"Mr. Robot" season 1 delved into the psyche of main character Elliot (Rami Malek) and the leader of Fsociety, Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). Season 2 will continue the ongoing battle of Fsociety and Evil Corp but will also take into its storyline elements from real-world issues such as privacy and data encryption.
According to Variety, series creator and showrunner Sam Esmail explained during the SXSW festival that the second season's story will mirror that of the battle going on right now between Apple CEO Tim Cook and the FBI. For those unaware, the FBI is requesting to bypass security features built into the iPhone to gather any substantial information they can acquire regarding the San Bernardino shooting.
Apple has refused to allow the FBI access, citing consumer privacy as their main reason.
"What's weird is we're really going into thematically talking a lot about encryption and privacy, and this whole thing with Apple and Tim Cook happened," Esmail explained. "It's not something that I think people really understand the nuances of, but it's going to be interesting public discourse about it, because it really brings up the idea of the rights to privacy and do we have them, do we not?"
Esmail also explained that while developing season 2, the writers do have coding experts and FBI employees as their consultants and both are on opposite sides of whether or not data encryption is needed. Esmail also explained that the plot for season 2 was already going in this direction even before the event between Apple and the FBI happened.
In regards to other plot spoilers, Esmail confirmed that Grace Gummer has indeed been cast and that her story will revolve around the fact that Elliot committed a major crime in season 1. According to Esmail, season 2 will deal with the ramifications of Elliot's actions from season 1.
"Mr. Robot" season 2 will premiere this summer.
