Found Star Arlen Escarpeta Addresses Zeke’s Past & The Surprising Identity Of His Kidnapper

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for the Found season 2 premiere.The season 2 premiere of Found sees the team beginning to crumble under the weight of Gabi’s lie. After Zeke is poisoned by Sir and rushed to the hospital, Dhan discovers that the tech whiz is in the process of writing a letter of resignation from Mosely & Associates. Thankfully, Zeke survives the attempted murder but has a panic attack in the emergency room due to being agoraphobic. He is quickly brought back home and briefed on the details of Lacey’s abduction.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that Zeke planned to leave Gabi’s team after what he had learned. However, Arlen Escarpeta shares that his character romanticizes several aspects of life, which may have caused Zeke to put Gabi on a pedestal in Found season 1. The actor shares that accepting Gabi’s flaws will come as a challenge to Zeke, as the way he sees his leader affects the way he sees himself.

Screen Rant interviews Escarpeta about Zeke’s perception of Gabi, the identity of his kidnapper, and how the character will be affected by Lacey’s absence.

Zeke Will Be Forced To Grow During Found Season 2

“We’re going to have a good time unpacking that, unraveling those layers, and seeing what’s behind the next version of Zeke.”

Screen Rant: I’m still reeling from the season 1 finale, so what were your thoughts when you found out what the cliffhanger was going to be?

Arlen Escarpeta: When I read that script, I just shook my head, and I was like, “Wait, so now what? What does this mean?” And literally all of the questions that I think your regular audience had, I had the exact same questions. What does this mean for the team? Where is he? There were so many questions, and then I just laughed to myself.

I said, “Well, we’re going to have a good time getting all of those things answered in season 2.” It’s a special show. They find a really good balance of us doing, obviously, some amazing things and bringing families together and bringing people home, but then you get these really amazing storylines that are just so intriguing from a creative standpoint. We’re just in love with the show.

Me too. It really stands out from other procedurals.

Arlen Escarpeta: I think NK and NBC and Berlanti Productions—everyone really truly is putting their best foot forward. It’s creatively satisfying. It is obviously educational in the sense that these things really happened. You’re really learning about what’s happening when you’re just in your bubble.

In a good way, I think it kind of slows you down enough to obviously enjoy the show, but maybe you think once or twice about doubling back. Did you see something? Should you say something? Should you make that call? And you just never know how you can be impactful and actually help someone in any way, shape, or form. We got something good going, I think.

How does the truth about Sir affect Zeke’s perception of Gabi throughout season 2?

Arlen Escarpeta: It changes across the board. Gabi is not perfect. Even before you get to the agoraphobia part of it, I think Zeke romanticizes a lot of things, whether that be the relationships that he has in his life or the people that are around him. He lives in a space where he creates a very safe space for himself, and it’s supposed to look a certain kind of way, and people are a certain kind of way—especially Mosely & Associates, this adopted family for him, have been boundaries against the outside world. They’ve been safe and amazing and beautiful, and now he is realizing that Gabi is not perfect, Gabi is flawed, Gabi is human.

I think it’s very much going to be a challenge for Zeke, not just for how he sees her, but how he sees himself. We’re going to have a good time unpacking that, unraveling those layers, and seeing what’s behind the next version of Zeke because he’s going to have to grow. These are the growing pains that he’s going through. And it’s interesting because even with Zeke being agoraphobic and not being able to go outside, everything is still affecting him. It’s going to be interesting to see how within his walls that he lives in at his house, how does he make sense of it all without having that outlet of going outside and so forth.

Found Season 2 Delivers Pieces Of Zeke’s Ominous Backstory

“If anyone knows, I would have to imagine that Gabi knows.”

There’s so much about Zeke that we still don’t know. Will we dive into his past and backstory more during season 2?

Arlen Escarpeta: I think you get pieces of it. However, here’s the thing. Zeke, as open as you see him, very much so has a mask on. His mask is his clothes, it’s the sweaters, it’s his hair, it’s the computers, it’s all of these things. It’s very much still a mask for him that allows him to be a part of the team without necessarily dealing with some of the trauma that is inside. And I think our team, across the board, we all do that.

We compartmentalize our own trauma to do the good work that is helping others because it feels good, but there’s a part of us that is still neglecting the work that we need to do on ourselves. Here we are for season 2, and Zeke is going to have to really figure out how to find that balance and make it make sense for him, just for him by himself.

He opened up a little bit in the finale. Zeke tells the team that he was kidnapped by his uncle. Will that be expanded on?

Arlen Escarpeta: Diving into Zeke’s kidnapping and what he’s told us so far with him being guarded, there’s so much that Zeke still holds close to the vest. If anyone knows, I would have to imagine that Gabi knows. They met each other through online therapy, which we learned in the pilot episode, so I figured there are some things that might’ve been shared there, but no one else, I don’t think.

Maybe Lacey, maybe Dhan, but I think Zeke very much still wants people to look at him how they’ve been looking at him. Once these truths are revealed and opened up, maybe Zeke doesn’t want the rest of the team looking at him that way. I’m not sure yet what he’s protecting us from, but I think once we peel those layers back, it’ll be something that will definitely touch our heart, because I think that’s what Zeke does. He absolutely does open your heart and make you feel something.

Zeke and Lacey are close. How does her kidnapping affect him?

Arlen Escarpeta: I think Lacey’s kidnapping affects Zeke in good ways and bad ways. In a good way, Zeke has to be brave. He has to be brave. He has to figure out a way to be a part of the solution amidst the truth and the lie that Gabi’s been holding all this time. We’re going to have to figure that out because Lacey is missing right now. Sir has her. The bad part of it is that with Lacey not being there, Zeke now has to see if he is strong enough to stand on his own.

He can’t necessarily talk to Dhan or Mark or Gabi for that matter, because we’re all splintered right now. We’re all in different spaces and time, and how we would normally communicate with one another is not where we are right now. We are very much a broken family, and no one’s answering their phone, and we’re in different rooms, and doors are closed. We’re not sitting down having those same powwows that we would have before. It’ll be interesting to see how we figure things out as a team and as a family.

Escarpeta Believes Not Knowing Zeke’s Full History Benefits His Performance

“The unknown is just as creatively interesting as the actual knowing.”

Is there a storyline you’d like to see explored for Zeke that the show hasn’t had a chance to do yet?

Arlen Escarpeta: Oh, that’s so interesting. I haven’t presented anything per se, but I have asked questions, just things that I don’t know, and they’ll answer with, “Do you want to know?” and my answer back is, “You know what? Not yet. I don’t want to know yet,” because the unknown is just as creatively interesting as the actual knowing. And so for me, as the actor, to not know too much is definitely a benefit. To know enough is what I need, so that way I’m not playing the end too early.

And at least in this moment, I really get to relish in the unknown. I get to play with the fact that Zeke holds so much close to his vest. When I’m shooting my scenes, there are times where I look over through the monitors and I see the hugging, I see the families being reunited. I see the team working together to try to get things done. They’re running out the door, and all of these things are happening.

And I have these quiet moments of Zeke where I’m by myself, and I truly just reflect and create scenarios of what Zeke is holding onto of why he can’t leave the house, of what he would love to do if he could leave the house. How much he wants to be on the other side. Right now, I have a great balance of both of those worlds, but I’m definitely looking forward to whatever truths and realities they bring to me that I get to play, hopefully, within season 2, and well into seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6, and for many years to come.

As you were saying, the team is fractured this season, but is there a season 1 dynamic you really enjoyed for Zeke?

Arlen Escarpeta: I love Zeke and Dhan’s storyline. I love that they started out as opposites, but they connected on such an honest friendship level where they get each other now, where, initially, they were bumping heads. I also love Zeke and Lacey’s growing relationship of them trying to figure out what’s there. “Are we friends? Are we more than friends? I just like having you around. You listen to me.” It’s different when you speak to one person versus the other. And so I think Zeke is able to have a different type of relationship with all of M & A.

What he gets from Gabi is a huge amount of strength and bravery because that’s what she represents. What he gets from Dhan, I think, is, “Oh wow, someone been where I’ve been, and he came out of it. Look at where he’s now. That’s hope.” And then when Zeke speaks to Lacey, Lacey is very much like, “You’re still very much a child in your head and your emotions are like me, so I can connect with you on that level.” And then when Zeke speaks to Margaret, there is the trauma that is actually actively still happening—a woman who goes to the bus station every night for umpteen years, searching faces and searching eyes, looking for her son, but she’s turned into something so powerful that now she’s helping other people.

All of these different relationships that Zeke has serve him in different ways. I think, in the best way to say it, those are his senses. Obviously, there’s the computer and there are the drones and everything like that, but those relationships and how he connects with them, that’s eyes, ears, sound, and touch. Zeke gets to experience the outside world through all of M & A. And I think that’s the most special thing about Mosely & Associates for Zeke. It’s what they represent for him. They are him outside.

About NBC’s Drama Series Found

Created by Nkechi Okoro Carroll

In any given year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. More than half that number are people of color that the country seems to forget about. Public relations specialist Gabi Mosely (series star and producer Shanola Hampton), who was once herself one of those forgotten ones, and her crisis management team make sure there is always someone looking out for the missing.

Gabi, however, has a chilling secret: In the midst of grief, she imprisoned her childhood kidnapper, Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar). Now Sir has escaped and is on the loose, and her biggest secret is now her biggest threat.

Check back for our other interviews with the Found cast:

Found season 2 airs Thursdays on NBC at 10 p.m. ET/PT.