‘Mr. Robot’ Preps Season Two Expansion Book
Mr. Robot will offer an expanded look into the brain of Elliot Alderson with a new book, Mr. Robot: Red Wheelbarrow (eps1.91_redwheelbarr0w.txt), out November 1st, The Wall Street Journal reports. Spoilers for both Season One and Two follow.
Written by show creator Sam Esmail and writer Courtney Looney, Red Wheelbarrow comprises the journal entries Elliot was seen writing during the first six episodes of Season Two. During that arc, it was clear Elliot had isolated himself after the 5/9 hack, but it hadn’t yet been revealed that he was in prison.
“It’s the unfiltered world through Elliot’s eyes that you won’t get from the show,” Esmail said. “The way I describe how we tell the story in Mr. Robot is that you’re standing very close to a picture and you’re always taking a step back where more details and pieces fall into place.”
To that end, Esmail and Looney penned Red Wheelbarrow as if it were a novel told from Elliot’s point of view. The journals not only offers a deep dive into the character’s psyche, but also a window into the 30-day gap between Season One and Two not covered by the show. The book will also feature artifacts such as newspaper articles, a church group clipping and an empty cigarette pack that offer further clues to the story. Elliot’s fellow inmate Hot Carla also offers asides throughout the journal.
“It was like if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have a beginning, middle and end,” Esmail said. “It needs to have all the elements you’d want to find in any book you’d pick up. We didn’t consider this fluff. This wasn’t just promotional. It had to be a standalone, substantive story that explored a different side of Elliot.”
Several pages from Red Wheelbarrow are available to preview via Entertainment Weekly. The selections include a letter from Elliot’s sister Darlene, as well as a lengthy journal entry in which Elliot grapples with the stifling environment of prison and rails against the branding of Fsociety and their work as the “Five/Nine Hack,” a screed that ends with an angsty, all-caps declaration, “Fuck Society.”