Upload is Prime Video’s sci-fi series created by Greg Daniels. Set in 2033, Upload shows a future where humans can buy digital immortality by "uploading" themselves into a virtual afterlife of their choosing. In its first season, after a serious car accident leaves him nearly dead, computer programmer Nathan (Robbie Amell) uploads his consciousness to the very expensive Lakeview, an incredibly costly “virtual afterlife resort” paid for by Ingrid (Allegra Edwards), his possessive and still-living girlfriend.
As Nathan adjusts to the pros and cons of the digital heaven, he befriends more of the digital ‘undead’ and falls for his living customer support “Angel” Nora (Andy Allo). Nora struggles with a few pressures – her job, her dying father who does not want to be uploaded, and her growing feelings for Nathan, while also slowly coming to believe that Nathan was actually murdered. The show’s other characters are Aleesha (Zainab Johnson), Nora’s friend and co-worker, Luke (Kevin Bigley), Nathan’s new friend at Lakeview, the Lakeview AI Guy (Owen Daniels), and Lucy (Andrea Rosen), Nora and Lucy’s boss at Horizon – the tech company that owns Lakeview.
Upload Season 1 ended with someone trying to kill Nora and Nathan trapped on the 2 Gig level. Two years after the show first debuted, the show returns with a new season, introducing a range of new possibilities both for those who are still alive and for those who have died and ‘uploaded’. Season 2 promptly picks up from the Season 1 ending, with Nathan stuck in 2 Gig and Nora and her sick father, Dave (Chris Williams), escaping to join the Ludds in the forest.
The Ludds are an anti-technology group bent on stopping the hold that the capitalists have on the afterlife industry. Under Pastor Rob and his sect – who think that all Uploads are abominations – the Ludds carry out attacks on companies that offer exorbitant afterlife solutions for the wealthy. Nora becomes a reluctant participant of this community and begins to date one of its leaders, Matteo (Paulo Costanzo). Ingrid also surprised everyone last season by becoming an ‘Upload’ and rescues Nathan from the 2 Gig section. Of course, we later realize that she is merely using a Hug Suit to pretend to be dead.
The season’s finale is a dramatic flurry of plot twists. Ingrid, while desperately trying to convince Nathan to have a real baby with her, reveals that she is regenerating his body in the hopes that Downloads will someday become successful so that they can have a real baby together. She is then forced to confess to Nathan that she’s also still alive and has been using a Hug Suit the whole time to pretend to be an Upload. Nathan – realizing that he owes her nothing – finally breaks up with her when he hears this. He then rushes off to try and stop the nefarious new Freeyond service, which promises to be a free afterlife service for the less affluent but – as Nora and Nathan discover – is part of a bigger scheme to swing national elections.
With the help of the Ludds, Nathan downloads his digital self from Lakeview into a new, physical body that Ingrid had been regenerating. Thankfully this works – or so it initially seems – and Nathan and Nora finally get to physically touch and share an intimate night together. Nathan, however, later discovers that his nose is bleeding. An ominous sign if you remember that the human trial in Season 1 ended with an exploding head. Before we can even process this potential shocking turn of events, the episode cuts to black. Nathan’s fate is left hanging in the balance, leaving us with a huge cliffhanger and effectively raising the show’s stakes to a whole new level.
While all this is going on, Nathan’s new Angel, Tinsley (Mackenzie Cardwell), arrives at work to discover that Nathan is nowhere to be found on the system and is missing from Lakeview. Out of fear and to avoid getting fired, she takes the advice of a senior colleague and begins to secretly reboot another version of Nathan within Lakeview not knowing that he has just ‘downloaded’. To complicate matters further, Tinsley has a crush on Nathan.
The closing moments of Season 2 leave us with a lot of questions but also offer some clever hints.
Does Aleesha Change Sides?
Aleesha is clearly rising through the ranks at Horizon. In Episode 7, her boss Lucy offers her yet another promotion and shows her what her life could be like with a luxury apartment and a six-figure salary, making it clear that if she took the job, she would have to officially be on Horizon's “leash.”
Aleesha reckons with all that has happened – including how Nora deceptively took her along for a ‘trip’ when it was really an investigation – and agrees to take the promotion, not sure what she’s signing up for. Has Aleesha sold out to her corporate overlords or could there be more to her decision than meets the eye?
Does Nathan Die?
The Season 2 finale definitely has us at the edge of our seats and sets the scene for an explosive potential third season. Considering all that’s happened and putting the different elements together, there is a high chance that Nathan will die, at least in his current new body. But there is hope, as there might be a few other ways in which he could be saved.
One of the most important details about Nathan’s fate may be the backup version that Tinsley is generating at the Horizon office. If the current Nathan dies, another version of his mind will be present in Lakeview, waiting to take his place. We don’t know though, how this will affect his memories or what Nora’s feelings for the restored version will be. Since not much time has passed since the download, the restored backup version may have all the memories of Nathan until that point, but this depends on how often the backup was updated and saved. Nonetheless, we can at least be sure that this isn’t the end of Nathan.
Ingrid has Nathan’s DNA Sample
Ingrid is still scheming. She returns home after Nathan’s rejection and is seen pulling a hair from Nathan’s old hairbrush. It is obvious that she means to use his DNA either to make another clone of Nathan (she has made it quite clear that she will stop at nothing to have her reluctant ex-boyfriend in her life) or to fulfill her dream of having a child with him.
The best part of this twist is that unknown to her, she might just be saving Nathan’s life. If Nathan’s head does explode, all the pieces for his recovery are in place. While Tinsley, the Horizen temp, is creating a backup version of Nathan’s consciousness, Ingrid has conveniently opened a path to recreate his physical body. Nathan's mind and body are already at different stages of being recreated. There could actually be two Nathans in potential future seasons: one in the real world, currently with Nora, and one in Lakeview.
What Does This All Mean?
The probability of seeing more than one Nathan in the future seems high, and the uncertainty around which of them is real or if one is more real than the other will spark philosophical debates by many. Anything can happen and while Prime Video has yet to confirm that there will definitely be a third season of Upload, there are still many loose ends that warrant more stories.