Upload Boss Talks Finale’s Crazy Cliffhanger, Nora/Nathan/Ingrid Love Triangle and Season 4 Outlook

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Upload Season 3 finale. Proceed at your own risk!

Uh oh, are Nora and Ingrid going to have to learn how to share Nathan?

Upload’s Season 3 finale concluded with a courtroom victory for the families of the Freeyond victims, but all the incriminating intel Aleesha snagged off Karina’s computer about Horizen remained sealed up as part of the settlement. Plus, both Nathans remained the property of Horizen.

The company then rebranded as Betta and went about destroying all the illegal, duplicate uploads — including Nathan. While the Original Nathan was taken into custody, the newly engaged Backup Copy Nathan was hunted down. In the end, one Nathan video called Nora and Ingrid to reveal that the other was a goner, prompting Nora to exclaim, “Which one are you?!”

On the relationship front, Ingrid reacted badly to Backup Nathan’s proposal before realizing she was pushing him away because of her own insecurities and happily accepted his proposal. Meanwhile, Original Nathan was also planning to pop the question to Nora in Montreal before he got taken away. And Aleesha spontaneously planted a kiss on Luke while celebrating their successful covert operation to get Karina’s laptop.

Below, showrunner Greg Daniels talks about the finale’s unexpected twists and what they could mean for a potential Season 4. (The Prime Video series has yet to be renewed.)

TVLINE | Your finale cliffhangers always stress me out because they are very crazy and we never know what the future of the show is at that point. Are you getting a vibe or a feeling about Season 4 renewal odds?
Well, they say they’re extremely good, but it seems to me that there is a certain bureaucracy involved in such a large company. I always am pushing them to just announce it. Like, “It’s going to happen. Why don’t you just announce it?” and they’re like, “No, we’ve got to go through the whole process.” So we’ll see.

TVLINE | Does it ever impact how you approach the finale cliffhangers?
Yeah. I think that we will know when the end of the show is, and we’ll write towards that and not leave people hanging crazily. But there’s, like, a year between seasons, and I don’t want people to feel that they know exactly what’s going to happen next year. I kind of like to have people wondering, and that kind of gives fans a little something to occupy themselves [with] in between seasons. I mean, eventually, the whole thing will be bingeable as one work, and I also want it to hang together when that experience is happening. So this might be an Act Two break or something.

TVLINE | They did a weekly release this season, whereas the first two seasons were binge drops. Do you have a preference one way or the other?
Well, the feedback we got after Season 2 was that it felt too short. And I feel like this is allowing the fans to have a different experience, where they can wonder in between the weeks what’s going to happen and maybe make it feel like a longer experience, but we don’t know. The business is changing, and I don’t know if there is 100% clarity on how to market a show that drops two episodes a week for four weeks or whatever. [Laughs] There are so many different patterns, so we’ll see. I guess we’ll find out later if this was more or less successful than the last two seasons.

TVLINE | Looking at the finale cliffhanger, do you know which Nathan survived? Have you already decided that in your head?
Well, I don’t like to, like, short-circuit the work of a writers’ room. Like, the fun thing with the writers’ room is talking it all out and really gaming out every possible scenario and listening to people’s ideas and reactions. I mean, I have a theory, for sure.

TVLINE | Without giving it away, what would you say is the argument for each Nathan? Like, why this one, why that one?
[Laughs] I’m not going down that one. I love our fans. I think that they’re very involved and they see all these tiny details that we put in there, and they dig stuff out, and I wouldn’t want to short-circuit their debate.

TVLINE | You had this really unusual love square this year, but by the end of the season, Nora and Ingrid both found happiness with their respective Nathans. Then you have this finale cliffhanger, which brings you back down to one Nathan. How might that change the relationships and the friendships if the show moves forward into Season 4?
I think that kind of content is what we’re going to explore in Season 4, and I think it’ll probably be quite interesting. We’ve managed to find twists and turns that expand the characters, generally. And the cast is fantastic, I love our cast, and the more interesting and complex stuff you give them, the more they rise to the occasion and make it funny. It’s a show that has a lot of complexity that I think rewards a real super fan, even though we’re trying to put a nice, entertaining surface on it so you don’t have to do your homework or anything to show up. But I think the more you think about it, and the more you notice little details in the background, the more fun it is.

TVLINE | Does this cliffhanger reignite the love triangle?
[Laughs and shrugs] I’m not going to say. That’s a good question.

TVLINE | Is that something that excites you, the possibility of having that love triangle again?
I don’t want to go backwards and do anything we’ve already done, and I think the interesting thing is what happens in the future. And I think the square was getting pretty comfortable and stable, and this will shake things up.

TVLINE | Can we officially call Nora and Ingrid friends now after their comforting moments in the finale?
Yeah, I think that they understand each other. They’re like sisters, I’d say, more than friends, maybe. Like sisters-in-law.

TVLINE | Like sister wives.
[Laughs] Kind of. I mean, it didn’t start out that way this season. There was two distinct people they were dating, but yeah, maybe they’re sister wives. That’s an interesting thought. [Laughs]

TVLINE | I really loved Ingrid’s arc this season, and the Ingrid and Backup Nathan storyline was surprisingly sweet. Can you talk about crafting that arc and what made Ingrid and Backup Nathan right for each other this time around, where they couldn’t make it work before?
I think that that’s one of the super fun, philosophical things that you can explore with science fiction. She had a history with this guy, and towards the end, her attempts to control what happened caused her to behave pretty badly and kind of messed it up with this guy. And suddenly, she gets a second chance to behave differently because the copy that she’s now dating, his memories don’t go all the way up to include the stuff that she did at the end of their relationship. So she’s a person who maybe had regrets about how she ended things and now she can try again. I think if there’s anything kind of appealing about this digital afterlife for the characters, it’s that they can keep trying to live more meaningful lives with some depth in them, and Ingrid was pretty shallow and controlling. So for her to try to put their relationship on a stronger footing is happening this season.

We also felt like it was important that the copy have his own independence and have his own romantic memories that the other character didn’t have. So their storylines in the middle of the season were they’re just having nice adventures so that they actually have a relationship that’s worth something to them and is unique.

TVLINE | What did you enjoy about having Nathan and Nora as an official couple this season? And where do you hope to go with them in Season 4?
I can’t talk to Season 4, but I would say that I thought that they deserved to see each other in real life after two seasons of this virtual thing. To me, it was kind of interesting because it was almost like they had been dating long distance, and then they were finally in the same city, and what does that do to change the relationship? They’re happier problems, but you still have these little interesting kind of comedy problems that they have, getting to know each other. But I think it’s sort of important, that’s how they get more bonded. The Lakeview relationship is super romantic, but it’s also not real because they’re only interacting on a sort of spiritual level or a conversational level.

TVLINE | With Aleesha and Luke, I spent most of the season actually thinking they might just be really good friends until you got to the finale and they had that kiss. What’s your approach to that relationship?
Part of it just trying to treat their sexuality as just, like, not needing a definition in the future. Like, maybe we’ve kind of outgrown this need to know in advance who somebody is allowed to date or is going to date or something. And yeah, I do think they’re good friends, and sometimes that can change, but it doesn’t have to [for it] to be a satisfying relationship.

TVLINE | I thought I sensed a vibe in the previous seasons. Then this season, I was thinking it’s kind of refreshing if they’re just friends. Sometimes, that’s nice to see just a platonic male/female friendship. But then there was the kiss, so now I’m back to, like, “Hmm…”
Well, I mean, I don’t know if it was a romantic kiss. It could be an excited, friendly kiss.

TVLINE | There was a pause, though, after it, which signaled something.
Yeah, I think it hit one of them harder than it hit the other one. But they value each other, they’re very important in each other’s lives, whether or not they end up together.

Upload fans, what did you think of the season ender? Grade it below, then hit the comments!