Designated Survivor became one of those guilty pleasure shows for me. It was dumb, over-the-top, and quick to devolve into ridiculous conspiracies. This was both fun and disappointing. On a more shallow level it was fun, but I admittedly was wishing for the show to a more grounded take on the intriguing premise.

It sounds like that may very well end up fulfilling that wish for me. Speaking with EW, star Kiefer Sutherland confirmed they’d be done with the conspiracies.

“Anytime you start off a story as fantastical as we did, with an internal conspiracy wiping out the entire government, you have a lot of explaining to do. How do you drive that story forward?’

How, indeed? And the answer was not incredibly well. On the whole, it played out like an uneven, less action-packed season of 24. And if that wasn’t your cup of tea, once they wrap up all the loose ends from the cliffhanger ending, they plan to shift the style of the show to “focus on the inner machinations of Kirkman’s administration.”

It’s a much more cerebral show this year,” new showrunner Keith Eisner told the outlet. “And it’s a much funnier show. There’s a lot of comedy now [though] a third of the show will have that thriller-y aspect to it. It’s much more a story about the president growing accustomed to his role and finding himself as an outsider becoming an insider.”

But don’t think all the guise an deception will be completely gone.

“There is always a moral conflict because real government is always going to be compromised on some level,” Sutherland said. “It’s just a question of how far you’ll compromise.”

Designated Survivor airs Wednesdays on ABC at 10/9c.

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SOURCE: EW (Print)