It's every man for himself in season 2 of 'Outsiders'

It's war on Shay Mountain in season 2 of WGN America's “Outsiders.”

As the new season of the hourlong drama series opens at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, the uneasy truce that existed between the Appalachian-dwelling Farrell clan and the town below came to an abrupt end when the coal company encroached on their land. The continuing standoff brings forth new enemies and challenges as everyone is put to the test.

Among them is G'winveer (Gillian Alexy), who is conflicted about her new role as tribal leader after husband Big Foster (David Morse) is shot and left for dead. Li'l Foster (Ryan Hurst) heads out to track down his father's body but winds up in the hands of the townspeople. Hasil (Kyle Gallner) struggles to balance his relationship with Sally-Ann (Christina Jackson) and his commitment to his family, and Asa (Joe Anderson) grapples with whether he wants to rejoin the Farrells.

Back down in town, Sheriff Houghton (Thomas M. Wright) faces resistance from Matt Meyers (James McCauley), who was sent by the governor to contain the situation on the mountain. And with all the tensions and newcomers on the scene, it threatens to get only worse.

“It's a war in general that kind of populates the show this year,” Hurst explains. “There's some fighting amongst the Farrells, we're kind of not alone on the mountain anymore. We have these sort of visitors that sort of show up and we don't quite know what to make of them the beginning part of the season. And then obviously there's the fight with the coal company and then also everything that the sheriff has sort of brought up the mountain, where we ended Season 1. So it's not as cut-and-dried like the Farrells against the coal company, but it's kind of every man for himself. You know, that's how we kind of hit the ground running.”

This season, the bond of father and son will be tested when Big Foster returns from his brush with death a changed man wanting to repair his relationship with Li'l.

“His focus is really on the two people he loves most in the world,” Morse explains, “and that's his son and that's the woman who he never believed he would love because she tried to kill him. But the two of them, that's what his life has become about. It seems very clear to him where he needs to put his life and that's in their hands.”

But Li'l Foster is not necessarily buying into Dad's sudden remorse.

“This is a grown man who's been humiliated by his father his entire life,” Morse says, “and in some ways, from his point of view, brutalized. You know, this new love or devotion or affection or need for his son, Li'l Foster is just not going there. It's just something he doesn't recognize and he's been too damaged to go there.”

“Big kind of has a life-altering change of heart and part of that entails how he treated Li'l and sort of this want to make amends for that,” Hurst says. “But his abilities to sort of connect with Li'l is going to be challenged, at least for the first probably six or seven episodes.”

In addition to the father/son storyline, Hurst also relished the opportunity to play a man in captivity.

“That was one of the most fun parts of this season for me,” Hurst says. “... It's like a wild animal sort of put in a cage and what that does to somebody ... mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. That was the part that I really got to explore this season. ... Like any story that kind of deals with jails, it's just my kind of thing. But yeah, I was super excited about it.”