Two years on from the surprise cancellation of acclaimed sci-fi drama The OA, Patrick Gibson has said he would “love it” if the show was given the chance to return for a third season.
The OA was cancelled by Netflix after just two seasons on August 5, 2019. It had originally been scheduled to run for three.
“I would do that show for ten seasons if I could,” said Gibson, who played troubled high-school student Steve Winchell in the series. “I didn’t know the specifics of where the show was going to go next. But I’d had some chats [with creator/lead Brit Marling and co-creator Zal Batmanglij]…”
Fans were so disappointed by the cancellation of The OA that a fan group raised money for a ‘Save The OA‘ digital billboard in New York’s Times Square. One fan even went on hunger strike outside of Netflix’s LA offices. Marling and Batmanglij visited her and offered her food and water.
“The thing is,” continues Gibson, “you just never knew with those guys. They kept us completely in the dark in that first season. And in the second, too. They kind of treated us the way that they wanted the audience to feel when they were watching it.”
However, if the show isn’t revisited, Gibson thinks that the series cliffhanger second act was as good a point as any to bow out.
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“I was excited to develop my character further,” he said. “But it also kind of felt fitting in strange way. Leaving it where they left it felt very The OA to me. Just leaving the mystery and dropping the mic. In a crazy and metaphysical way, I think the show lives on.”
For now, Gibson is busy enough with his role in Before We Die, an English language adaptation of the hit Swedish crime-thriller of the same name. Gibson plays Christian, the mixed-up teenage son of detective Hannah Laing [played by British drama legend Lesley Sharp]. Based in Bristol, the show tells the story of Hannah, as she discovers her son is acting as an undercover informant in a murder investigation.
“I didn’t watch the original,” said Gibson. “I toyed with the idea, and it was actually difficult to resist the urge to watch it, but I wanted to come at it with a fresh perspective. It was really fun to watch the original after we’d finished filming though. The original is so great. I completely understand why they wanted to remake [the Swedish version]. It’s so exciting.”
The Irish actor was especially thrilled to be working alongside Sharp. A crime thriller about a mother and son isn’t territory often seen, and the two actors found much to explore in the dynamic between them.
“There’s definitely undertones of Greek tragedy in it,” he said of the series. “As the show progresses, epic pressures are put upon these relationships. And there’s moments in the show where you just feel the awesome power of a mother. Christian at the beginning seems like a masculine archetype, but it’s revealed that he has real vulnerability and need for the nurturing side that his mom has. It’s a fascinating role.”
‘Before We Die’ airs Wednesdays at 9pm on Channel 4 – and is streaming on All 4