Sleepy Hollow made a big splash when it first hit Fox’s schedule last fall. However, its unconventional episode order—Season 1 only got 13 episodes—banished it from the minds of many after midseason. The complex supernatural police drama is headed back onto Fox’s schedule tonight, and if you needed a refresher or need to catch up on where the series is headed, we’ve taken a look back at a slew of Season 1 characters to bring you up to speed on where Sleepy Hollow is going.
One of the greatest things about Sleepy Hollow are the involved twists and turns the writers put our characters through. When last we left Crane, Mills and company, one character was trapped in purgatory while another was dealing with some pretty dysfunctional family issues. I guess that’s what happens when you have a witch for a wife and horseman of war for a son. Yeah, it’s pretty intriguing stuff, and don’t forget to tune in when Sleepy Hollow premieres on Fox tonight at 9 p.m. ET.
Ichabod Crane
Revolutionary war activist and supernatural fighter Ichabod Crane awoke in the 21st Century early in Season 1. He quickly proved his mettle, working with Lieutenant Abbie Mills to uncover the mystery of the headless horseman plaguing the town of Sleepy Hollow. Crane was also a bit of a fish out of the water and spent much of Season 1 adapting to modern day society, eventually attempting to coerce Mills into buying him a smart phone so that he could use the Internet more effectively. Toward the end of the season, Crane found out his wife birthed a son after he left the 18th century and resolved to solve the mystery of his son’s fate, eventually finding out that his son is actually one of the horsemen of the apocalypse.
What We Would Like To See In Season 2: Crane has some crazy family business to resolve. From the looks of early trailers, his son is a big baddie during Season 2. Additionally, he hasn’t worked through the fact that his wife lied to him about witchcraft for years. This should lead to sequences of pithy dialogue and plenty of danger. While we know Crane will escape the box his son left him in, he still has to defeat his archnemesis, the headless horseman who used to be his best friend Abraham Van Brunt. His earlier attempts backfired, but now that the headless horseman has his wife, I’m sure he’s ready to confront his enemy head on.
Lieutenant Abbie Mills
Abbie Mills became entrenched in the supernatural mystery rather early. As a child, she saw a monster in the woods and hid what she had seen, leading to a rift between herself and her sister, Jenny. During Season 1, she partnered with Ichabod Crane to take down a variety of evil demons and other supernatural creatures, especially after she learned she was one of the ‘witnesses’ meant to fight against evil forces during the end of days. She was a tough and resourceful individual who offered to take Katrina’s place in purgatory at the very end of Season 1.
What We Would Like To See In Season 2: Remember that demon Abbie saw in the woods as a child? He’s Moloch, the demon responsible for raising hell in Sleepy Hollow and for attempting to make the Apocalypse happen. Abbie stayed in purgatory because she wants to face the demon, and no doubt that’s where her storyline is headed at the beginning of Season 2. Her new place of residence will also give her some more scenes with John Cho.
Jenny Mills
Jenny was with Abbie when they saw the demon monster in the woods as children. Jenny admitted to seeing the evil creature in the woods while Abbie refused to say anything. This ended up landing Jenny in a psychiatric ward and later in and out of jail as an adult. Abbie and Jenny had trouble getting along during Season 1, but later on during Sleepy Hollow learned to begrudgingly work together. It’s Jenny who uncovered the mystery behind Crane’s son, although at the end of the season, she ended up in a car accident thanks to the headless horseman.
What We Would Like To See In Season 2: We’re guessing Jenny will live through the crash. She’s signed on as a series regular during Season 2, although she did tease the fact that she could be appearing on Sleepy Hollow as one of the supernatural creatures who have come back from the dead. Whether she’s dead, undead, a ghost or more, we do expect her to continue to have a role in the team, probably helping out Captain Frank Irving, who is in a bit of hot water himself.
Captain Frank Irving
Frank Irving first appeared on Sleepy Hollow as a seasoned and skeptical head police officer who was trying to come to terms with the mysterious deaths of members of his community. It can be tough for a person to wrap his or her mind around the reality of a headless horseman wreaking havoc, but Irving eventually came around. He later teamed up with Jenny Mills to help the two witnesses, Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills, to fight back against Moloch’s plan for the apocalypse. Unfortunately, this put his daughter and his ex-wife in danger. After his daughter was possessed by a demon, killing multiple people, Irving stepped up and took the blame for the demon’s behavior.
What We Would Like To See In Season 2: Obviously, the best case scenario would be for Irving to figure out how to explain that demons, not himself or his daughter, killed numerous people during Season 1. The best way to do this would be to break the supernatural world wide open and show people across the US what is happening in Sleepy Hollow. That’s a far less contained storyline and we have no idea how the writers plan to write Irving out of trouble. Hopefully, Irving will get out of jail sooner rather than later and hopefully he will be able to be the police Captain, once more. I like that plotline more than a renegade plotline.
The Sin Eater
Henry Parrish seemed like a burdened but nice man when he was introduced during Season 1. He helped Crane to disconnect from the headless horseman by eating Crane’s sins and separating their blood tie. He later gave Crane sympathy when Crane was upset about being an absentee father. Unfortunately, Parrish aka The Sin Eater was actually Crane’s son, hiding under an assumed name and working as the second horseman of the apocalypse on Moloch's side. At the end of the season, he coerced his mother out of purgatory and gave her to the headless horseman, also choosing to bury Crane.
What We Would Like To See In Season 2: Memorably during Season 1, Parrish talked about his love of puzzles. He’s a tricky character, and during Season 2 more about his motivations will likely become clear. Additionally, the subplot about his hatred for his parents, Katrina and Crane, needs to be resolved. I highly doubt the three will ever be a happy family, but there could be some conflict resolution that is less painful than Crane having to take down his only son. We’ll have to wait and see how big of a baddie Parrish is during Season 2.
Katrina
Katrina was another tricky character during Season 2. She's a quaker and somehow also a witch, who eventually forced Ichabod to sleep after his quest against the first horseman of the apocalypse failed in the 1700s. Later, we found out that the horseman is actually Katrina’s former fiancé. We also found out she gave away her child with Crane and was later forced into purgatory. Toward the end of the season, she got out of purgatory, thanks to the goodwill of Mills. Her glee was short-lived, as she was quickly captured by the headless horseman.
What We Would Like To See In Season 2: Early footage from the Season 2 premiere follows Katrina as she is held captive by the horseman. She tries to make an escape, but she is no match for her former fiancé. I’m assuming Katrina will eventually escape the headless horseman, but I’m not convinced she’ll make it to the end of Season 2. While she is Crane’s “great love,” most viewers prefer his modern-day partnership with Mills and I don’t really know where that leaves Katrina in the picture.
You can find out soon enough. Fox’s Sleepy Hollow hits the schedule tonight at 9 p.m. ET.
