Warning: SPOILERS for the season 2 finale of Fantasy Island.Another season of FOX’s Fantasy Island reboot has come to a close and is currently waiting on a renewal announcement from the network. Although the fate of the series remains unknown, the season 2 finale wrapped up several ongoing plot lines and ended on a high note. Ruby regained her memory and reunited with her daughter, Elena and Javier exchanged “I love yous,” and the three women who came to the island for revenge left with a sense of peace.
Despite the closure the finale provided, there are still plenty of stories to be told about Roarke and her guests at the magical resort. Liz Craft and Sarah Fain serve as co-showrunners and executive producers of the series and have worked on several projects together such as The Vampire Diaries, The Fix, and The 100. Fantasy Island stars Roselyn Sánchez as Elena, Kiara Barnes as Ruby, and John Gabriel Rodriquez as Javier.
Liz Craft and Sarah Fain chat exclusively with Screen Rant about writing a revenge story for the finale, Ruby’s complicated relationship with Isla, and what fans can expect in a hopeful third season.
Liz Craft & Sarah Fain Break Down Fantasy Island Finale
Screen Rant: Out of all the couples that have visited Fantasy Island this year, who was your personal favorite in terms of either the characters or the story that they brought?
Sarah Fain: Oh, that’s a hard one. But I think Dan and Alley from The Wonder Years. Having the parents from The Wonder Years on the show just felt so warm, and almost like a warm blanket that we could just add to the show. It was so cool to see them together again. Obviously, Teri Hatcher and James Denton are a total thrill, and they’re magical together. So for me, that’s a toss up. I’d have to go with both of those.
Liz Craft: I’m going to have to go with Cheryl Hines and Rachael Harris because they’re best friends in real life. [They played] Tara and Jessica in the first episode. I think because Sarah and I are best friends and writing partners [and] worked together for so many years, there was a lot of us infused in that story. We went to high school together, and Tara and Jessica went to high school together. So I think that would have to be my pick. And also, the actresses were so fantastic. They did a lot of improv because they both come from an improv background, which added a lot to the episode. So that was really a thrill.
Sarah, as you mentioned, you reunited Alley Mills and Dan Lauria from The Wonder Years! How did that opportunity present itself?
Sarah Fain: I have to give full credit to our casting director, Mark Rutman. He’s so fantastic and creative and is constantly coming up with really smart ideas for pairings or even individuals who will be really powerful in a specific role or in a couple-specific role.
Liz Craft: One-hundred percent. He had that idea. We wrote the script without knowing who it would be, and he’s the one who said, “Hey, I have an idea.” And of course, when that came up, the staff just went nuts.
On a case-of-the-week type show like this, how do you balance creating new characters, fleshing out these stories, and still focusing on the development of your main cast?
Sarah Fain: It’s interesting because in season 1, it wasn’t as balanced toward our characters. In season 2, we all felt like having more of our characters would be good for the show, because they’re, one, fantastic, and two, they have so much going on in their lives that we wanted to explore. So in season 2, we rebalanced. For our guests characters, everything really comes from a place of the most human need that we all have. We all talk about things, large and small, that are not specific just to us, but that are universal in some way that everyone can really attach to and feel. Then we create a very specific character around that need.
Liz Craft: And hopefully, we can have them cross in the sense that, thematically, what’s happening with our guest characters’ stories will impact our main cast, so that it all feels of a piece. We don’t want it to feel like we have things that have nothing to do with each other. And what we loved is that the audience, in season 1, really let us know that they wanted to know more about Roarke and Javier and Ruby, and that kind of gave us a little freedom to do more of that than the original did. That was one place where the show is different from the original. We do delve much more into their personal lives.
For the finale, you chose to tell a story about three women who wanted revenge rather than the typical couple or duo. Why did you feel like this was a good way to end the season?
Liz Craft: Sarah and I were talking, and we just had the idea. We’ve always wanted to do a revenge story.
Sarah Fain: The original pilot story that we changed was a revenge story.
Liz Craft: That’s right. So we’ve always had in mind that we wanted to do a revenge story. But the question is, how do we do it in a fun way? And in a way that can sort of end with some hope, which is not necessarily easy when you’re talking about revenge. We came up with the idea of these three women banding together against a big male guest star.
Part of it is that we wanted to have a big, famous guest star in the finale, and we definitely felt like this story allowed for that. And we wanted it to have humor. We also wanted to do something big for the finale—something that really spoke to the original show, which we think this fantasy very much does, but also [spoke] to where we’ve gone with it.
The finale also really focused on Ruby and brought her storyline this season to a head. Now that she knows who she is, how is she going to handle seeing her daughter and having to let her go?
Sarah Fain: That’s a great question. It’s super emotional. I think that’s part of why we wanted to do it. At the end of the episode, you see that MJ doesn’t remember her mom anymore and doesn’t recognize her and the pain of that. So I think Ruby, should we be so lucky as to have a season 3, will carry that forward.
But also, it was such a gift to be able to see her daughter again, and to write those letters to her kids, and give her daughter her wedding ring. The story takes her relationship with Roarke, and with Javier, really, to a completely new level, because Roarke really let her make the choice. Roarke didn’t do it for her. She brought MJ in so that Ruby could be the one at the controls of where she wanted to go. I think it’ll have a huge impact as we move forward.
I’m curious about Ruby’s feelings for Isla now that she knows the truth. It did feel like there was real love on both sides, so will she truly be able to let her go?
Liz Craft: That is something we, of course, have been discussing a lot as writers. That very question was the first question to come up once we decided how that was going to end. I think that she was furious at Isla, but then they had a moment of reconciliation when Isla gave Ruby back the wedding ring that Ruby had thrown into the ocean. Let’s put it this way—I don’t think it’s the last time that these two are going to see each other or be in each other’s lives. I think they will cross paths again.
Speaking of romance, Elena and Javier started out the season together, had some bumps along the way, but ended up saying “I love you” in the finale. When you were mapping that relationship out this season, what were you hoping to accomplish?
Sarah Fain: I think it’s such a growth relationship for both of them. Elena is used to being the authority on the island and having to embrace a relationship where she doesn’t get to make all the decisions and where she doesn’t get to be in charge and has to be more equal. She really struggles with that, and she screws up, and then she has to apologize and do her own reconciliation with Javier. And then Javier has to really be the guy who draws the line with her and say, “I will not be with you on these terms.” So they both have to find an inner strength that we really loved.
Liz Craft: We didn’t want to just continue will they/won’t they, will they/won’t they. We wanted to say, “they will,” and then what happens?
The season ended on such an uplifting note. We can assume Elena will continue to take care of the island and take care of the guests, but is there anything that you can tease about a hopeful season 3?
Liz Craft: What we’d love to do in season 3 is dive a bit deeper into the mythology of the island and into what else is going on. Now that everybody knows the island and knows some of the history, we could have a lot of fun with that. So along with the continued growth of our characters, that’s something we’re really excited about doing in season 3.
About The Fantasy Island Season 2 Finale
Sue, Jenna, and Brooklyn are the first, second, and third wives of Gavin, a charming doctor who’s made a fortune selling all-natural vitamins— and broken all of their hearts along the way. Now, they all share the same fantasy: they want Gavin to understand— to feel for himself— the pain he’s caused them all. Meanwhile, Roarke brings Ruby’s youngest daughter, MJ, to the Island to help Ruby remember who she is and hopefully keep her from disappearing into the ocean forever with Isla as a mermaid.
Fantasy Island season 2 is currently available to stream on Hulu.
