Summary

• La Brea's third and final season premieres on NBC on Tuesday, January 9, picking up in the aftermath of the season 2 finale.
• The main characters, Gavin, Izzy, and Josh, are grieving the loss of Eve and dealing with the threat of multiple sinkholes appearing in 10,000 B.C.
• Jon Seda and Chiké Okonkwo discuss their characters' journeys, potential romances, and the bittersweet experience of shooting the final season.

Consisting of six installments, La Brea's third and final season premieres on NBC on Tuesday, January 9. The last batch of episodes will pick up in the aftermath of the season 2 finale and see Gavin, Izzy, and Josh grieving the loss of Eve, who was separated from the family after falling into a time portal. In addition to the tragic event, multiple sinkholes appeared in 10,000 B.C., indicating that anything from any era could pose a threat to the Clearing.

Jon Seda, who portrays Sam Velez, is most well-known for his starring role in Chicago P.D. as Antonio Dawson. Meanwhile, Chiké Okonkwo, who portrays Ty Coleman, has worked on several films, shows, and video games such as The Birth of a Nation, Citizen Khan, and the Call of Duty franchise. Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki, Rohan Mirchandaney, Lily Santiago, Josh Mckenzie, Nicholas Gonzalez, Jack Martin, Veronica St. Clair, Tonantzin Carmelo, and Natalie Zea are also included in the main cast.

Screen Rant interviewed Jon Seda and Chiké Okonkwo about a potential romance for Sam, Ty and Paara's life as newlyweds, and their characters' evolution throughout La Brea.

Jon Seda And Chiké Okonkwo Talk La Brea Season 3

Screen Rant: How was the experience of shooting the final season and bringing your characters' journey to a close?

Chiké Okonkwo: It was bittersweet, I'll say. It's not often that you get to complete a story on television, and when you get the opportunity, it's really nice to be able to go out, somewhat, on David Appelbaum's terms, the showrunner, who wrote this incredible show, and then for us to be able to find some completion with our storylines and with our characters. We built this strong bond over three or four years filming the show. It was really nice to be able to tie those loose ends in a nice bow. It was also sad because we've spent a lot of time together. It was sad to say goodbye as well.

Jon Seda: Yes. Sad to see it go, but I think we're all proud of what we were able to accomplish and put together. Sad to see it go, but happy with what we did.

Sam decides to let go of his old life at the end of season 2 and opens himself up to whatever comes his way in 10,000 B.C. What is that going to look like for him going forward?

Jon Seda: I think he did come to the realization of where he was and where things were at home with his marriage. It made him realize that maybe things aren't as cut and dry or as black and white, and he'll go into the future more open, and see what what might abound for him. There's a lot that they tried to get done in six episodes, and I can't wait for everyone to see.

I do have to wonder...might there be romance for him on the horizon?

Jon Seda: I think Sam was open to it. There was a little smile on his face when he recieved that number towards the end of last season, but I think he has a lot more things on his plate right now that he has to deal with.

Speaking of romance, I am such a big Ty and Paara fan. What is married life going to look like for them in season 3?

Chiké Okonkwo: In the world of La Brea, nothing is ever quite straightforward, is it? So it's certainly going to have its challenges, but I think that's the enduring message of this show, isn't it? That love, whether it's between a father and a daughter or a mother and a son or between a couple, it's an enduring thing and a thing worth fighting for and a thing worth trying to hold on to and trying to get back if it's been lost.

So for Ty and Paara, in particular, they have immediately more obstacles in their way from the beginning of this third season. I think the great journey for Ty is working out how to make sure that the thing that he wants now, which is his relationship with Paara, is the thing that he can have at the end of the season, so we'll see how he does.

Jon Seda: There's a good ship name. We have a good ship name for Paara and Ty. I think it should be #PaarTy.

When we first met Ty, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and he was in so much pain that he wanted to end his own life. What was it like as an actor to be able to play out his arc and bring him to a much healthier place?

Chiké Okonkwo: It's such a joy for an actor to receive a script like that where you have so many challenges right from the start, because you have to work out how to play those moments as truthfully as you possibly can. For Ty, in particular, as is the case for all the characters on the show, they've all got these in particular things that they're facing. For Ty to have, like you say, this very bleak outcome for his life, the pain that he's in causing him to want to take his life, it means he has to find a reason to live and things to live for and work his way through that pain.

That, for Ty, was Sam and Eve and the people who he made friends with in the sinkhole. To answer your question, it was the biggest joy to be able to have those many things to have to play with because that's what you want as an actor—to be able to overcome obstacles and to find some real, truthful moments. That was honestly a real joy of this job.

Jon, this is going back to the earlier episodes of the series, but we learned that Sam has PTSD from his time in the army. How do you think that either improved or even flared up more, given everything he's been through over the past two seasons?

Jon Seda: I think there's a lot that Sam learned about himself and was forced to learn about himself and forced to deal with and come to terms with in how much he needed help. He's always trying to do things by himself and find an answer by himself. Sam seeing Ty's character from the beginning, and what he was dealing with, and what he was about to put himself through, is something that he also thinks upon and is something that he sees as an important thing in life—how to avoid that and keep that from being a part of your life and just the whole journey together. Ty and Sam and this group are forced to become family. I think it helped Sam open up and become a better father, a better man, and a better friend. You see that throughout the course of the last season.

When you first found out about the portals opening, was there anything from other time periods that you personally wanted to see brought into the show?

Jon Seda: A Judas Priest arena.

Chiké Okonkwo: It's sad because it didn't make it into the show, but in episode 1 of season 3, there was meant to be a taco truck that fell through. That was just a nice thing for the crowd in the Clearing to have this bonding moment over—just a simple home pleasure like a taco. That was something that was given to us and then taken away, sadly.

Jon Seda: A Five Guys truck falling in. Fresh burgers. That would have been great.

What will you each take away from your time on the series? Is there something that you feel you've learned from your character?

Chiké Okonkwo: What a lovely question. We took a big leap of faith on a show that was so different to other things that were on TV. It was so ambitious for David Appelbaum, our showrunner and creator who built this incredible big world. I think the thing that I will take away is to continue to have ambition for the stories that you tell and to make sure that you can put something out into the world that is unique and new, and not be afraid of backing it to its full extent. That's been a really joyful part of this journey to see David Appelbaum do that and achieve that with this show.

Jon Seda: He said it great right there. You learn something new in everything you do, and everyone you get to work with. It was a great opportunity to work with this cast and this crew and David Applebaum and just everyone involved. You experience stuff together, and we were really fortunate to have these three seasons together. I felt, from the start, that this was special. I felt like there was something really special and unique about this show, and I still believe that.

If it were to somehow continue, that would be fantastic, but at least we got the story from beginning to end. I'm really proud to be a part of this. We left something that I think we're all proud of on the show. I've learned a lot of stuff. There's not enough time to talk about everything I learned. I always learn something new and take it with me and try to become a better person, a better man, a better father, and a better co-worker. I'm thankful for them.

About La Brea Season 3

“La Brea” follows an epic family adventure after a massive sinkhole opens in Los Angeles pulling people and buildings into a mysterious and dangerous primeval land where they have no choice but to band together to survive. In season two, the Harris family remains separated as Eve is reeling from her son, Josh, having mistakenly gone through a portal to 1988. What she doesn’t know yet is that her estranged husband, Gavin, and their daughter, Izzy, have landed in prehistoric Seattle and now must brave the elements and animals to make their way to L.A.

Check out our other interviews with:

• Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki, & Nicholas Gonzalez
• Lily Santiago, Josh McKenzie, & Rohan Mirchandaney
• Jack Martin and Veronica St. Clair
• Showrunner David Appelbaum

La Brea season 3 premieres Tuesday, January 9 at 9pm ET on NBC and is available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Source: Screen Rant Plus