The second season of Outer Range has come to an end, and in typical sci-fi thriller fashion, it has raised more questions than it has answered. However, one vital point that we as viewers know for certain is that Amy Abbot, the granddaughter of the elderly protagonist duo of the series, Royal and Cecilia, is at the center of the temporal crisis that has messed up both the Abbots and Tillersons’ households through the past, present, and future. In the present timeline, it’s the machinations of Autumn Rivers, supposedly the future self of Amy, that set off a chain of events, which will eventually lead to a troubling future if Royal fails to stop her. For Autumn, Amy turns out to be the most important part of her scheme, whom she plans to use to create a dreadful future. The connection between Autumn and Amy is integral to understanding how the future is going to shape up.
Spoilers Ahead
Are Autumn and Amy the same person?
The first season of Outer Range provided a number of clues that validated the speculation that Amy and Autumn are the same person, even before Royal’s realization during the final moments of the season. The artwork Amy had made for her grandfather depicted all the Abbot family members together in heaven, wearing yellow-colored attire. In Royal’s trip to the future, he sees Autumn leading a cult, and all of them are dressed in yellow. When Royal questions Autumn about the significance of the color, she states that, for her, it symbolizes power.Â
Autumn later mentions being raised by her adoptive family since she was nine years old, the same age when Amy goes missing after Autumn throws her down the sinkhole in the finale of the second season. An amnesiac Autumn remains clueless about her identity, even though she remembers enough about her objective to manipulate situations in her favor to bring about the destined future.
At a certain point, the narrative hinted that coming from a broken family and being raised by a manipulative mother like Rebecca contributed to Amy growing up to be a cynical, manic person like Autumn. In total contrast to her menacing first-season presence, Autumn started to live with the Abbot couple and formed an almost familial bond with them, which strengthened the speculation further. But it was proven wrong as Autumn regained her sense of identity and purpose right after getting intoxicated by the sinkhole material given to her by Luke Tillerson, proving that it is she who is the reason for her past self’s undoing.
What Is Going To Happen To Amy And Autumn?
The final moments of the second season of Outer Range bring the Abbots closer to the dark future as Autumn abducts Amy and succeeds in pushing her right into the sinkhole. Unlike others who have fallen through the hole and retained the memory of their past lives, Amy wakes up in a barren land at an unspecified time in the future, and she seems to have no recollection of her family. Despite being fatally shot, Autumn survives in the present timeline just as Amy wakes up on the other side, indicating that her plan has been successfully implemented.Â
The sinkhole distorts time while the space remains unchanged, which implies Amy probably woke up in the same location as the west patch of Abbot Ranch. With the specific location of the ranch turned into a barren area, it can be assumed that it’s quite a long leap to the future where Amy has ended up. A kindly couple of hikers check up on Amy, and all she can recall is the possibility that her name might be Autumn.
Viewers might remember that, in the first season, Autumn mentioned being raised by her rich adoptive parents, whose trust fund money allowed her to stay afloat. In that context, these hikers are none other than the Rivers couple, who supposedly raised Autumn/Amy since she was nine years old. With only Autumn’s name and her family insignia staying in her memory, it is no wonder that Autumn hadn’t much idea about her past when she first met the Abbots and gradually pieced together every clue to establish the connection between her and Amy. At present, Autumn has messed the timeline enough for the future to stay in the course that will lead Amy to turn out like her, but it still doesn’t answer how Amy can form and lead a cult without the proper knowledge about the sinkhole mineral or why her adoptive parents didn’t look for Amy’s birth parents.
On the other hand, Autumn in the present time period has already started climbing the steps to fulfill her cosmic destiny. The congregation at the local church led by Pastor Ken has already been charmed by her eccentricities; Autumn already knows how to use the sinkhole mineral to capture the minds of others; and the formation of a cult of her own is just a matter of time.
Can Royal and Cecilia Avert the Dark Future and Save Amy?
The extremely conflicting relationship the elderly Abbot couple, Royal and Cecilia, had shared with Autumn through the course of two seasons was intriguing to say the least, but this time they know that Autumn, the manic, grown-up version of their granddaughter, is an opposition they need to tackle to protect their family, their ranch, and everything they know and love. They have to begin with rescuing Amy from whatever point in time she has been stranded, which can foil Autumn’s plan before it’s too late. However, with the sinkhole getting sealed after Amy falls through it, Royal is not going to find an easy way to deal with the situation. Does the alternate timeline created by Perry hold the key to defeating Autumn? That will be an important plot point to focus on for the third season of Outer Range.
