8 exciting takeaways from the Orphan Black: Echoes trailer (including the release date!)

Get ready for the return to the Clone Club! AMC+ has shared the first full trailer and release date for Orphan Black: Echoes, which continues the acclaimed series!

Debuting in 2013, Orphan Black focuses on Sarah, a British thief and con artist living in Toronto. At the start of the show, she's shocked to see a woman who looks exactly like her jumping in front of a train. Taking on her double's identity, Sarah soon discovers they’re part of a set of clones created by a company named Dyad, and someone is hunting them down.

The show won a cult following and huge acclaim, mainly for Tatiana Maslany’s performance as the clones, which earned her a Best Actress - Drama Emmy Award. Orphan Black ended after five seasons with a podcast having Maslany and other cast members reuniting for a sequel series. Now, AMC and BBC America are building on the story with the new series Orphan Black: Echoes, and the trailer has some intriguing hints about what to expect. 

Lucy doesn’t know herself

Krysten Ritter of Jessica Jones fame plays the main character Lucy, who’s woken up with partial amnesia. She’s trying to piece together her life and past which leads her to some dark discoveries. The shots of her waking up in some sort of gooey pod indicates it may be a memory, not a nightmare, and the start of Lucy’s journey to figuring herself out.

Meeting your own clone?

A key moment in the trailer is Lucy running into a teenager, Jules (Amanda Fix), who bears a striking resemblance to her. A look at her arm has Lucy saying, “I think she’s me.” So, rather than meeting a full doppelgänger of herself, Jules may be Lucy’s younger clone, who is still maturing. That ties into industrialist Paul Darros (James Hiroyuki Liao) talking about a grander experiment, which makes one wonder how deep this goes.

Sarah’s daughter is all grown up

When last we saw Sarah’s daughter, Kira Manning, she was a little kid played by Skyler Wexler. It’s been seven years since the show ended, and Keeley Hawes is now playing an adult Kira. It seems she’s tied to whatever is going on, although it’s unclear if she’s up to something more sinister or is now trying to help the clones. She is shown saying, “I think I may have done something terrible,” so it’s possible she’s accidentally set in motion some sort of dangerous experiment that’s getting out of hand. 

Is that really Lucy with a gun?

A few shots have Lucy holding a gun and getting into car chases. The question is if this is her before her memory faded and she's remembering old times, or maybe it’s a clone. The fact that Lucy herself has no idea means it's going to be trickier to figure out. It adds more mystery to the show, and Ritter seems at home with the action.

Are the clones now public? 

The Orphan Black: The Next Chapter podcast had the clones being revealed to the world. It’s up in the air whether Echoes makes that canon or not, but it would be a different direction and also why Lucy is so ready to believe that Jules is her own clone. Or the show might ignore the podcast and the clone operations are still secret for some shady stuff.

Potential Tatiana Maslany cameo

At one point, you see photos of original series characters like Sarah on Kira’s table. It’s set in the future so the clones would be older, yet it seems to open the door to the possibility that Tatiana Maslany might make a cameo, if not as a Clone Club member than perhaps any of the other clones in order to further link the series. 

It’s going to get freaky

Orphan Black was already known for some wild stuff and this looks even bigger. We’ve got underground labs of devices under lights, some sort of farm/garden, strange visuals, and folks talking about “it’s bigger than you think.” The trailer ends with Jules saying, “I’m looking for answers, you coming with?” and Lucy seeming to consider it.

We have the release date!

Orphan Black: Echoes premieres on Sunday, June 23 on AMC+ and BBC America. The trailer indicates any Orphan Black fan is going to want to check out this sequel to one of the best sci-fi shows in recent years.

Keep up with us at Show Snob as we continue to cover news about Orphan Black: Echoes!