‘The Copenhagen Test’ EPs On Potential Season 2 Ideas, Cut Shower Scene

SPOILERS: This post contains detailed information about Copenhagen testSeason 1

Copenhagen testThe eight-episode binge leaves viewers with a lot to enjoy as the series explores some topical issues through a thrilling spy mission.

For the creator Thomas Brandonhe told Deadline that writing the series' sci-fi mystery caused “some weird consent issues” around intelligence agent Alexander Hale (Simu Liu) whose mind is hacked by a mysterious enemy who uses the information to destroy his top-secret government agency, the Orphanage.

“We had a shower scene,” he noted. “It was at the end of the pilot, and it was kind of an indication that he had accepted the mission. He strips down to go into the shower… and then he just looks down.”

While the asylum keeps the break-in open, Alexander comes to the realization that both the enemy and his own superiors have complete control over his life until he can help them find the source by working undercover with fellow agent Michelle (Melissa Barrera) as an unwilling couple.

Brandon explained the cutscene: “It was too funny for the end of the pilot, but it spoke to a larger theme. [element] As for your question, here is a guy who is now trying to prove to his country: “I can be trusted.”

Comparing the series with paranoia The Truman Show (1998), fun Copenhagen test comes with not knowing “who is involved and who is not.”

As the series unravels the mystery of Alexander's brain hacking, it also explores the lives and stories of its characters, including those who built the Asylum. Could there be a prequel in addition to a potential second season?

“There was a thought there, but it’s just a thought,” Brandon noted. “But yes, it was always meant to be an ongoing series, so there are plans and ideas and hopes for what a second season could be.”

Read our interview with Copenhagen testseries creator Thomas Brandon, co-showrunner Jennifer Yale and executive producer James Wanbelow.

DEADLINE: You really start to feel paranoid about the lack of privacy in his life as you start to understand more and more what's going on. So tell me, what about the privacy element intrigued you and made you want to do the story?

JAMES WANG: Can I just ask you guys this? The whole time I'm obviously thinking in my head: How does he get into the shower? Does he look down when he goes to the bathroom?

THOMAS BRANDON: We had a shower scene. This was at the end of the pilot, and it was kind of an indicator that he had accepted the mission. He undresses to go into the shower… and then just looks down. And it was too funny for the end of the pilot, but it spoke to a larger theme. [element] As for your question, here is a guy who is now trying to prove to his country: “I can be trusted.” They're like, “Great, give us your whole life. Be a double agent in your life, sacrifice your family, your friends, your loved ones, your body, everything.” And he's like, “OK,” and he does it to prove it. And the show's journey asks, “Should I do this?” What is the line of how much you give to your country when you lose a part of yourself? And that was one of the things that we really paid attention to in terms of the privacy of it all. And the other thing we did stylistically is that the spy genre often makes heavy use of shadows. Very noir, rays of light, and the creepiest thing is what you can't see. In our show, we decided that creepy things would be things that you see but don't understand. That's why we actually see a lot of architecture in our show. You see a lot of things around Alexander, and he looks at these things, but the paranoia doesn't come from what I don't see. Paranoia comes from something I can't understand. So we made sure that the camera really stayed with Alexander on his shoulder from his point of view so you could see how it works. The Truman Show office and not knowing who's in it and who's not, and that was part of what we were going to do.

DEADLINE: It's funny you mention that because that's what I was thinking about during the sex scene. I'm like, they know there's a few people watching, right?

JENNIFER YALE: That's why she says, “Are you sure?” And she turns off the light.

BRANDON: And those were some of the longest conversations we had in the writers' room. This raises some strange issues with consent.

DEADLINE: In that regard, I also like the sort of romantic comedy in the spy thriller, although you soon realize that she's just manipulating him, which makes it even more interesting to watch. But tell me about balancing their chemistry with her manipulation.

Yale: I mean, we had a lot of fun, and it was also in the same conversations about how you can have sex without them listening or watching. But we took a long time to make sure that we created the chemistry between them before you find out that she's manipulating him because you want them to meet and have this romance. That's why we spent a lot of time showing you part of the scene, and then the audience was with Alexander. reliving the scene, only to have the floor drop when you realize it's all a script.

BRANDON: Oh, and the second episode is really fun to unravel a lot of the intentional stereotypes we had in the first episode, which is: you're out of luck and there's a helpful, sweet bartender who's all real this time. This time she really likes you. And you start to realize, “Oh, this is the whole story Parker is telling.” She's using forms of these characters that we feel like we've seen before because she's essentially creating this TV show around him and it's had an effect on him. And part of the fun for him is realizing, “Yeah, it worked, but I realized I'm still in business.” The Truman Show” And so he started to resist and ended up telling the story to the others and they weren't sure what he was going to do.

VAN: The romantic comedy aspect also reminded me of things like Mr and Mrs Smithjust the interaction between the two of them, and it actually goes back even further to classic Hitchcock, just a really old school mystery between the two characters. And there's always tension between the two, but there's also a lot of romantic tension. And I think you guys have done a great job of bringing that into a modern setting.

DEADLINE: Michelle hints at her past, that she did something very bad and that's why she's here, and then at the end Parker burns her file. She gets this new beginning. But I was curious if you had a backstory for her that you told Melissa or something that she kept in the back of her mind??

Yale: Yeah, that was one of the most important things we did with each of the characters: we had a backstory where each of the teasers gave you a little more about each of the characters and where they came from and where they were going. And we did a teaser with Michelle, but we wanted to wait because we thought it was giving the audience too much information. And we want to keep where she went at the end of Episode 8 and this idea that she wants to go home or live another life, outside of this world. Did she really go there? Or is she still undercover? Is she still in the game?

BRANDON: Oh, and part of Michelle's Russian nesting doll is that you never know if you'll get the real thing. So even though we've kind of created a backstory, the question is, is it real? Or the backstory that's in the file somewhere isn't the real story. Because for us, the most interesting aspect of Michelle isn't, “Oh, what's the truth here?” The most interesting aspect: is there anyone who has played so many roles that they have forgotten what the truth actually is? Had she really lost sight of who this man really was? And could you ever tell the difference between what is real and what is not?

Yale: And then play with her relationship with Parker and what she wants out of that relationship and is that genuine in their chemistry and friendship or did she just want Parker to burn her file?

DEADLINE: And that was another character that really intrigued me, Parker, just because she relates so much to Hale or understands him so much. And I wonder if it's because they look alike or because it's her job and she's just really good at thinking ahead of everyone else?

BRANDON: Yes, that's a great question. We struggle with this a lot. I think there must be some similarities. First of all, she's great at her job and she's very knowledgeable about it—she's kind of a stand-in for the writer on the show, and it's my job to put myself in that person's shoes and understand them, whether they're like me or not. But she has a unique special power that we hinted at at the end of episode two when she found his seven words and her words are similar. They're not exactly the same, but she understands what drives him because they have a similar drive, she can imagine what he's going to do next. And like you, we love this character and we think Sinclair was great in this, which can be a very dry person who stands and looks at a lot of monitors, and she brought such energy and empathy to it. And in the midst of a show that's packed with action, intrigue and thought-provoking twists, what we really liked was that she gave us a chance – they told me not to use that word because it's too mysterious – but Cyrano de Bergerac. It's a very unrequited love, right? She gradually falls in love with her own creation. Through Michelle, she meets Alexander and maintains a parasocial relationship with him. Like all of us who watch TV, we know this character endlessly, but this character doesn't know us. And then watching how real life began to merge with her little hermetically sealed world in which she found herself was fascinating.

DEADLINE: Getting back to Michelle, I liked where this story went and how it hints at the potential for a second season. So, I'm curious if there are plans for that, but I'm also curious – because St. George's love story was so heartbreaking and beautiful, and there's all this backstory of how Orphanage started – I'm curious if you've thought about doing some kind of prequel series or something like that.

Yale: Oh, Peacock!

BRANDON: Yes. There was a thought there, but it was just a thought. But yes, it was always meant to be an ongoing series, so there are plans and ideas and hopes for what a second season could be.