RTX 2020 at Home: “Meet the Writers of Gen:Lock Season 2” Panel Recap

Gen:Lock, Rooster Teeth’s much hyped sci-fi series that debuted last year, made a surprise last-minute return to RTX this year to update on its upcoming second season coming to HBO Max. Aside from some rebroadcasts on Toonami and some comic and novel releases in the year and a half since the first season finale, the show has been mainly dormant since its second season renewal was announced last October. It’s also no secret that the development of the first season is steeped in controversy, with many rumors floating around about unfavorable work environments allegedly perpetuated by series creator and then-Head of Animation, Gray G. Haddock, who retired from the position and Rooster Teeth once these reports became known and has since disappeared from social media and public appearances entirely for nearly a year. Haddock is noticeably absent from this panel despite penning all eight episodes of the first season, with his name not even mentioned once throughout.

As the title suggests, this panel introduces us to the new writing team for this season, with new head writer Daniel Dominguez, Maasai Singleton, Evan Narcisse, Kristle Peluso, Gavin Hignight, and Evan Narcisse (the only carry over from the first season, having been credited as co-writing the finale with Haddock). This group of writers was supposedly gathered for better inclusion and diversity in the writer’s room in order to bring more variety in the writing as well as to reflect the diversity within the show itself. This is mentioned in the panel as also being part of an industry wide initiative that Rooster Teeth was notably ahead of. Narcisse in particular has a diverse portfolio as a writer as he discusses his experience in writing for both journalism, comics, and now animation.

Not much is mentioned in regards to Gen:Lock’s second season, mainly that each of the writers is eager to make use of the concepts introduced in the series in order to express themselves through their writing. A lot is mentioned about how, despite the heady sci-fi concepts in the series, that it is ultimately a human story that can be relatable as all good sci-fi should be. While each of the writers are enthusiastic to tell more of this story, no details were given regarding a possible release date or any further information about the next season’s story beyond the recent synopsis from the press release. So, while the future of this series looks brighter than it did before, we have a ways to go before we get out of the tunnel.

Gen:Lock is available on Rooster Teeth’s website.