‘The Following’ season 2: James Purefoy’s beard dominates new cast photo

When can a beard be the star of a promotional photo? When the show that you are talking about is “The Following,” you can get attention sometimes from the strangest things. We just cannot get over the fact that James Purefoy’s Joe Carroll has now slightly augmented his appearance to look like a homeless professor.

Then again, can you really be too shocked that Joe is going for a look that would be fitting for a mountain man? If he is really still hoping to be incognito, one of the best ways to do that without going the soap-opera route and having facial reconstructive surgery is by sporting a beard.

As for everyone else that is in this photo, Emma (Valorie Curry) is also sporting a new look as she tries to recover from what happened last time with Joe and Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon). Meanwhile, you also have a new look at characters played by Connie Nielsen and also Sam Underwood, who has made quite a living as of late playing crazy people on “Dexter,” “Homeland,” and now this show. The obvious person missing here is Claire, played in the first season by Natalie Zea. She will be appearing at some point early on, but following that her status the rest of the way is pretty unclear. The show is also going to flash-forward to a happier time at the end of season 1, and for at least a good bit of the first episode, it won’t feel like Ryan is struggling to get over what happened to him and those he loves.

What do you think about the cast this time around, and now that you are a little less than a week away from the premiere, are you excited? Let us know.