Please note that spoilers for the first season of Upload are discussed below.

One of the few genuinely good things to come out of this somewhat hellish 2020 so far is the new Amazon original series Upload, which hails from The Office and Parks and Recreation co-creator Greg Daniels. In fact, this is actually Daniels’ first new show on the air that he created since Parks and Rec launched in 2009, and honestly it’s well worth the wait.

Like a sci-fi version of The Good Place, Upload takes place in a near future in which people have the ability to have their consciousness uploaded into a digital afterlife—provided they can pay for it, that is. Robbie Amell stars as Nathan, a computer programmer who dies unexpectedly and is uploaded to the cushy Lake View afterlife, paid for by his shallow girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards). But as Nathan has trouble adjusting to his new normal, he develops a relationship with his very human customer service representative Nora (Andy Allo).

The Upload finale does not wrap up this story in a neat bow, and indeed leaves a number of threads dangling. Nathan spends the season trying to find out who murdered him, and in the finale he regains his memories and learns that he was actually about to betray his business partner right before he died in a shady business deal with Ingrid’s wealthy father. As it turns out, the code Nathan wrote for a free version of the after life is rather valuable.

The Upload finale also finds Nathan breaking up with Ingrid and paying for his own afterlife plan—for which he can only afford 2GB. On his new 2GB plan, Nathan struggles to have a phone conversation with Nora without using up all his data for the month, which leaves Nora with the impression that he doesn’t love her. As a result, she jets off with her casual hookup partner Byron (Matt Ward) after narrowly escaping an attempt on her life.

Nathan runs out of data while on the phone with Nora, which is why he doesn’t respond to her—he’s frozen until the next pay period. But it also puts him in an awkward position when in walks Ingrid. Except it’s not a VR version of Ingrid—she pays to have Nathan’s data somewhat restored and tells him that she uploaded herself, and is now in Lake View with Nathan. Forever. He screams and the episode ends.

Upload Season 2 has not been ordered by Amazon yet, but in speaking with Collider’s own Christina Radish, Daniels revealed that he came up with at least two seasons worth of story when developing Upload, so he knows where this is going:

“Yeah, I definitely [know what happens in Season 2]. I’m not going to say that it can’t be adjusted if we have better ideas. You learn a lot when you shoot. Every character is not all me. The character of Nora is me, to begin with, but then Andy Allo comes along and makes it a real person. She’s got all of these qualities that I could never have imagined. When you see how it comes out, after a year, you’ve gotta readjust everything ‘cause you’re hoping for different things. So, I had it worked out ‘cause I really wanted to impress on everybody that this show was not just a weird concept. You could follow the characters and the romance would be compelling. So, I gave examples for two seasons worth, in the pitch, but you come up with better things when you work with a writing staff. TV is ultimately a very collaborative medium. The joy of it is to create a team, and then enjoy everybody’s contributions.”

Of course the show also doesn’t solve the mystery of who killed Nathan at the end of Season 1 either. Daniels likened his decision to end on a cliffhanger to the end of the first Harry Potter book:

“Well, it might’ve been a mistake. I don’t know. At the time, there was this mystery aspect to the show and I didn’t wanna solve it. There’s also the romantic aspect as well, and I didn’t wanna finish that up. Those two things, I wanted to continue into a possible next season. I’m aware that it could be frustrating for people to not have complete closure on anything, but if you think about the end of Harry Potter’s first movie, Voldemort is still a problem. So, my conception for it was that it would go on past 10 episodes. We always talked about [Season 1] being a five-hour movie, and obviously, movies don’t always have sequels and stuff. But when you go to so much trouble to cast these fun people and to invest in this world, I’m hopeful to get another season to continue to tell the story. We’ll see what happens.”

As for what happens next, Robbie Amell told Collider that he’s excited about the prospect of having Ingrid in the afterlife with him:

“Oh, man, from what I understand, Greg had two seasons already planned out, so he knows where it’s going. We’ve talked to him about it, a little bit. I’m just really excited that Ingrid is two-gig with me because I think Allegra [Edwards] is hilarious and I think it would be funny if Nathan is trying to pawn Ingrid off on someone else. I think it’d be funny if he’s trying to be matchmaker to get rid of her . . . He can’t go anywhere and she’s there, and it’s almost like a reset for him, from the beginning of the show.”

And is there hope for Nathan and Nora? Amell thinks so:

“They tell each other how they feel, and it’s so devastating when Nathan is frozen, when Nora finishes talking, but he did try to interrupt her towards the end of what she was saying. She knows that he heard a lot of it, and he’s told her a lot of how he feels, so I don’t think it’s over between them. She has to do what’s safe for her, and hopefully, they can find their way back to each other.”

Nora actress Andy Allo also told Collider she’s hopeful they get together as well:

“I want them to [get back together]. I feel like Nora found in Nathan something that she has been yearning for and searching for. She saw her parents have this ideal love and relationship that played out until the end, and she’s been looking for that. There’s a part of her that feels like she found that thing that we all search for in Nathan. Obviously, it’s in the most complicated place, but I wanna see their story play out. I think it’ll be interesting for her being away, and her journey back to the real world and what that looks like. There’s so much there.”

So how did Allo take it when she found out the ending? As it turns out, she and Amell weren’t given the scripts for the last two episodes until they were already in production:

“Oh, my God, I was so mad! They also didn’t give us the last two episodes until we were shooting them. They really held out, which I think is good because you got to dive in and live as the character without knowing what was going on or where it was headed, which was fun to do. You could just be present with what was happening. So, when I read that, I was like, ‘Noooooooo!’ They built the entire series for these two people and, of course, in true TV fashion, that’s never gonna happen. Well, I shouldn’t say never ‘cause I don’t know. Here’s hoping we get a Season 2 ‘cause I feel like the end of Season 1 leaves you with just enough cliffhangers, even though it does tie up a couple things, to leave you really wanting more. That’s the feeling I got. There’s so much world to be discovered, and so many relationships are and characters that you’re like, what’s gonna happen next?”

And what does Allo think will happen when Nora discovers Ingrid uploaded? One word: drama

“Oh, my God, [she’ll be] devastated. It’s like, ‘Wait, what?!’ And I think the next question will be, ‘Well, what did you say? What did you do, Nathan?’ I don’t know. [The season] leaves with her thinking that he doesn’t feel the same because she doesn’t get a response from him, in that final moment, which is so heartbreaking. So, when they reconnect, hopefully he’ll get the opportunity to say how he feels and for Nora to go, ‘Well, then, why is she here? I’m confused. What happened?’ There’s so much drama.”

And while the Upload Season 1 ending may be frustrating for fans, Amell thinks it’s ultimately a good thing to have a cliffhanger:

“I just hope for the second season. I always think that an end of season cliffhanger is important because you want to give people a reason to be thinking about the show and to be excited for it to come back. Game of Thrones was always so good at doing that. Obviously, our show is a little different than Game of Thrones, but I think it’s really interesting in a comedy to have that kind of cliffhanger ‘cause, most of the time, you don’t. I think it’s refreshing.”

As a huge fan of this initial run of episodes, add me to the list of people hoping and praying Amazon renews Upload for a second season. It’s the perfect blend of smart, funny, romantic, and yet thematically resonant storytelling we need more of right now.

For more on Upload, check out our spoiler-free interviews with Daniels and Amell about making the show.

Reporting for this story was conducted by Christina Radish.