The second season of ABC’s drama For Life prepares star Nicholas Pinnock (Top Boy) as Producer according to Variety. Pinnock will be working closely with Hank Steinberg (The Last Ship) and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Power) on the production team.
“[I’ve] worked harder in this show than I have any other, and kind of beyond my normal role as an actor. And it’s just nice to be acknowledged for your efforts,” Pinnock shares via Variety.
Pinnock’s character, Aaron Wallace, is shown to be unjustly convicted and incarcerated for dealing with drugs, making him lose everything important to him. He motivates himself to earn a law degree and act as a paralegal to work within the justice system. It is well-noted that Wallace treats his clients on another level of empath compared to other lawyers. At the same time of working for others, he works for his own life sentence by attempting to overturn the unjust crime that was imposed on him.
For Life’s television production was inspired by the true story of Isaac Wright Jr., a wrongly convicted black man that was sentenced to life in prison. Wright Jr. studied law and overturned his conviction once he became a lawyer.
The announcement for season two of For Life was announced in June 2020 as ABC officially claimed the drama series would make a comeback:
For Life just got renewed for season two by ABC! It’s more than just a show, it’s a fight for justice and we’re keeping the fight going. Isaac Wright Jr stood up to the system and won his freedom and now more than ever, we need to keep telling the story inspired by his life. pic.twitter.com/ig5gBnRMAq
— 50cent (@50cent) June 16, 2020
Due to the pandemic, For Life‘s production was paused for two weeks in mid-September as a result of inconsistent COVID-19 testing within the production team. According to Variety, negative and positive results stemmed from the production team as the strict regulation was following in accordance with the local government guidelines.
“We’re used to being in the same room and not having there be such a divide on set, but it’s the only way we can film at the moment [per] New York state regulations,” shares Pinnock via Variety.
Therefore, once production was resumed, masks were enforced on the scene.
Pinnock adds, “It’s not an easy thing, to rehearse with a mask on, because you can’t see these expressions, you sometimes can’t hear as well. But everybody knows what the deal is, and we understand that this is the way that it’s going right now and the way it has to be right now,” via Variety.
“There’s no getting around it, there’s no shortcuts, because the moment you take shortcuts is the moment you put everybody at risk,” he said. “It is going to be different. It is a shock to the system to begin with. But you get used to it very, very quickly — it’s not as bad as everybody may anticipate. It certainly wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. You just have to be patient and understand that there is now a new sheriff in town called COVID, and we have to adhere to what it needs,” says Pinnock via Variety.