Revolution is an American post-apocalyptic science fiction television series that aired from September 17, 2012, to May 21, 2014, when it was cancelled by NBC. The show is set in the year 2027, 15 years after a worldwide, permanent electrical-power blackout began in 2012. Created by Eric Kripke and produced by J. J. Abrams’ Bad Robot for NBC, the series originally aired on Mondays at 10:00 p.m. ET. NBC ordered a second season after the first season’s finale because the show was successful enough.

Film director Jon Favreau directed the first episode. In October 2012, NBC ordered a full season of 22 episodes, which was later shortened to 20 episodes. Season 1 was filmed in and around Wilmington, North Carolina, with many scenes shot in historic downtown Wilmington and on the campus of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. On April 26, 2013, NBC renewed the series for a second season of 22 episodes, which would air on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. Season 2 was filmed in and around Bartlett and Granger, Texas. The second-season premiere aired on September 25, 2013, and the finale aired on May 21, 2014. A four-part comic book series from DC Comics was released in May and June 2015 to complete the story.

Plot

The story takes place in 2027, a world after a major disaster. In 2012, a global event called "The Blackout" stopped all electricity on Earth, including computers, cars, and planes. Trains, cars, ships, and airplanes stopped working, causing chaos. Over time, people learned to live without electricity.

The series follows the surviving Matheson family: Ben, his daughter Charlie, and his son Danny. They live in a village near Chicago. Ben wears a small pendant that holds clues about the Blackout and may help undo its effects. Sebastian Monroe, leader of the Monroe Republic, seeks the pendants to gain control of North America. The Monroe Republic includes areas along the Mississippi River and parts of Kentucky and the Carolinas. In the first episode, Ben is killed, and Danny is taken by the Militia. The remaining Matheson family, along with Miles Matheson, Aaron Pittman, and Nora Clayton, escape the Militia. Monroe works with Randall Flynn, a former U.S. official who ordered the technology that caused the Blackout. This technology uses tiny machines that drain electricity, but the pendant can stop its effects.

In Season 1, Episode 5, "Soul Train," the story explains that after the Blackout, governments collapsed, and militias controlled parts of North America. A map shows six "republics" across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Georgia Federation and Plains Nation are allies against the Monroe Republic, and conflicts occur near St. Louis. Captain Thomas Neville's wife, Julia, writes that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is safe, but areas west of Pittsburgh face dangers like rebels and bandits. Alaska and Hawaii are not mentioned, but Mexico still exists in a smaller form.

In April 2013, the series was renewed for a second season of 22 episodes. The new season aired on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm (ET), starting September 25, 2013. It paused for Thanksgiving and returned January 8, 2014. Nicole Ari Parker joined as Secretary Justine Allenford, and new actors were cast. Jim Beaver played a Texas Ranger named John Franklin Fry. The second season takes place six months after the first season.

The second season focuses less on the Monroe Republic and more on the Patriots. Sebastian Monroe becomes an uneasy ally of the Matheson family, while the Nevilles are separated from the group. The main characters live in Willoughby, Texas, and travel to nearby regions like the Plains Nation and New Vegas. The pendants and Tower are no longer central, and self-operating nanites become a key element.

The show's creator, Eric Kripke, said the third season would differ from the first two. A four-part comic book series released in 2015 covered the third season's ending and answered questions from Season 2.

Characters

• Miles Matheson (played by Billy Burke) was a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who later owned a tavern. He was pursued by the Monroe Republic Militia. As Ben Matheson’s brother, he later became one of the founding members of the Monroe Republic, which he helped create with Sebastian Monroe after the United States collapsed. He was also the former commanding general of the militia and made them very effective but harsh. However, he later became unhappy with the Republic and tried to kill Monroe. He left the militia and became dependent on alcohol because of guilt over the Republic’s harm to civilians. The militia now sees Miles as a traitor and wants to capture him and the rest of the Matheson family. Miles shows regret for his role in the militia, though he still feels conflicted about his former best friend, Sebastian Monroe, who offered him his old job back after freeing Rachel. After rescuing Danny, Miles decided to stop Monroe forever when he learned that the pendants Rachel and Ben created could give Monroe powerful weapons, including nuclear ones, against people who only have guns, swords, and bows after the blackout.

• Charlotte “Charlie” Matheson (played by Tracy Spiridakos) is Ben Matheson’s daughter and Miles’s niece. Miles first described her as unusual, but not in a mean way. Charlie feels strong guilt about the new world and is caring, but she struggles to balance helping others with protecting herself. She often acts more like her uncle Miles than her family. After Rachel left, Charlie took care of her brother, Danny, and searched for him in the first part of the season. After Danny’s death, she helped Miles stop Bass Monroe while trying to reconcile with her mother. She had a short relationship with Jason Neville and shot him in self-defense when he was acting like a soldier. In the comic book series, it is later revealed that Charlie is Miles’s daughter from his and Rachel’s long, on-and-off relationship.

• Rachel (née Porter) Matheson (played by Elizabeth Mitchell) is Ben’s wife and mother of Charlie and Danny. At first, people believed she died after the blackout, but she was later found alive and forced to work for Monroe. She told Monroe about the pendants and shared other information about them with the militia. Later, it was revealed that Rachel and Ben knew the science behind the blackout. After learning that activated pendants can be tracked, she tried to destroy them instead of using them against Monroe. In the comic book series, Rachel was later killed when she sacrificed herself after realizing she had been selfish.

• Aaron Pittman (played by Zak Orth) was an MIT graduate, a former Google executive, and a friend of Ben Matheson. He taught children about life before the blackout. He left his wife because he felt he couldn’t protect her from thieves, leaving her with a group they were traveling with. He feels guilty for abandoning her. Before Ben died, Aaron was given a pendant (a flash drive) containing files from Ben’s computer before the blackout. Aaron and Maggie kept the pendant secret, fearing Miles’s reaction and to avoid complicating the search for Danny. Later, others found out about the pendant, and it was stolen by Nora’s sister (a spy) and given to Sebastian Monroe. After reuniting with Rachel, Aaron studied her notes and information about the blackout. Rachel suspected Ben had connected with Aaron because some of Aaron’s early work at MIT might have been used to create nanites.

• Major Tom Neville (played by Giancarlo Esposito) was a former insurance adjuster who joined the Monroe Republic militia after the blackout. As a captain, he was the first antagonist in the story. His troops killed Ben Matheson and captured Danny. He was very focused on survival and protecting his family. He became more ruthless after the blackout, encouraged by his ambitious wife, who wanted him to replace Monroe as president. He was later promoted to major. After Danny’s capture, Neville lost favor with Monroe when his son defected and was captured by rebels (he later escaped). This stopped him from completing a mission for Monroe. Knowing Monroe would kill him for failing, Neville and his wife defected to the Georgia Republic, where he was rewarded with a commission as a major in the Georgian militia. He now works with Miles Matheson, who leads the rebels fighting Monroe and is allied with Georgia. In the season one finale, Neville led a coup against Monroe.

• Jason Neville/Nate Walker (played by J. D. Pardo) was a lieutenant in the Monroe Militia tasked with finding Miles. He traveled incognito as Nate Walker to be with Charlie and find Miles. He is the son of Tom Neville. At first, he was loyal to the militia but developed feelings for Charlie, which made him protect her. He defected after seeing the militia’s brutal actions and joined the rebellion to fight with Charlie. Miles was hesitant to trust him until Jason agreed to help interrogate his father. Jason had a difficult relationship with his father, Tom, until the end of the first season. In season two, Jason traveled with his father and stayed loyal even after his memories were altered. Jason died when Charlie shot him in self-defense in the episode Austin City Limits in season two.

• President/General Sebastian “Bas” Monroe (played by David Lyons) was a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who co-founded the Monroe Republic. He was the president (acting as the leader) of the republic and the commanding general of the militia. He was the main antagonist in Season 1. Monroe and Miles were best friends before the blackout and served together in the military. They aimed to protect people and restore order after the collapse. Monroe knew the Matheson family well before the blackout. After Miles left, Monroe kept Rachel hidden for years, letting people believe she was dead. She was key to restoring electricity. After Rachel escaped, Monroe worked with Randall Flynn, who had pendants and amplifiers that allowed vehicles and weapons to function under Monroe’s control. Monroe lost power after a coup, and some of his men tried to kill him. In Season 2, Monroe joined forces with Miles and others to fight the Patriots.

• Nora Clayton (played by Daniella Alonso) appeared in Season 1 and later as a guest. She had a past connection with Miles and helped the rebels, who fought against the Monroe Republic to restore the United States. Her main skill was working with explosives.

Production

Executive producer J. J. Abrams shared information with the Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog about the series creator, Eric Kripke. The show, which is described as a romantic, adventurous science fiction story, began in the United States on September 17, 2012. In October 2012, NBC decided to continue the series for nine more episodes after the first three episodes had an average of 9.8 million viewers. After November 26, 2012, the show took a break for a holiday and to complete work on the episodes. The series returned on March 25, 2013, to air the remaining episodes of season 1.

The character Rachel Matheson was first played by Andrea Roth, but she was later replaced by Elizabeth Mitchell. Part of the fourth episode of season 1 was filmed at Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In April 2013, the show was continued for a full second season with 22 episodes. Production for the second season moved to Austin, Texas. On May 9, 2014, NBC ended the series after two seasons.

Post cancellation

Eric Kripke spoke about the show's cancellation, saying, "When a show ends, it is sad because so much work went into it. Looking back, my main feeling was relief. The show was very difficult to make, and I forgot many lessons I learned from Supernatural. It was very complex and had many storylines. It did not have a clear way to tell the story. However, it was still a network show. If that show had been a streaming series with more money, it might have been called The Last of Us. It could have been good. People sometimes ask me about The Last of Us, and I say it is like if Revolution had been successful. However, making 20 episodes of Revolution was very difficult and took two years of my life. Even though I loved the actors and missed the show, I did not miss the feeling of being very tired every day."

Release

In Canada, the series was shown at the same time as the American broadcast on City. It first aired in Australia on Fox8 in September 2012 and was shown again on free TV channels Nine and Go! in November 2013. In New Zealand, the series began on TV2 on October 16, 2012. In South Africa, the series was broadcast by DSTV, and in other parts of Africa, it was shown via satellite one week after the United States broadcast. In the United Kingdom, the series started on Sky1 on March 29, 2013.

During the summer of 2012, NBC ran a voting campaign on Revolution's Facebook page. People could vote for which American city should host an early screening of the series' pilot in early September. The top ten cities chosen were Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, and Seattle.

On September 4, 2012, New York City held an advance screening for 1,000 guests. Eighty of them rode stationary bikes to create electricity for lighting. The other cities' screenings took place two days later, on September 6, 2012.

Reception

The first season has a 55% "Rotten" score on the review website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 55 reviews with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10. The site's critics agreed that the show "could work harder to be more realistic and relevant, but it still manages to intrigue with suspense, mystery, and good old-fashioned action." Metacritic, which calculates scores using a weighted average, gave the season a score of 64 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, which means the reviews were "generally favorable." Glen Garvin of The Miami Herald described the show as "big, bold, and brassy adventure, a cowboys-and-Indians story for end times." Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal praised the pilot episode's production quality, saying, "If the quality of this one, so irresistible in its vitality and suspense, does fail to hold up, its creators will have delivered, at the least, one remarkably fine hour." Ed Bark noted that the show "has the overall look and feel of a big budget feature, delivers some consistently terrific action scenes." Some critics compared the show to Dies the Fire, The Hunger Games, and Lost.

Verne Gay of Newsday, however, gave the premiere a negative review, writing, "There's an almost overwhelming been-there-seen-that feel to the pilot, which doesn't really offer any suggestion of 'well, you haven't seen this.'"

The second season received more positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 79% approval rating with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10, based on 14 reviews. The site's critics agreed that "Revolution's second season offers a welcome course correction from its uneven predecessor, adding new narrative wrinkles while refocusing on the show's stronger elements."

Digital comic

In May 2015, DC Comics began publishing a new digital comic book that continues the story from the TV series. Eric Kripke shared news about the digital comic revival on April 15, 2015. From May 4 to June 15, 2015, four digital chapters were released every two weeks. Each chapter had a unique cover, created by DC Comics artist Angel Hernandez. The chapters were available on comicbook.com and the TV series' Facebook page.