Upload proves that the after-life can be very complicated. The Greg Daniels series premiered on Amazon Prime in 2020, and it soon won the admiration of many critics and TV fans. It seemed like an extremely long hiatus between Upload Season 1 and Season 2, but it was worth the wait. The Upload Season 1 ending was shocking, but the Upload Season 2 ending was even more surprising.
Upload Season 2 answered so many of our questions from Season 1 but left us with a million more. Upload Season 2 expanded this world in a way that made us want to know so much more, such as what other celebrities have a grim fate in their future. Mainly, the Upload Season 2 ending made us anxious to know what could be next for Nathan (Robbie Amell), Nora (Andy Allo), and others. Let’s explore all the major cliffhangers left after the Upload Season 2 ending.
Warning: Spoilers ahead about Upload Season 2. Proceed with caution.
Nathan’s Uncertain Future
Nathan realizes that he may be the key to stopping David Choak (William B. Davis) and Kannerman (Barclay Hope) from using Freeyond to control political elections. Because Freeyond is using Beyond’s technology, Nathan believes that he may be able to trigger a failsafe with his retina. Later, Nathan learns that Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) has been working to regrow his head, and his body is almost ready.
Nathan realizes that he can download into his body and stop Freeyond that way. The download manages to successfully complete, but he wakes up later to see his nose bleeding. We already know that downloads on humans failed miserably in the past (head explosion and all). We also know that the tests on pigeons only work sometimes.
Nathan isn’t trying to be downloaded forever, but at least for 24-hours to stop Choak and the corrupt one percent who plan to use Freeyond to rig elections. Nathan’s nose could be bleeding for several reasons. The first is that his head is close to exploding, and the other could be because Tinsley (Mackenzie Cardwell) is restoring the Lakeview version of Nathan.
If I had to predict which outcome is likely for Nathan, I’d say both. I think Nathan will split into two versions. One that is Lakeview and one that is in the real world. Eventually, the downloaded Nathan might not survive, in which case, Nora would think she's lost the love of her life, only to discover there's another version of him living in Lakeview. Of course, it's also possible that downloaded Nathan could re-upload into Lakeview and find another version of himself living there.
Rebooted Nathan won’t have memories of what happened when downloaded Nathan was in the real world, such as whether or not they stopped Choak, and Nora and him getting to explore their romance in real life. Robbie Amell kind of hinted at this possible outcome in an interview with Collider. He had this to say about possible multiple Nathans.
I don’t know how many Nathans there are gonna be. One is in real life, one is being rebooted from a save file, and one might be getting cloned by Ingrid, so I might be working really hard next season.
Multiple Nathans could be really fun for the viewers to watch. We’re team so many more Nathans in Season 3.
Ingrid And The Hairbrush
Ingrid confesses to Nathan that she never uploaded but has been using a hug suit the entire time. This lets Nathan feel guilt-free and completely dump her. Then she tells him about regenerating his head. Later, Ingrid tries to destroy the body or move it before Nora and the Ludds get to it. Ingrid allows Nathan to be downloaded into his body, but she hasn’t let go of the idea of a future with Nathan.
We see Ingrid find some of Nathan’s hair. We have two paths with Ingrid and Nathan’s DNA. Robbie Amell seems to believe that she’s going to use it to clone Nathan. I thought she was going to use it to mix her and Nathan’s DNA and make a baby. Upload creator Greg Daniels spoke about what Ingrid could do with Nathan’s DNA in an interview with NewsWeek, but he kept it vague.
I'm not sure she's using the hair for the baby or possibly to grow another one of him in the tank, so I think that's up in the air. And, you know, we're writing. We don't have a pickup for season 3 [yet], but we're writing it, and I've worked out a lot of these issues, but I'm not really allowed to hint at.
Originally, to me, the baby thing seemed like the clear Ingrid path, but now with the possibility of Nathan’s head exploding, I think Ingrid will be cloning Nathan. It was also mentioned in the finale that cloning is illegal. Through Ingrid’s cloning journey, we could see the introduction of a new section in this world that partakes in illegal activity such as cloning.
Aleesha’s Job Promotion
Lucy (Andrea Rosen) offers Aleesha (Zainab Johnson) a job promotion to become a VP at Horizen. She first tempts Aleesha with the possibility of a new home and a livable wage. Aleesha takes some time to think about it, and ultimately accepts the offer. I believe that in Upload Season 3, Aleesha will find herself in a complicated position.
Nora and Aleesha are already at odds because Nora believes Aleesha is being selfish with her pursuits, but even Luke (Kevin Bigley) understood that Aleesha was doing what she could to survive in this money driven world. Aleesha doesn’t seem to be trying to secretly take down Horizen from the top, but genuinely doesn’t want to have to barely get by financially. However, I believe that Aleesha will see more of the horrors of Horizen and start to become someone working to take it down. One of the most disturbing things about Upload Season 2 is the ways in which Horizen is using the relaxing of privacy laws to exploit its customers, like extracting dreams for Dream Hub.
This is one of the many ways that Upload paints a too real picture of big corporations. Aleesha was clearly horrified by some of the things being done to Luke and others in Lakeview, so I believe that there is only a matter of time before she springs into action to help the fight against Horizen.
Freeyond And Beyond
There were so many important things to remember before Upload Season 2 began, and one of the most important things was how Nathan’s Beyond technology was used to create Freeyond, a free alternative to Lakeview. At the end of Upload Season 2, there was only a day or few hours before Freeyond launched in New York, and possibly all over the United States.
Once someone uploads, they no longer have the right to vote in an upcoming election. Nora and Nathan discovered that swing states were receiving lots of Freeyond stores, while major cities with a lot of poor people, such as Los Angeles and New York, were only getting one store. The wealthy seem to want to use the swing states to manipulate the election. Nora and Nathan spoke about how if certain precincts got enough people to upload, then it would be easy for that state to go from swing to clearly one or another direction. Making it easier for certain parties or candidates to dominate elections.
At the end of Upload Season 2, we see Nathan’s mom, Viv (Jessica Tuck) waiting in line to upload into Freeyond. She seemed to see this as a chance to build a better life for her family in Freeyond, and when they were about to die of old age, they would have a place in her Freeyond home. It was the opportunity to build a life for generations to come.
My prediction for Upload Season 3 is that Nathan’s mom will upload into Freeyond before he, Nora, and the Ludds get a chance to stop it, which will make it even more complicated to shutdown Freeyond completely.
Upload Season 2 managed to be even better than Season 1, with more development of our core characters, a haunting look at capitalism and technology, and some hilarious moments. Amazon Prime has not yet renewed Upload for a Season 3, but we hope it gets renewed because it's one of Amazon Prime’s best original TV shows.
While you wait for an Upload Season 3 renewal, make sure to check out our list of some shows like Upload. Upload Season 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
