La Brea (TV series)

Lore & Background

Season two reveals that the sinkholes were caused by the Lazarus Project, led by Gavin's long-lost father James Mallet and run by people from 2076, who are researching ways to deal with their time's depleted resources and master de-extinction. The third and final season deals with the aftermath of a time portal's destruction, which brings different things from across time, such as dinosaurs. Gavin and his allies must contend with the Reisander Group, which plans to weaponize time travel. The main cast includes Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, Diesel La Torraca, Chiké Okonkwo, Karina Logue, Zyra Gorecki, Jack Martin, Veronica St. Clair, Rohan Mirchandaney, Lily Santiago, Chloe De Los Santos, Michelle Vergara Moore, Jon Seda, Josh McKenzie, Nicholas Gonzalez, and Tonantzin Carmelo.

Reader's Guide

La Brea represents a modern entry in the science fiction television genre, blending disaster drama with time travel and prehistoric survival themes. Its significance lies in its attempt to serialize a large-scale, family-centered narrative across multiple time periods, from 10,000 BC to 2076. The series was renewed for three seasons, with the final season reduced to six episodes after the cast accepted release from their contracts. The show's legacy is modest; it received mixed reviews and concluded after 30 episodes. It serves as an example of network television's continued investment in high-concept sci-fi, produced by Keshet Studios and Universal Television. The series explores themes of family separation, survival, and the consequences of time manipulation, but did not achieve critical or popular breakout status.

Did You Know?

• The series was created and executive produced by David Appelbaum.
• The sinkhole in the series opens at the La Brea Tar Pits and Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
• The third season was reduced to six episodes after the cast accepted an offer to be released from their contracts.
• The series aired on NBC from September 28, 2021 to February 13, 2024.

The Premise: A Portal to the Ancient Past

When a colossal sinkhole tears open along Wilshire Boulevard at the La Brea Tar Pits on September 26, 2021, the streets of Los Angeles swallow whole swaths of the city—pedestrians, cars, even the Petersen Automotive Museum—dragging them into a terrifying primeval wilderness. The show's central conceit is that this chasm is not merely geological but a spacetime gateway linking the present to the same coordinates in 10,000 BC. Modern survivors, including the fractured Harris family, must navigate a world of dire wolves, Teratornis, and hostile indigenous communities while searching for a way back before the portal seals shut. The United States Department of Homeland Security, already tracking a comparable event in the Mojave Desert, eventually uncovers the Lazarus Project: a clandestine operation directed by Gavin's long-lost father, James Mallet, and staffed by operatives from the year 2076 who are experimenting with de-extinction and resource recovery. A further wrinkle is introduced when a scientist reveals that a child from the ancient village must be routed through a separate portal to 1988, or one of the present-day survivors—and their descendants—will simply cease to exist.

The Harris Family and the Ensemble

At the heart of the series is the Harris family, torn apart by the sinkhole and forced to reunite across a temporal divide. Eve, played by Natalie Zea, is a protective office manager whose helicopter parenting is tested to its limits. Her estranged husband Gavin, portrayed by Eoin Macken, is a former military pilot who experiences vivid visions pinpointing his wife and son's location in the ancient world. Their teenagers Izzy and Josh—Zyra Gorecki and Jack Martin—must cope with displacement; Izzy has already lost her left leg below the knee in a prior car accident. The family's backstory deepens when it emerges that Gavin is actually Isaiah, a boy from 10,000 BC (Diesel La Torraca) sent forward in time. Surrounding this core is a rich ensemble: Ty Coleman, a therapist Eve befriends; Marybeth Hill, a Baton Rouge officer chasing her estranged son; Scott Israni, an anxious Australian anthropology grad student; and Veronica Castillo, a former runaway whose supposed father turns out to have been her kidnapper. Paara, a Tongva speaker played by Tonantzin Carmelo, adds a crucial indigenous perspective to the ancient setting.

Three Seasons of Escalating Stakes

The show's three-season run, spanning thirty episodes from late 2021 to early 2024, follows a clear arc of escalating threats. Season one focuses on immediate survival: the Harris family is separated, Marybeth Hill is fatally wounded by a follower of the ancient-world figure Silas, and the true identity of Lilly Castillo is exposed as a kidnapped child rather than Veronica's sister. Season two widens the scope dramatically by unveiling the Lazarus Project, a 2076 initiative led by James Mallet (Jonno Roberts), who is revealed to be Gavin's biological father and the grandfather of Izzy and Josh. Caroline Clark, a scientist from that future era and Silas's daughter, adds another layer to the family tree. The Exiles, led by Taamet, introduce a new faction in the ancient world, and Paara and Ty Coleman's marriage anchors a personal storyline. By the final season, the destruction of a time portal scatters creatures and objects from multiple eras—including dinosaurs—into the present, while the Reisander Group emerges as a villainous force intent on weaponizing time travel itself. Levi Delgado's death saving Gavin from Reisander soldiers marks a pivotal loss in the series' closing stretch.

Production, Broadcast, and Critical Response

La Brea was developed as an American science fiction drama by David Appelbaum, who served as both creator and executive producer. The production was a collaboration between Keshet Studios and Universal Television. NBC picked up the series, which premiered on September 28, 2021, and ran through its third and final season, concluding on February 13, 2024. Across its entire run the show delivered thirty episodes, giving the writers roughly ten episodes per season to develop the sprawling mythology of the sinkholes, the Lazarus Project, and the interconnected family trees spanning 10,000 BC, 1988, the present, and 2076. The show's blend of primeval survival, time-travel paradoxes, and family drama placed it in a crowded corner of the genre. Critics offered mixed reviews of the series, with the ambitious scope of the premise and the central performances from Zea and Macken standing out as strengths, while the shifting timelines and ever-expanding cast presented challenges for viewers and reviewers alike. Despite the divided critical reception, the series sustained a full three-season run on a major broadcast network, a notable achievement for a show juggling so many temporal threads and character arcs simultaneously.