All through 2024, Amazon Prime Video continued its original content expansion with shows like Cross and the thrilling international spy franchise, Citadel. To kick the new year off on a high note, the streamer shared the second season of The Rig, starring Emily Hampshire, Iain Glen, Martin Compston and Calvin Demba as crew members of the Kinloch Bravo crew. They work for profit-hungry Pictor Energy, extracting oil from the ocean to meet growing demand. As season one opens, viewers meet Rose, Magnus, Fulmer and Baz eager to return home after a long shift. Unfortunately, their plans are derailed, taking them on an unforgettable, Avatar-esque journey reminding audiences of our connection to Mother Earth, or the Ancestor, as Rose affectionately names the supernatural force that makes its presence felt in The Rig.
What Happens in ‘The Rig’?
The Rig opens on a thriving oil rig in the middle of the treacherous North Sea, staffed with an array of engineers, mechanics, drillers and electricians. When the show first kicks off, the crew is already growing quite restless, as they are overdue to be sent home via helicopter and swapped with a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed group of laborers that have had the privilege of staying home for the past few months. Unfortunately, several bizarre situations cause the shift change to be delayed even further, as Magnus, the overseer of the team, decides to power the drill down. Magnus’ decision is made after he records some tremors and electrical malfunctions, leading him to believe that a major weather event is imminent. Out of an abundance of caution, he radios the mainland and asks them to hold off on the helicopter until he gives the okay.
Though the crew is furious with this order, Magnus is ultimately proven to be right on the money, as the rig becomes completely enveloped in a haze of mysterious fog. The fog causes a number of unforeseen issues, which include knocking out communication with the mainland entirely and dropping visibility to practically nothing. A young and relatively inexperienced crew member named Baz even gets seriously injured while scaling the comms tower, upsetting his peers. As tensions continue to rise, Magnus tries to calm his subordinates with the assistance of a scientist named Rose, who is contracted by Pictor, the oil company, to study samples aboard the rig. Things take a turn for the worse however when Baz regains consciousness and explains that something unnatural within the fog has given him otherworldly visions.
What Is Wrong With Baz? Explaining the Ancestor
As the series progresses, Baz becomes sicker and sicker with a bizarre illness – or perhaps a superpower. His run-in with the fog has given him a superhuman ability to heal wounds, and premonitions of an extinction-level event on the horizon. At first, his peers think that he’s delirious, though eventually, Rose takes a special interest in investigating Baz’s insane ramblings. The young rig worker insists that a powerful creature has been struck by the rig, causing Rose to develop research and confirm that there is, in fact, some sort of Lovecraftian horror sending the fog across the sea. As she conducts further research, Rose nicknames this creature ‘The Ancestor,’ and learns that it spreads its power through a microbe within the fog. Baz becomes something of a conduit, interpreting its will while offering warnings to his crew mates of what’s to come.
Unfortunately, the Ancestor can be highly unpredictable, and quite dangerous. Baz murders a fellow crew mate after the ancestor rejects him at a biological level, suggesting that the creature is attempting to cull an inferior class of human in favor of a new step in human evolution. Emily hypothesizes that the Ancestor is seeking revenge for centuries of man-made horrors, which have ravaged the planet for resources and other greed. Of course, she ultimately makes this realization too late, after many of the men on board the rig have already inhaled the microbe and become infected with the Ancestor’s mind control.
Is Pictor Evil?
It sounds like a novel concept, but the events of season one of The Rig seem to suggest that the massive oil drilling company is actually a force for evil. For starters, crew members begin cracking down on a rumor that Pictor is planning on pivoting to renewable energy, leaving them all stranded without jobs in the near future. After trying to keep up morale for a while, Magnus ultimately caves and admits that this stretch on the rig is meant to be the source of the crew’s final paycheck. While that may seem a little evil on its own, Rose ultimately discovers that Pictor knew about the Lovecraftian monster all along, and specifically oriented this rig to kill the beast. From there, the company was hoping to cover up its role in nearly bringing about an apocalypse for profit. Pretty nasty stuff.
Rose ultimately confirms this suspicion after a boat arrives in the fifth episode, carrying researcher David Coake, who was previously stranded on a nearby rig also owned by Pictor. Coake was tasked with poisoning the Ancestor by the oil company and seems to know a lot more about the entire situation than he lets on. Ultimately, he reveals that the other Pictor oil rigs have been decimated, with their entire crews killed. While this does help to get the disgruntled engineers back on board to unite for a shared cause, Coake eventually leads something of a mutiny, as he tries to trick several of the rig’s employees into helping him release his poison gas. Coake justifies his actions by arguing that the fog could reach the mainland if they don’t stop the Ancestor, though his efforts are ultimately fruitless.
How Does ‘The Rig’ Season 1 End?
As the first season of The Rig draws to a close, it looks like there’s nothing Magnus and company can do to prevent the extinction event from happening. A concentric ring, representing the timeline of humanity, is closed – marking the beginning of an apocalypse the likes of which have not been seen since the Ice Age. Coake manages to signal Pictor and demand a helicopter evacuation, though the executives of the evil organization are surely furious that their schemes have failed. Still, Pictor sends a chopper to the rig as the fog clears, allowing the crew to evacuate with minutes left to spare. In a brief moment of clarity, Baz offers to remain on the rig as something of a sacrifice to the Ancestor. He recognizes that his infection makes him a liability to the rest of the crew, as he is forced to do the creature’s bidding.
Despite some protests from Rose and the others, the crew ultimately watch in horror as Baz and the entire rig are swallowed by a massive tsunami wave. Demoralized, the gang almost fails to realize that they aren’t heading toward the mainland of Scotland at all, and are being led by Coake to a mystery location. We don’t get to see where the chopper lands in the first season of the show, though we do get some perspective on Scotland’s fate. The final moments of The Rig season one conclude with a shot of the mainland, where family members of the rig workers are looking out over the sea. The fog seems to be rolling in toward the coast as the water draws backward, signaling that the tsunami is about to wipe out the entire country.
Rose and the Ancestor Save Each Other in Season 2
In the newly released second installment of The Rig, the crew is divided. Bremner and Coake represent the company’s tireless desire to acquire more profit; these themes echo real-world headlines of conservation vs. exploitation. On the other hand, Rose and Fulmer are driven by their new understanding of the Ancestor’s life-giving power after it saves her life. Once bonded with the Earth, the geologist can see things from a higher perspective to bridge the gap between destruction and rebirth. With every interaction, she and the Ancestor grow more closely connected, helping her understand its purpose – renewal and preserving life.
Things start to feel like a James Cameron epic when Rose and Fulmer find the Ancestor’s heart (a radiant network of glowing roots spanning the ocean floor). Aerial shots reveal the glow is visible from as far away as space when the creature decides to reveal itself in the fight against Pictor. With global attention on Mother Earth, the energy company begins to face heat from activists, leading to the crash of oil prices.
Is ‘The Rig’ Season 3 Coming?
As Coming Soon notes, “The closing scenes leave viewers questioning whether humanity will embrace or seek to exploit the Ancestor’s power.” If The Rig is renewed for a third season, future episodes could explore how humanity can deepen its connection to the Earth instead of exploiting its resources. The second season wraps as Pictor head Darian York receives a cryptic phone call from “X,” suggesting he might not be the biggest villain after all. While their identity is anonymous for now, X could be a rival oil executive or someone with hidden power over York and his crumbling empire.
