There are just six weeks until the Jan. 2 debut of Beyond — a Freeform original series — and writer Adam Nussdof told ComicBook.com that fans can expect something different than the traditional take on a superhero.
Beyond is a one-hour drama about Holden (played by Burkely Duffield), a young man who wakes up from a coma after 12 years and discovers new abilities that propel him into the middle of a dangerous conspiracy. Now Holden must try and figure out what happened to him during those 12 years; how to survive a world that changed while he was gone; and answer the question, why did this happen to him?
Videos by PopCulture.com
Nussdorf said that his vision for the role was more meta than physical.
“It is mostly mind control type stuff,” he said at New York Comic Con. “You won’t see (Holden) flying around or shotting a web from his wrists.
“It is a very grounded show, and so in order to ground it the powers have to come from a very grounded place and that is the mind. So there isn’t radioactive spiders or another planet. We ask the question, what is the human mind capable of.”
Beyond represents a bold new step for Freeform programming. After the first episode airs Freeform will post all 10 episodes on several digital platforms for binge watching. All episodes of Beyond will be available to watch on the Freeform App, Freeform.com, Hulu, and On Demand.
It stars Burkely Duffield (House of Anubis) as Holden Matthews, Romy Rosemont (Glee) as Diane Matthews, Michael McGrady (American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson) as Tom Matthews, Jonathan Whitesell (Once Upon a Time) as Luke Matthews, Dilan Gwyn (Da Vinci’s Demons) as Willa and Jeff Pierre (Shameless) as Jeff McArdle.
From Imperative Entertainment and Automatik, Beyond is created, written and executive produced by Nussdorf who got his start on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It also features Tim Kring of Heroes, and David Eick from Battlestar Galactica, as executive producers on the project.
“There are some crossovers,” Kring said. “I think the one that is the most relatable would be the idea of someone discovering something extraordinary about themselves.
“In this case, Holden discovers that in those missing 12 years something happened to him. He went someplace, he discovered things. His journey of discovery that something is going on with him. He realizes he has some abilities. Those are really similar [to Heroes].”
The entire process has taken place over two years with the payoff coming in 2017. The realization that the hard work is set to pay off was not lost on Nussdorf.
“Freeform is looking to rebrand in a way,” he said. “They gave us a lot of creative freedom to try new things storytelling wise, which was very liberating as a writer. They were taking chances with their network and it les us as storytellers take a lot of chances.”
The sci-fi saga premiers on January 2, 2017 on Freeform.
