‘Hello Tomorrow!’ Season One Finale Post-Mortem Interview with Series Co-Creators Amit Bhalla & Lucas Jansen

Billy Crudup and Dagmara Dominczyk as Jack Bilings and Elle in the Season One Finale of ‘Hello Tomorrow!’ – ‘What Could Be Better?’ Photo Courtesy of Apple.

The season one finale of Hello Tomorrow! on Apple TV+, definitely sent a lot of surprises our way. After all, Jack made his best attempt to do everyone a solid, complete with setbacks of course, and he even made a bold decision regarding his family and his future. And in order to learn a little more about the gravity of this finale, we with sat down with Series Co-Creators Amit Bhalla and Lucas Jansen to discuss this epic season finale.
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John Betancourt: What went into the decision to explore to end this season on a more hopeful note?

Lucas Jansen: Was that hopeful to you? (Laughter)

John Betancourt: It was! The hope is a little bit deceptive, but it’s in there.

Lucas Jansen: I mean, look, the, the story itself is about the sort of dual forking nature of our hopes and aspirations, right. And there's something magical that happens when you, when you start telling yourself, there's no chance you can fail. Or even just telling yourself, you're equal to your own life or to the tasks ahead, it unleashes tremendous energy. And I think in Jack's case, there are thrilling things that happened with his son and even with the promise of his wife, and, you know, deep, deep, deep urges in his spirit that are being answered by the fact that he's able to able to look to the horizon, hopefully. At the same time. He's just sent a rocket full of people to God knows where to God knows what fate. And those are the reckonings. Right. Those are the reckonings of living with no conception of your own ability to fail. And that will be his continued, you know, his continued journey is to reconcile those impossible things. He's done something, he's done something so, so powerful, and so potentially dooming and damning at the same time, that's, you know, this is why we, this is why we love riding along with Jack and why we feel like he's the hero of our age, right? I mean, every day, every day, we hear a new story about a bank failing, about us getting over our skis as a culture in terms of our own hope.

Amit Bhalla: And people want to go to the Moon or to Mars! Or, you know, selling self-driving technology that doesn't entirely work or new, you know, there's, it's so in our culture, and it's, it's so fascinating. You know, it's been in it for a while now. You know, I think since 2008, kind of this notion that the only way to make it all work is to keep pumping. You know, it's kind of Jack is the, the psycho spiritual, you know, emblem of that impulse.

John Betancourt: And I have to say, the only reason I say hopeful… is we had some growth here. 

Amit Bhalla: Oh no, that IS a very hopeful thing! (Laughter)

John Betancourt: But don’t get me wrong, I saw that rocket take flight and I thought, “I hope there’s going to be someone on the moon that sees that a crater away and goes… ‘That’s strange. I might need to go check on that.’” But that growth was special, in fact, since we saw so much of it from Jack here, would you say this is the start of his redemption?

Amit Bhalla: Oh, my god. That's so good a question. I don't know. (Laughter) No, no, no. I think it's something that you… you know, we're going to find out all-together. I would say that the beginning of redemption for Jack might have happened at the end of nine when he speaks to Joey and kind of says something that for the first time in the whole series, did he just say something honest? And like, deeply authentic and that comes from a part of him that we're yet to understand? And there is something, something that looks like growth or progress there. But I also think that you know, old habits die hard, and you know, you can't shed the identity that that also animates your whole life. Which is what Jack is kind of… it’s the duality that Jack is trapped in right? But that in a desire to kind of maybe build a relationship with his son, he has to keep the circus going. Yeah, and, you know, I think he's going to find that, you know, he still likes being a circus master.

Lucas Jansen: Jack will never rule out the possibility of its own redemption.

Amit Bhalla: Yeah!

Lucas Jansen: Jack never rules anything out. For better or for worse, you know, it's all… it's all on the table. And that's, that's the beautiful thing about him. And that's the dangerous thing about him.

John Betancourt: Now one of the biggest surprises of this episode, is after spending weeks scheming to make the world as he wants it, he just decides, “Okay. Time to go home. Time to be with my family.” What went into the decision to make him be a family man again?

Lucas Jansen: Well, you know, the salesman is always capable of the grand theatrical gesture. And, you know, it's one thing to say, “No, son, we're going home,” and take the 10-minute drive and show up there. It's another thing to live there for 20 years. And, and, and feel the experience of life as lived at life's pace on life's terms. So, you know, that's, that's the drama now. Now that Jack's made the grand theatrical gesture with his family, what's it gonna be like to actually earn a relationship? And it's great when it can start with a bang, but then, you know, then then the dictates of human life intervene. And I think that's what, that's why we keep coming back.

Amit Bhalla: I think, in a way, John, Jack has been waiting 20 years to be able to make that decision. To tell himself, he's the man that would make that decision. And it's 20 years of not making that decision and regretting not making it or whatever, that, you know, he's not going to let this chance go. Which is, you know, kind of what would get some out of the car there, you know?
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Lucas Jansen: Yeah, yes, it gets him out of the car, maybe just… maybe too late, or maybe too late to salvage the rest of his life, right? What the second, we're able to make those important decisions we become incapable of, of processing, what else we leave in ruin.

John Betancourt: Now to continue to dive into Jack, because there is so much to unpack here. But I’m curious if by chance… you would say that Jack believes that going home and having a family is going to heal him and make him complete. Since he didn’t have that structure growing up.

Amit Bhalla: Um, I think that Jack has an image of a family that has mainly been crafted through advertising that has never manifested whether it was with Barbara and his father, or with obviously Joey and Marie, that he is trying to manifest in some way. And, um, I, you know, I think that's a tragic story. And, you know, the show has a kind of tragic quality to it in that regard, you know. I mean, does that kind of answer your question?

John Betancourt: It does. Because I think that’s really central to Jack’s journey in the show. You know? What he’s searching for.

Amit Bhalla: I think that… that's, you know, that's the… that's the delusion that's driving Jack. Or under it, like you'd say for any character ever. You know, they're hoping to find communion and understanding in their fellow human being, no matter how twisted a route they've decided to take.

Lucas Jansen: The question we're asking is, is the tragedy at the heart of the American experience? The fact that any impulse towards completion is just going to be a game of Whack a Mole? You know, “Oh, I'll be complete when I have my family. I'll be complete when I have my family and job. I'll be complete when I have my family, the job, and the summerhouse. I'll be complete with my family, the job, the summer house, and then it's the goddamn moon! But what the show wants to know, and you know, with luck over the course of seasons, we will get to know deeper and deeper, whether that's all there is for all of us. Because you know, in the in our darker moments, it seems like that might be the case.

John Betancourt: Last question I have for you today. What does it mean to each of you, to have the complete journey that is season one, out there for all to enjoy.

Lucas Jansen: It's such a thrill to, to be able to talk to someone like you, to see the show… find its way into people's hearts. It was… it was made with such overflowing joy. I mean, the cast, the crew, everyone who worked on this felt so lucky to be able to share this with others. And the fact that it's all out now just gives us immense pride. And we feel very grateful.

Amit Bhalla: I mean, I would use the same words like the gratitude that you feel for being able to have had the opportunity. You know, I do think that it's weird… also, just to be like, you don't… we've never done this. So, it going out into the world to 106 countries in 40 languages, and you're just at home, and it's on your Apple TV is like a weird and alienating and beautiful, and, you know, crazy experience.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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