Andy DehnartAlmost eight years after season one premiered on ABC, The Quest is finally returning to TV.
Disney+ announced The Quest season 2’s premiere date today, and released its trailer, and it looks fantastic. All eight episodes will premiere May 11. Watch it below.
I loved season one of ABC’s The Quest. It wasn’t perfect, but it did was the best hybrid scripted/reality competition I’d ever seen. First seasons can be rocky, but it was engaging and established a template for future seasons.
Alas, it had low ratings and ABC didn’t renew The Quest despite a campaign by its fans.
When season two was announced, with the show moving to Disney+ and featuring teenage contestants, I was thrilled, but, to be honest, a little worried that it might lose something when adapted for a younger audience. The show’s new poster says “Real teens. Fantasy world. Epic competition.”
The announcement was pre-pandemic, and the show didn’t film for another year. It ended up filming in Napa Valley instead of in Austria.
But despite those changes and challenges, The Quest season 2 looks spectacular.
I honestly didn’t expect a show filmed in a pandemic at a winery with teenage contestants to look and feel like such a massive step up from season one.
Even the new logo looks better, with its added dimension and new letterforms:
In the new trailer, everything from the environments to the special effects looks so much better. Of course, we’re eight years away from the original!
In a press release, Scout Productions’ Michael Williams and Rob Eric said, “We were very focused on the aesthetic of the show, from production design through costume design, making sure that everything felt authentic. We wanted both our Paladins and our audience to feel immersed in the epic world we created.
And Court Five’s Jane Fleming and Mark Ordesky said, “We’re doing something magical that has never been done at this level. We’re taking real people and putting them in a fully realized fantasy story, conceived and built by incredible artisans in every department.
Also in the release, New Media Collective’s Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster (the creators of The Amazing Race) said the “fully realized fantasy world that is built on a scripted mythology of intrigue and adventure.”
That mythology takes place in Everealm like season one, but there’s a new antagonist. Here’s the storyline, according to Disney+:
For thousands of years, Everealm has been a land of unrivaled beauty and powerful magic. Now, the realm is threatened by a powerful evil Sorceress. As a last hope, the noble Fates summon eight strangers known as Paladins from a world beyond to work together to fulfill an ancient prophecy and vanquish the Sorceress. The Paladins must unlock the hero within through a series of challenges that push their limits to restore balance to Everealm. If they fail, all will be lost. Heroes will rise. Kingdoms will fall.
Both the trailer and images released by Disney+ show other characters, including a royal court with a king, two princes, and a princess:
