandemic took hold and the show was put on temporary hiatus.

Filming once again commenced in High River, Alberta in early September 2020.

