HEADER BY YOSEF PHELAN

With a switch from slasher to folk horror, the absence of the Sacramentum and the savage deaths of beloved heroes, “safe” isn’t a word that can be associated with the second season of Wreck. “I just wanted to come back with a bang, and I think we’ve created a space for those things to happen now,” writer and creator Ryan J. Brown tells GAY TIMES. “Anyone can die at any moment.”

Season two follows Jamie (Oscar Kennedy) and Vivian (Thaddea Graham) in their attempts to expose the blood-thirsty Velorum Corporation by infiltrating their latest deranged venture – a so-called ‘wellness’ festival for millionaires in the Slovenian countryside that, once again, has hidden murderous motives.

All of the main players return, such as Rosie (Miya Ocego), Olly (Anthony Rickman), Sophia (Alice Nokes), Comac (Peter Claffey), Lauren (Amber Grappy), Karen (Harriet Webb) and Officer Beaker (Warren James Dunning). There’s some new faces, too, including Heartstopper alum Bradley Riches and the legendary Alan Dale (Lost! The OC! Ugly Betty!) as Velorum’s head honcho.

Following in the footsteps of the refreshingly rainbow-tinted first season, Wreck’s sophomore season is awash with LGBTQIA+ representation that doesn’t feel shoe-horned in, tokenistic or tired. Rosie’s transness, for example, isn’t acknowledged until halfway into season two. “It’s beautiful because it’s not a massive song and dance,” says Ocego. “It’s so validating for me as an actor, to not just be cast to tick a box. […] I didn’t feel like I was being used in any way shape or form.”

All six episodes of Wreck season two are now streaming on BBC iPlayer. To mark the release, we caught up with Brown, Ocego and Sam Buttery – who plays the deliciously wicked new villain Jean – about body horror, facials and hydrochloric acid. (It’s all relevant, I swear!)

GAY TIMES: The first season of Wreck was an homage to the slasher genre. That’s still there in season two – and I’m so pleased the duck returns – but with more elements of folk horror. Ryan, was that intentional? Switching up the genre?

Ryan: Yeah, in every series I want a new location. It still has its slasher roots, but with a slight bent into a different sub-genre of horror. And this series, it was folk, I’d say. Midsommar is in there, there’s a lot of The Wicker Man.

Miya: It’s very The Cabin in the Woods, as well.

Ryan: There’s some gruesome body horror coming up, and some very intense facials happen…

Miya: I missed out with that one!

Ryan: With Devon’s character, you can guess which wellness guru she’s based on, a little bit. All of her murders and her deaths, I like the idea that a lot of them are wellness-adjacent. The hydrochloric acid. Yeah, she’s a sicko.

GAY TIMES: Devon is unhinged, which I love. The scene where she visits all the prisoners in the dungeon and she’s simply like, ‘Hello! Are you all okay?’

Miya: She loves it.

Ryan: Her dad eventually comes to the festival, the owner of Velorum, who’s played by Alan Dale. She has such a nice arc because you see her desperately trying to please him. She’s so incredible. Sam has the most scenes with her, so she can speak…

Sam: I’m obsessed with Devon. The character of Jean would do anything for Devin Deveraux. It’s the boring administration behind murder, and she operates co-dependently. I feel like, in real life, Niamh [Walsh] can do no wrong in my eyes, either. She, to me, is 100 per cent perfect.

GAY TIMES: Sam, talk to me about Jean. She is silent, but quite evil…

Sam: Jean is co-dependent, evil, will do anything that Devon says and her priority is efficiency over any human emotion.

GAY TIMES: Why is Jean so loyal to Devon?