The Lazarus Project season 2 has arrived and fans of the smash hit BAFTA-nominated series have been waiting with bated breath for the sci-fi time-travel action to kick off. Thankfully, Paapa Essiedu’s George and the rest of the Lazarus team from season 1 are back to save the world – with a host of new cast members to boot.
As Paapa Essiedu, Anjli Mohindra, Charly Clive, Caroline Quentin, Rudi Dharmalingam and Tom Burke return to the show, which follows a highly skilled team working for a super-secret project that steps in to turn back time every time there’s a world-ending event, series two sees the likes of EastEnders actor Colin Salmon and The Witchers’ Royce Pierreson join the fray.
This time the stakes are even higher and whereas the first season saw the world turn back in time by six months every time the team were forced to intervene, this time the world is set to end every three weeks. That means it’s a race against time to stop humanity being wiped out for ever. And bearing in mind George is in disgrace after betraying the organisation in the name of love at the end of season 1, it seems no one is quite sure who to trust this time around.
Here’s everything you need to know about The Lazarus Project season 2…
The Lazarus Project season 2 release date
The Lazarus Project season 2 starts on Sky Max on Wednesday November 15 at 9pm. It's an eight-part series that runs weekly but will also be available from November 15 2023 as a box-set on Sky Box Sets and NOW.
In the US, the first season of The Lazarus Project arrived on cable network TNT from June 4 2023. So we're expecting season 2 to land on the channel some time after its UK release. we'll update her when we can.
Is there a trailer for The Lazarus Project season 2?
Yes trailers for The Lazarus Project season 2 have now been released and the sci-fi drama looks just as intense and action-packed as the first series. We can't wait. Take a look at both below.
What is the plot of The Lazarus Project season 2?
The Lazarus Project – a secret organisation set up to stop apocalyptic events – is back and facing yet more threats to humanity.
After his girlfriend Sarah (Charly Clive) died in a tragic accident, George (Paapa Essiedu) begged boss Wes (Caroline Quentin) to reset time so he could save her. But the Lazarus Project’s powers are only meant to be deployed when the whole of humanity is under threat, so when George was refused he responded by deliberately triggering an apocalypse and framing coworker Shiv (Rudi Dharmalingam) to ensure Wes would turn back the clock.
In season 2, Sarah survived, but in the new timeline she broke up with him, and George’s mentor Archie (Anjli Mohiindra) found out what he had done.
So this time, the team face the world ending every three weeks so the pressure is on! We rejoin former app designer George faces the consequences of his deception, while the Lazarus agents become trapped in a time loop, forced to endlessly relive the same three weeks leading up to a disaster they cannot prevent. Appalled by George’s behaviour, boss Wes (Caroline Quentin) fires him, but George carries on working in secret with help from Sarah, who has become aware of the time loops and gets recruited into the organisation. The plot follows George as he’s trying to redeem himself and win back the trust of his team. But can he trust them?
The Lazarus Project series 1 recap
The first series of The Lazarus Project followed George, an app designer who was madly in love with his girlfriend Sarah (Charly Clive). He came to realise he’d been reliving the past six months of his life over and over again and was eventually recruited into a secret organisation called The Lazarus Project by an agent called Archie (Anjli Mohindra). (see more of The Lazarus Porject first season recap below)
The organisation, which is run by project boss Wes (Caroline Quentin), has the ability to turn back time each time the world is about to end. The team was called into action when former member Dennis Rebrov (Tom Burke) turned against them but as they caught him, Sarah died in an accident. George agreed to work with Rebrov to bring Sarah back but at the end of the series it emerged that Rebrov had turned on the project because every time it turned back the clock, his partner Janet (Vinette Robinson) was forced to relive the death of their son. George killed his colleague Shiv (Rudi Dharmalingam) in order to save Sarah but eventually, as time turned back again and again, he worked out a way to save his life. But the team learnt the Chinese had also made a time machine similar to Lazarus’s but it had gone wrong. This meant that the world would reset every three weeks. At the end of the series, Sarah took the serum that helped her to retain her memory each time the world moved back in time, meaning she now knows about the Lazarus project.
The Lazarus Project season 2 returning cast
Paapa Essiedu returns to head the cast of The Lazarus Project season 2 again playing George. He has also starred in I Will Destroy You, The Capture, Black Mirror and Gangs of London. Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek star Caroline Quentin is back as Lazarus boss Wes. Charly Clive is George's partner Sarah, while Anjli Mohindra, Rudi Dharmalingam, Tom Burke and Vinette Robinson return as Archie, Shiv, Rebrov and Janet.
The Lazarus Project season 2 new cast members
Bond and EastEnders actor Colin Salmon has joined for The Lazarus Project season two alongside Royce Pierreson (The Witcher), Safia Oakley-Green (Sherwood), Lorne MacFadyen (Vigil), Zoe Telford (Litvinenko), Sam Troughton (The Outlaws) and James Atherton (Sanditon).
Interviews: Paapa Essiedu, Caroline Quentin and Anjli Mohindra on thir roles in The Lazarus Project season 2
We caught up with Paapa, 33, Anjli, 33 and Caroline, 63, to find out more about The Lazarus Project season 2…
In light of all that’s happened, does George regret his actions?
Paapa Essiedu says: "Well, obviously, getting dumped wasn’t a great validation for setting off a nuclear bomb! I actually don’t think he regrets it, he just doesn’t understand why everyone doesn’t see things the way he does! Something we explore in this second series is the morality of it - George is really obsessed with this idea of whether he is a bad person or not. He’s got his own reasons for what he did, and they’re connected to the depth of his love for Sarah, which feels justifiable to him. So I don’t think he regrets it, but he probably regrets her response."
What impact does George’s deception have on the team?
Anjli Mohindra says; "Archie feels incredibly betrayed by George, their friendship is irreparably damaged. It feels like they are going to fight about it later, but right now they are stuck in an infinite three-week time loop, so all beefs are off the table - everybody has to join forces, build bridges and try to stop humanity from being wiped off the face of the Earth."
Caroline, we also learn that Wes has some big secrets of her own this time around. What was that like to portray?
Caroline Quentin says: "It was an absolute delight! I can’t deny it was terrific playing someone who is a closed book and the boss, but it’s really wonderful to then unpeel that character and get the opportunity to flex your acting muscles a bit. I came into the programme thinking I was playing someone relatively one-dimensional, although still fun and interesting and all those things, then we had the opportunity to reveal much more about her and bring the audience with us. We discover quite shocking revelations about this woman - people’s opinion of her will change almost moment to moment in some episodes!"
Sarah also becomes involved with the Lazarus Project in this series. What does Wes make of her?
Caroline Quentin says: "The two of them absolutely get each other. Instinctively, Wes trusts Sarah - she knows a bright, clever woman when she meets one, but it’s early days. She knows for a fact Sarah has never killed anyone, so Wes has to ask herself whether Sarah’s cut out for this life.
It’s a really action-packed show with lots of fights and stunts. How did you prepare yourselves to come back and do all that again?
Anjli Mohindra says; "I tripped up the stairs and broke my foot three weeks before we were due to start! I was due to fly to Strasbourg to film a brilliant, elaborate, multi-stage fight sequence - all that had to be thrown out the window. We tried to pick it up later in the year, but Strasbourg had their Christmas lights up, and we were supposed to be stuck in a time loop in July! So we couldn’t do it, and I was really gutted.
Paapa Essiedu says: "The preparation for a show like this is mental as much as it is physical. It takes a real activation of your brain to make sure you’re in the right mental space and location at the right time! But it was exciting to come back.
This is a great audition reel for James Bond though, Paapa! Is that a role you’d love to play one day?
Paapa Essiedu says: "I often giggle at the idea of James Bond and George having a job swap for a day - let’s not forget this guy was an app developer eight episodes ago! I don’t know what George would look like in a tuxedo and, no disrespect to Sarah, but he can barely stop her from dumping him, let alone Léa Seydoux [who played Dr Madeleine Swann in the Bond films Spectre and No Time To Die]! But it’s very kind of you to see a parallel between them.
Does it get very confusing on set when you’re filming multiple different versions of the same three week span?
Caroline Quentin says: " I’m not going to lie, I find it an absolute nightmare. I am baffled by the entire thing. Sometimes in the middle of a scene, I’ll have to turn to the actor next to me and go, ‘What’s just happened?’ Thank God I’m not in charge of my own hair, because in this series it’s long, it’s short, it’s down, it’s up, it’s wigs, it’s black, it’s white. I couldn’t do it on my own, we have a massive team of people helping us with time travel!
Paapa Essiedu says: "We don’t shoot in chronological order, which is true of most TV shows, and it’s hard enough when you’re doing something linear. Doing it on this show is particularly challenging!
Anjli Mohindra says; "We have an amazing script supervising team, who help us a lot. When we’re doing a time loop scene, it might be very similar to another one 15 loops later, but we’re playing a three-dimensional game of spot the difference because there are subtle changes. We also had a WhatsApp group that was very much alive with people panicking, and sharing tips!
