Being a scientist is never easy, but being a scientist on the Manhattan Project was probably the toughest job of all time. Not only did the project demand absolute secrecy, but it also required its scientists and their families to pick up their lives and move to the middle of nowhere, places like Los Alamos, a small town in the New Mexican desert.
WGN America's Manhattan seeks to show us the lives behind those scientists who lived in Los Alamos in a way we haven't seen before: instead of focusing on the project itself, the series delves into the scientists' lives, loves and secrets outside of the project.
On the series, viewers go deep behind the scenes with the scientists on a team run by Frank Winter (John Benjamin Hickey), including Louis "Fritz" Fedowitcz (Michael Chernus), Jim Meeks (Christopher Denham) and Paul Crosley (Harry Lloyd), as well as the lone female scientist on the project, Helen Prins (Katja Herbers).
Tech Times spoke with the actors behind Manhattan's on-screen scientific team, who discussed the changes their characters see this season, as well as how they'll deal with the spy among them.
Season 2 of Manhattan sees the launch of the infamous Trinity Test, which was the first successful detonation of a nuclear weapon, and the dawn of the age of weapons of mass destruction. However, for those scientists on Manhattan, the reality of what they're about to unleash on mankind hasn't quite hit them yet.
"Right now, they're so absorbed by wanting to advance science," said Herbers. "They're like great athletes at the Olympics, just wanting to win the Gold. They want to win the Gold and make it. And maybe later, they'll think about what we've done."
Of course, some characters on the series are so bogged down with what's going on in their personal lives that it doesn't hit them at all.
"Paul is never one to be too caught up in morality," said Lloyd "And especially in this season, he is less interested in the science, even less than in the first year. After what happened to him at the end of the first season, he's on a fairly self-destructive path. And it takes something other than science to help him out."
In the first season, the series revealed Jim Meeks as a spy working for the enemy on the project. But Denham assures viewers that Meeks has a good reason for his betrayal of the team: he believes that what he's doing is right for the country, in spite of what is, essentially, an act of treason.
"It's a version of patriotism in his own mind, keeping the country in check," said Denham. "It's like a game of chess: there's a stalemate. If we both have the bomb, neither one of us will use it."
Of course, Denham's betrayal affects the other scientists, especially Fritz, because of the friendship formed between the two men.
"These two guys are really close," said Chernus. "Fritz absolutely gets caught up in the web of Meeks' lies."
In addition to living with a spy, the relationships between the scientific team begin to change in season 2. After his brief affair with Helen, Paul feels lost and frustrated, perhaps because he never seems to get the things he wants.
"I think a lot of that is to do with the fact is that he doesn't know what he wants," said Lloyd. "He's a lost soul. He is someone who is pretending to be different people all his life to get by. He's rejected his childhood. He's somewhat of a fraud and he knows it. And so, definitely in season two, he's really looking for something that's going to hold him, that's going to captivate him, that's going to stop him from drinking himself to death."
Also, Paul's relationship with Helen is now strained, even though they don't see as much of each other in season 2.
"In terms of implosion and what becomes Little Boy, everyone's got a very different kind of job," said Lloyd. "So we overlap at different times – sometimes, we're very separate. But the times we're forced to be together, you see the sparks: it's uncomfortable. It's dealt with really subtly."
However, one thing hasn't changed: Helen is still the only woman on the scientific team, perhaps leaving Herbers feeling a responsibility to portray the character in an accurate light. However, Herbers attributes what viewers see as Helen to the writers.
"I just think it's all on the page," said Herbers. "So if I say the words that they've written for Helen, you will see a very determined, very strong woman who doesn't let herself be distracted by anything or anyone and who uses any scrutiny from men to be more ambitious."
But what about some of the other transitions we'll see in the second season? At the beginning of the second season, team leader Frank Winter has disappeared, leaving Charlie Isaacs (Ashley Zukerman) in his place as the head of the team.
"It's the big mystery of the start of the season: where is our boss, Frank, that we love?" said Denham. "Where is this guy? He's MIA. So we are accepting of Charlie, but we're slightly skeptical of this young, ambitious guy. How did he get to be so powerful so quickly? His agenda is maybe not on parallel tracks with ours."
This does mean, though, that we'll see more of certain characters, particularly Fritz and Meeks.
"Fritz definitely is around more and becomes more of a factor as we start working side by side with Charlie," said Chernus. "As our implosion model becomes the featured model, we're definitely much more in the mix."
"We're right on the groundwork of the Trinity Test: we're right there," added Denham.
Manhattan season two premieres on WGN America on Oct. 13.
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
