The new series of Extant promises to be “dirtier” and “sexier” and has been described as a reboot in effect.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays cop JD Richter in season two of the sci-fi thriller, hopes the new series will pack a mean punch.

“The thing with Extant last year is it lives so seriously in a high-brow science world,” he said. “Last year’s Extant had a very surreal quality to it, whereas this year it’s much dirtier.”

While this is all welcome news (there were rumours about the show getting axed), fans who watched all 13 episodes from season one can’t help but wonder whether the upcoming series will be an awkward paradigm shift that will ignore the loose ends from the previous season.

While we are eager to see more of those bathroom mirrors that make video calls and other amazing space-age tech on show, there are some questions that need immediate answers.

1. What happened to Hideki Yasumoto?

Yasumoto wielded a lot of power and influence and, as the owner of Yasumoto Corporation, he also had unlimited resources. We soon learnt that he has been immortal for quite some time, thanks to an unknown substance he found during his mining days as a young man.

But the mysterious substance (believed to be from outer space) that sustained him for the best part of 140 years runs out and, despite numerous attempts, no one could find or replicate the material. And Yasumoto ages rapidly towards the end of season one.

He hoped that the half alien-half human child might be the answer to his problems but there’s no evidence to suggest that. So will season one’s central antagonist make a comeback? At this moment, we can only presume he’s dead…

2. How did Molly really become pregnant?

Halle Berry and Camryn Manheim
Molly (CBS Broadcasting Inc)

Astronaut Molly Woods (played by Halle Berry) was sent on a solo mission by the International Space Exploration Agency that lasted 13 months. But she came back home to find herself mysteriously pregnant with a 14-week-old human foetus. Considering she can’t have children, no one knows how that happened.

The foetus was later forcibly extracted from Molly’s womb and kept in an incubator until it managed to escape and grow up into a young boy in a matter of days. But we still don’t know how she got pregnant… or how a baby could grow into a young boy so quickly.

3. How did Ethan’s programs survive the blast if there was no technology to back them up?

Pierce Gagnon as Ethan
Ethan (CBS Broadcasting Inc)

Season one’s finale was a dramatic face-off between Molly’s two sons – the Humanich robot Ethan and the alien who everyone calls the Offspring.

The Offspring was determined to stop his mother from re-entering Earth from her emergency space mission, but Ethan managed to override ISEA protocols by using his warmers to provide a heat signature (that mimics human touch), enabling him to access the system and help Molly undock at the space station.

But with a honey bomb trapped inside his body, Ethan gets blown up in the process – but not before managing to find his way into the technology of the Woods’ family home. So what happened to the fact that backing up his complex and advanced programme was virtually impossible?

We also get a fleeting glimpse of Ethan in season two – does that mean he is alive or has been rebuilt? Or could he be someone else…

4. Why didn’t John Woods have the same adverse reaction as other victims of the alien spores?

Goran Visnjic
John Woods (CBS Broadcasting Inc)

We saw John (Molly’s husband played by Goran Visnjic) hallucinating after being infected by spores. Ethan saw it too and didn’t quite understand why his father was acting weird. Yet he didn’t go off-the-charts crazy like astronauts Scott Kelly and Harmon Kryger.

Molly was also infected when she went up to the space station for the second time to meet Scott but doesn’t appear to show any symptoms apart from the odd hallucination. We’re confused.

5. What happened to Odin James?

After planting a honey bomb on an unsuspecting Ethan, Odin completely vanished.

And Julie Gelineau (played by Meryl Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer), who is John’s assistant on the Humanichs Project, found out that her new boyfriend Odin is really anti-tech terrorist Gavin Hutchinson.

Then there’s Yasumoto’s lover Femi Dodd, who is associated with Odin and his merry band of anti-tech terrorists.

But at this point alien invasion supersedes home-grown terrorism and there’s a chance that the show’s producers might not revisit the terrorist angle.

6. Has Molly changed?

Halle Berry and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Molly with JD (CBS Broadcasting Inc)

She certainly looks edgier in the new trailer. Molly’s hair is longer and she’s swapped her comfy waterfall cardis for sleeker biker jackets and she’s seen vandalising a car.

Apparently, the second season begins six months after Ethan’s “death” and Molly is confined to a psychiatric hospital. And there are people around her dying mysteriously.

Are we going to see a darker side to Molly? Is this more than about just protecting her half-alien son? Will her husband John become a secondary character replaced by gritty cop JD Richter? Old questions lead to new questions.

7. Why does the government want Molly to ‘shut up’?

If the sneak preview is anything to go by, then things are building up to an explosive showdown this time.

“There’s something much more important going on than this,” Molly tells JD. “The government is trying to shut me up.”

Molly may have spent time at a psychiatric hospital, but obviously she doesn’t believe she’s insane (nor do the viewers).

You know, you don’t have to worry about me,” Molly assures JD. “I am stable, sane and completely clear-headed.”

Then she goes and vandalises a car and JD tells her: “You are crazy.”

To which she replies: “Maybe a little. But crazy’s all you got.”

Extant starts on Amazon Prime Instant Video from Thursday, July 2.