WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Eden, now streaming on Netflix
Netflix's Eden isn't quite the dystopian future led by evil robots you'd expect. It even ends on a happy note: When Sara leads a robot revolution against the tyrant, Zero, and his Eden Three legion, the mini-series doesn't conclude with them wiping out her rebellious machines and then rendering the rest of mankind extinct in their cryo-pods. Instead, Zero's able to reconnect with his past as Dr. Weston Fields, a savior who grew bitter after losing his family, and in the process, he helps Sara restore the rest of humanity to restart the world.
As definitive an ending as this is, there are subtle cuts in the four episodes of Season 1 that could help set up a possible second season.
Humanity's Reintegration Into Eden Three
Dr. Fields built a system centuries ago to put humans to sleep for hundreds of years and wake up to a healed world, one in which problems such as war, climate change and pollution previously wreaked havoc when they were conscious. This resulted in him losing his wife, Ashley, and coupled with his sick daughter, Liz, dying, Fields lost faith, ultimately transferring his mind into Zero. Waking up early, he came to view humanity as a poison he needed to purge in order for a paradise to start anew when the population dwindled.
A second season can now look at if he was right now that mankind has come back to a lush, cleaner world. It can get sociopolitical, too, as different sects and people would once more develop opposing views, so Sara and Fields will have to keep them in check. Governance, religion, sexual orientation, gender issues and race may well become problems once more in this brave, new world. Should this happen, it'd be interesting to see Sara wondering if Zero's vision was the correct one.
Dr. Fields' Redemption in His New Body
The first season of Eden ends with Fields transferring his mind from Zero into his daughter's robotic dog, Emily. He's happy in this form as he sees it as penance. But true atonement can be explored with what he plans to build next with Zurich and Geneva (the A.I. duo) in a second season. Season 2 could focus on him uniting robots and humanity, making new machines, helping protect this new society and creating the utopia Liz envisioned.
Reconciling the past could inform his god complex, how he's shifting to become the person his family always hoped he'd be. Sara has full belief in him, too, making this potential development akin to what Darth Vader might have done had he survived his own reckoning -- restoring order through peace and science.
Humanity's Return Could Start New Civil Wars
Humanity may well go to war with robots in Season 2 as a statement on real-world issues. Many people, at present, believe machines are eradicating the human resource aspect of the workforce, so it'd be nightmarishly relatable to have them rising up and wanting to take their planet back in Eden, rather than coexist. Knowing Zero and the 'bots wanted to kill them in their pods could be a catalyst towards a breaking point.
Humanity may take a stance, a la the people who returned from the Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Snap," and this may create a conflict between the returned humans, with many feuding as to who belongs in this shared space of Eden. This could even pave the way for the other Edens to be explored.
Sara Finding Her Family
Zero wiped A37 and E92's minds when they were part of the resistance. As such, Sara lost her robot 'parents' but Season 2 can explore her bonding with them again. Or, now that he's on a redemptive path, Fields can even try to restore their memories. Either way, it'll be interesting seeing Sara teaching them everything all over again in hopes of bringing the family back together.
There's also the human aspect to consider. All the pods are open once more and while it's hinted no Graces (Sara's direct family) survived, there could still be other members of her bloodline awakened. Seeing her bonding with humans would add a fresh dimension to the show as all she's known so far is metal, not flesh. She may even mentor other orphans, indicated by her picking up a baby up at the series' end. Altogether, a season of maturity for an adult Sara could be in store for fans of Eden, with the savior now being mankind's ultimate leader.
