When The Terminal List premiered in 2022, it accumulated an insane number of minutes watched (1.6 billion minutes to be exact). So, there’s 100% a lot of anticipation for Season 2 as well as its prequel series, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, which will premiere on the 2025 TV schedule first. So, while discussing all that’s to come, Chris Pratt got real about why this new spinoff is better than Season 1 of his show and how that will ultimately help Season 2.
For context, Terminal List ended with Taylor Kitsch’s Ben Edwards betraying Pratt’s James Reece, and now, Dark Wolf will give us the story behind why Ben ended up in a place where he was willing to do that. I always thought Dark Wolf was a necessary spinoff, and now, hearing the Guardians of the Galaxy star hype it up, my expectations are even higher, as he told Collider:
Man, I can say this: when we were at the premiere last night of Dark Wolf, I sat back, and the first song, ‘Hell’s Bells,’ came on, and I just started crying. I was watching an audience take this thing in, and it was bigger and better.
I feel like this is probably the best outcome ever. Improvement is always the goal for basically everyone working, I’d assume, and that’s especially the case when you’re returning to a project. However, Dark Wolf isn’t just “bigger and better”; it’s outright better than Season 1 of The Terminal List, as Pratt, who is an executive producer on both shows, explained:
My publicist was like, ‘I saw Dark Wolf. It is so much better than Terminal List.’ I was like, ‘What? You’re not supposed to say that. I thought you were, like, supposed to blow smoke up my ass.’ And she was like, ‘It is. It’s just better.’ I was like, ‘You’re right.’
First of all, I love that Chris Pratt saw the room for improvement and acknowledged how much they’ve all grown between Season 1 and this prequel series. He expanded on that point, too, comparing the work on these shows to being in high school. He said:
I think it’s a testament to Terminal List Season 1 being our freshman year, and now we’ve come in, and we’ve done another season of television, and I’m so proud of it.
This makes perfect sense. Most shows do get better as time goes on and the cast and crew are able to really find their groove. Just look at the evolution of the other big show Pratt was part of, Parks and Recreation (one of the best sitcoms ever), and you’ll see my point clearly.
Speaking directly to how time together has made them a better team, the Jurassic World star said:
I feel like the machine and the team just get better and better. We’re learning what works, what doesn’t work. We’re pulling off cinevision — these massive, high-impact set pieces that would typically only be seen in huge-budget movies, we’re putting into television.
Now, everything they’ve learned on Dark Wolf will be taken into Season 2 of The Terminal List, because, as Pratt said, “iron sharpens iron.” He explained this prequel raised the bar, and now they’re hoping to meet it in the upcoming book-to-screen adaptation of True Believer.
With that kind of passion and willingness to reflect and be critical, I have a feeling they’ll do just that.
So, now, get hype to use that Amazon Prime subscription to return to this world, because it sounds like we’re in for something fantastic (especially if you already enjoyed the first season of The Terminal List) when Dark Wolf premieres on August 27.
