'Life Unexpected': Liz Tigelaar's big plans for Season 2

With the Season 1 finale of "Life Unexpected" behind her, creator Liz Tigelaar spoke to Zap2it about her plans for Season 2, despite the fact that the show hasn't gotten an official renewal yet.

"I'm pitching ideas to The CW before they make their decision," Tigelaar says. "I'm a little bit afraid to say all these ideas and have The CW be like 'we didn't approve that!'" Still, she gave us the inside scoop on what she hopes will be explored next fall if the show gets picked up.

Cate and Baze are officially Lux's parents again. What does that mean for the family dynamic?
Liz Tigelaar: We're trying to explore what Lux will do now that she knows Cate and Baze want her. She wants to be somebody worthy of the faith they've put in her. She doesn't want them to think they got a dud, you know? That they just adopted a lemon. There was an episode where Bug told Lux that she's damaged goods. There are parts of her that she still wants to keep from Cate and Baze, because she doesn't want them to think of her in that way or see the darker parts of her.

Tigelaar: We've played out the story of how the family has come together and accepted each other. Now it's time to enjoy them as a family. The road trip episode was so fun for the actors to play. Senioritis kind of kicked in by the time we shot that, because we only had one episode left, and everyone had so much fun! Whereas in the first season they're all tacking their own individual obstacles and conflicts and inner demons, in the second season they'll tackle things more as a family. They're a unit now.

Austin Butler, who plays Jones, was just cast in another CW pilot.
Tigelaar: Ugh, "Betwixt," I know! [laughs] If Jones is available to us, Jones will very much be a part of the show. If he's not, I do have an idea for another guy character. I would like to see more people from Lux's school.

Will we see more of Tasha and Bug next season?
Tigelaar: I would love to get Tasha into Lux's high school. We want Bug to come back. I love the relationship between Baze and Bug and I'd love to grow that in the second season whether Bug and Lux are together or not. There's also much more to explore with Lux and Bug's relationship -- the history of it and how it continues to develop as they move apart. People are going to find themselves in new roles.

How will Tasha feel about Lux officially having a family?
Tigelaar: We did a lot of research this season, and we talked to a lot of people about foster kids with codependent relationships. Lux and Tasha feel like they can't function without each other. We're trying to be real about what a real kid would go through -- I mean, a kid with blonde hair and blue eyes probably would've been adopted a long time ago, but within the obvious contrivances of a television show, we try to make it as true as possible. Now it's about, how do you separate from the codependent relationships with Tasha and Bug and change them into more functional, healthy relationships?

You've never really been a typical high school TV show in that we don't spend a ton of time in the school hallways with Lux. Will we see more action in the high school next season?
Tigelaar: Well, obviously it's a big approval process with the network, but we're hoping to make the high school more of a set piece. We want more things to happen there, but it won't be the typical 'Mean Girls' story. We're going to introduce more characters that will sort of broaden out the stories there. Cate and Baze will get more involved at the school and take more of an interest in Lux's education.

Will Lux get to act like more of a kid now that she's not taking care of herself?
Tigelaar: The interesting thing about Lux is that she doesn't have any hobbies. She's never had the luxury of a piano lesson or a dance class. Not that we're going to tell the dance class story, specifically, but we're asking - what do you do when you're 16 years old and you don't have anything that you're good at? You don't have your niche. The only thing you're good at is surviving the foster system.

Tigelaar: In the end, we're looking to be true to what a real kid would be going through. We got a lot of flack the first season about Lux being unlikeable, but we don't want to worry about likeable vs. unlikeable. The best story we can tell is the one that feels true to who this girl would be.

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Photo Credit: The CW