The Battle Against Injustice Continues Amid Shocking Twists and Turns in Season 2 of FOR LIFE

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The creative forces behind FOR LIFE – including executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, star Nicholas Pinnock, and the man who inspired the story, Isaac Wright, Jr. – seem to strongly agree on two things: First, if this show hadn’t been grounded in truth, and instead had been pitched as a completely fictional drama, it probably wouldn’t have been made. The story would have just seemed too unbelievable, and nobody would have bought it. Second, if fans thought Season 1 of FOR LIFE was compelling, just wait until they get a look at Season 2, which debuts Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 10 p.m. ET on CTV. “For anyone who hasn’t had an opportunity to see it, they should start checking it out now,” Jackson said last week in a virtual panel with TV reporters. “We’re just going up.” FOR LIFE stars Nicholas Pinnock as Aaron Wallace, a wrongfully convicted prisoner-turned-litigator and social crusader. The character is inspired by Wright’s remarkable achievements, and he also serves as an executive producer on the show. In Season 2, Aaron embarks on a more personal journey, motivated by the hope of being reunited with his family, and battling systemic injustice from outside the prison walls. With more help from the people who have supported him – including his former prison warden, Safiya Masry, played by Indira Varma – Aaron must adjust to the outside world as he continues his battle against the intimidating political machine that locked him up undeservedly. “I personally feel that what you saw in Season 1, what you gravitated toward, and what you fell in love with, it’s all going to be there again, and then some – but I think Season 2 is going to be better,” predicted Pinnock, who plays Aaron. “It has a pull. If you’ve seen Season 1, you’re going to love Season 2 even more. If the audience can get an essence of how we felt doing it, and what it really means to us, then absolutely, it will be a stronger season than Season 1 – and Season 1 was really strong. The first episode of Season 2 felt like its own show, immediately. For me, that’s what a ‘Season 2 pilot’ needs to feel like.” Wright agreed, while placing specific emphasis on the way in which the Aaron character evolves, right out of the gate in Season 2. “If you watched Season 1 to the fullest, and you saw (Aaron) win his retrial, you haven’t seen anything yet, until you see the first episode of Season 2,” Wright said. “The public is going to get something in the first episode of Season 2 that they’re never, ever, ever going to expect. I loved every minute of it.” Telling this complex tale was always going to be a multi-layered process, according to Jackson. “When Isaac told me the story initially, I couldn’t see how you could tell it, and do justice to the story, in two hours in a feature film, because he had it in that format,” Jackson recalled. “There wasn’t going to be time to explain what happened, and it’s so important. So many people have gone through a version of this – a smaller version, a smaller version of the injustice. What stands out to me in Isaac’s journey is, as he said, things got bad, and it got worse – it got past what bad is. And he still worked tirelessly, the entire time, until it turned around. I don’t even think there’s going to be another version of it. This is real, this really happened. The significance in the show is that it’s true.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv