When it comes to TV schedules, summer is often the slowest season, the months filled with reruns and reality rather than must-see shows. This year, however, viewers will have no shortage of top-quality content to choose from, including AMC’s Orphan Black: Echoes, the highly anticipated sequel to the acclaimed sci-fi thriller series set for release on June 23.
Taking place in the same universe 37 years after the end of the original, Echoes is not simply an excuse for another Tatiana Maslany acting showcase. In fact, the Emmy-winning actress (supposedly) isn’t even present in the new series; instead, the star is Jessica Jones’s Krysten Ritter, who plays Lucy, an amnesiac taken under the care of Kira (Keeley Hawes), a.k.a. the grown-up version of Orphan Black protagonist Sarah’s daughter.
If Echoes is anything like its predecessor, you can bet that each of the ten episodes will be filled with never-ending drama, complicated conspiracies, and (although it remains to be confirmed) at least a few clones. With enough chaos in store to addle even the first show’s most hard-core fans, it’s a good time to revisit the most important details about Orphan Black so we can all start off the sequel as certified Clone Club members.
Wait, so Orphan Black is about clones?
Indeed, it is. In the original show, which aired on BBC America for five seasons from 2013 to 2017, Canadian con artist Sarah Manning (Maslany) learns that she’s one of hundreds of genetically identical clones — all of whom were created via an illegal experiment from the mysterious scientific movement Neolution. Throughout the series, we meet several of the clones including scientist Cosima, soccer mom Alison, evil executive Rachel, and the terrifying (and highly entertaining) assassin Helena.
And they’re all played by Tatiana Maslany?!
There’s a reason she was nominated for approximately 4 billion awards during Orphan Black’s run. A main point of the appeal of the show was watching Maslany embody an ever-growing assortment of clones (and at one point, even a scorpion) with brilliantly subtle differences, allowing each character to feel distinct and compelling. The actress’s co-stars, like Jordan Gavaris, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Dylan Bruce, were all excellent as well, but at the end of the day, Orphan Black was Maslany’s show through and through.
But Sarah was the actual main character, right?
Yup. At the start of Orphan Black, Sarah is a struggling single mom to a daughter, Kira, who’s currently being raised by Sarah’s foster mother, Mrs. S (Kennedy). Desperate to regain custody of Kira and escape the wrath of her drug-dealer ex, Sarah decides to assume the identity of an eerily identical police officer, Beth (also played by Maslany), whom Sarah witnesses jump in front of a train. Unsurprisingly, things don’t quite go as planned; Sarah learns that Beth was suspended for shooting someone, and her partner, Art, gets hot on Sarah’s trail, while Sarah’s loved ones — save for her beloved foster brother, Felix (Gavaris) — assume she’s dead. Much drama ensues!
So … how does the whole clone thing come into play?
At the end of the very first episode, Sarah meets Katja (Maslany), another woman who looks just like her and is suddenly killed. From there, Sarah begins diving into the mystery that is her doppelgängers, soon learning that there are far more than just two out there, and they’re all being hunted by an unknown entity.
It’s a sci-fi show. Is there a big bad?
There are several, in fact! In season one, the major villain is Helena (Maslany), a Ukrainian clone with hair that’s never seen a comb who’s been trained to find and kill her look-alikes by the Proletheans, an Über-religious group that believes clones are abominations. But as time goes on, the lonely Helena’s newfound love for her ses-tras (including biological twin Sarah) outweighs her desire to fulfill her ordered duties, and she becomes an ally of Sarah and the others.
In her place, the real big bad is revealed as the Dyad Institute, a powerful and top-secret biotech company led by Dr. Aldous Leekie (Matt Frewer), whose pro-eugenics beliefs led to the creation of Project Leda under Neolution and, thus, the clones — including the manipulative Rachel, who helps run the institute. When the Dyad crew learn that Sarah has a daughter despite the clones having been designed to be sterile, they become focused on capturing the duo no matter the cost.
So Kira’s important?
Very. Not only is the young girl not supposed to exist, she shows signs of superhuman qualities like accelerated healing and an uncanny ability to tell the clones apart. Sarah spends much of the show protecting Kira from both the Neolutionists and the Proletheans, both of whom do not exactly have the kid’s best interests in mind. In Echoes, Kira is all grown up as a married mother and scientist, and you can bet she’ll find a way to get into just as much trouble as her mom.
What other characters from Orphan Black are in Echoes?
In addition to Kira, Felix (still played by Gavaris) is set to make a return, as is Delphine (Evelyne Brochu), Kira’s aunt and the wife of Cosima. Whether any other OGs pop up in Echoes is yet to be seen, but let’s be honest: It’s impossible to imagine an Orphan Black spinoff without Maslany making at least a quick cameo.
All right, what else do I need to know?
To explain all of Orphan Black’s story lines and twists would take as long as evolution itself, but here are a few key things: Each of the clones is assigned a “monitor” by Dyad who’s been ordered to watch them, including Delphine (then just Cosima’s girlfriend) and Alison’s husband Donnie. Mrs. S, Sarah’s foster mom, is revealed to have been way more involved with the Neolution movement than she seemed but ultimately stands by the clones and is tragically killed at the series’ end. Also, there’s a clone-specific illness that affects Cosima and others, heightening the stakes of the fight against Dyad. Oh, and there are male clones too (created in an experiment called Project Castor), but thanks in large part to a defect in their making, none of them make it past the series finale.
That sounds pretty intense. Isn’t Orphan Black supposed to be funny, too?
It is, we swear! For all its truly heart-pounding and sometimes tragic story lines, the series also has no shortage of humor, as seen in everything from Helena’s slow un-feralization to the banter between Alison and Donnie to that epic (and impressively edited) clone dance party in season four. Orphan Black is a genuinely funny show, with Maslany’s comedic timing as solid as her dramatic chops.
And it’s also kinda gay, right?
You are correct. Orphan Black is known for both its ample LGBTQ+ representation, as seen in the characters of Felix, Cosima, Delphine, and trans clone Tony, and its general semi-sapphic vibes. Maslany has spoken about the importance of the show having so many queer characters, telling LogoTV in 2019, “So much of my interaction with Orphan Black fans has been young people telling me how the show helped them come out or be themselves because they felt seen, they felt represented, and it gave them the courage to talk to their parents about who they were. To be a part of something that has had that kind of effect, and to be able to have those conversations with people, is really moving and humbling.”
How nice! But back to the drama — how did Orphan Black end?
We’re getting there! The first big thing to know is that Helena, after a very tumultuous pregnancy, gives birth to twins and helps save them from a Neolution-monitored life. Elsewhere in the finale, Sarah kills the evil, super-old founder of Neolution, and Helena (it’s a busy episode for her!) kills the also-evil doctor responsible for Project Castor and other bad things. When the hour wraps up, the clones (including the now-free Rachel) are safe and content, with Cosima and Delphine making it a mission to find and cure the other unknown clones across the globe who may also have Cosima’s disease.
So what’s gonna happen in Echoes?
We don’t really know! Save for the aforementioned details about Kira and Lucy, most of Echoes’s plot has been kept under wraps. But whatever ends up happening, you know that the unbreakable bonds of sestra-hood will be front and center — it’s an Orphan Black show, after all.