'Outer Range's Use of Time Travel Explained - Is the Future Predestined?

Editor's Note: The below contains spoilers for Outer Range Season 2.

Summary

• Outer Range's black hole sends characters to different times based on their desires and actions, revealing unpredictable outcomes.
• The black dust connects characters across timelines, offering glimpses into the past and visions of the future.
• Characters interacting with the black powder cause temporal paradoxes, leading to mysterious disappearances and timeline alterations.

There's some strange stuff going on in the west pasture on Prime Video's Weird Western series Outer Range, and there's also a lot of confusion about what will happen next. This modern Western thriller (with plenty of sci-fi twists) has managed to push the boundaries of the genre while constructing a solid, slow-burn narrative that could keep audiences engaged for years to come. There's a lot to love about this oddball series (and the host of strange characters in it), and certainly one of them is the mystery of that mysterious black hole found on the Abbott Ranch. How exactly does the time-traveling black hole work? While we might not have the answers to every question that the Josh Brolin sci-fi Western asks, we're hopeful that we can shed some light on the dusty darkness, and better explain how the time-displacement sinkhole operates. Of course, much of this might border on pure speculation, but let's start with what we know.

How Is Royal Abbott Connected to the West Pasture?

In Season 1 of Outer Range, we learned that Royal Abbott (Brolin) is indeed from the past—1886, to be exact — and only traveled to the future/present of 1968 after accidentally killing his own father, Levi Sumner (Brandon Stacy), when he was 9. Because of Royal's desperation, the hole took him somewhen where he'd be free from the consequences of his actions. Of course, that isn't really true since his secret is the catalyst of his actions the entire season, but it seems as if the hole knew that Royal was trying to run away and gave him the opportunity to do so ("The West"). Though we originally believed that Royal was alone when this happened, it turned out that he killed his father in an effort to save a time-displaced Joy Hawk (Tamara Podemski), who then followed him into the hole and returned to her present ("Ode to Joy"). Speaking of, the hole also seems pretty inconsistent as far as when it chooses to send people. When Autumn Rivers (Imogen Poots) pushes Royal into the whole at the end of "The Void," we learn in the very next episode that Royal only arrives a few years into the future, and two years after his own death ("The Land").

Likewise, in Season 2, when Joy jumps in the hole in 1886, she finds herself back in the 21st century, only days after she initially disappeared. It's possible that the void itself sends people where they want to go, and since Royal didn't intend to fall into the hole, it sent him somewhere randomly. But even that seems like it's a bit too random for this show... We know that young Royal's (Teaguen Arbogast) desire was to get as "far away as possible" after the death of his father, so the hole sending him nearly 80 years into the future lines up with his wish. But what's strange is that the older Royal—who seems to fear the void's power after his previous experience—is sent to a time not too far from now, almost as if the supernatural object were warning him of what may be if he doesn't act accordingly. We also know that the hole itself closes almost immediately after Perry (Tom Pelphrey) jumps through it, sending him back to 1984, where he meets a younger version of his own father (played by Christian James), but we'll get to all that in a moment...

What's Up With the Black Dust?

The supernatural black hole itself seems to come and go as it pleases, though it's never fully gone. The land is rich with black ore, which allows for time travel in the first place. Though we have yet to discover the origins of the strange mineral/liquid, we know quite a bit about it. In "The Soil," Royal makes contact with the black powder from Autumn's necklace (the same material that makes up the black hole in the west pasture) and sees a vision of the future, a vision of him dying in Cecilia's (Lili Taylor) arms. After Autumn shows him the black hole, Billy Tillerson (Noah Reid) ingests this same dust and eventually gives some to his sickly father Wayne (Will Patton), which gives him undisclosed visions of the future. In Season 2, it seems to heal Wayne of his sickness entirely, possibly alluding to the idea that "time heals all wounds."

If the black hole is a portal through time (a "tear into the unknown," as Royal calls it), then the black powder itself gives one the ability to see into time (or through your past eyes) without traveling through it. Of course, Season 2 changes the game entirely when it's revealed that Joy traveled through time to 1882 without ever passing through the hole. This means that the mineral can be used to travel the timeline without the portal itself. Naturally, the dust can be used in other ways too. When Wayne inhales it in "Out to Pasture," his mind connects with that of his younger 1984 self. This is how he learns that Perry is trapped in the past, prompting him to jump into the hole in "The End of Innocence." Likewise, when Autumn takes a hit herself, the mineral connects her mind directly with her younger self, Amy Abbott (Olive Elise Abercrombie), who exists in the same time as her. The pair seem to almost switch personalities for a moment, overloaded by the experience.

Do Alternate Timelines Exist in 'Outer Range'?

After seeing the black hole with his own eyes, Luke Tillerson (Shaun Sipos) digs into the Abbott's west pasture to rediscover the portal after it vanishes. Eventually, he finds a liquid form of the black dust and touches it, accidentally opening a portal that allows an entire herd of bison to break through. The hole itself seems to respond—opening and closing—to the desperate needs of those who enter it (or, in Luke's case, who activate it). Thus far, the portal's abilities seem limitless. We know that when Joy traveled to the past, her presence there directly affected Royal's life and history. But where things get confusing is that Perry's own time-traveling escapades have yet to fully catch up with the present, which begs the question: Is Perry in an alternate timeline?

When Royal first traveled through the vortex, the hole closed until 2022, presumably causing the small earthquake in the first episode. But we also know that Perry was spit out the hole in 1984, hoping to escape the consequences of his own actions for killing Trevor Tillerson (Matt Lauria). Since we do see Perry in the background in the future that Royal accidentally travels to in the show's second episode, "The Land," it makes us wonder just how far removed Perry is from the narrative. Season 2 ends with Perry changing the past, saving Trevor from death and accidentally causing the death of his younger self (though he remains alive and unharmed). So far, it seems as if Perry must be in an alternate timeline, but we don't really know just yet. Only time will tell.

The Disappearing Mountain (and Other Complexities) in 'Outer Range'

As it turns out, Royal and Autumn aren't the only strange visitors to make their marks on the world of Wabang, Wyoming. Besides the herd of bison that Luke lets through in the Season 1 finale, there's apparently a prehistoric mastodon running around in a cave outside of town (which implies the longevity of the phenomenon), a single bison with two Indian arrows in its side (who we see in 1886 in "Ode to Joy"), and reports of other people and places that have disappeared for seconds. One of these such places is a mountain near the Abbott Ranch that disappeared when Royal and Autumn shook hands ("The Time"). It seems that when these two known time-travelers interact with the mineral involved (in this case Autumn's necklace), it created some sort of temporal paradox that forced time to collapse in on itself.

At some point in time, the mountain no longer stands. Whether that has happened in the past or future is unclear. Many people in the town, including both Royal and Joy, witness this miraculous event, though nobody can prove it, since it returns to normal the moment Royal and his time-traveling grandchild disconnect. But the mountain isn't the only disappearance we know of. We also hear a story of a man whose meth-addicted cousin disappeared for six seconds, which seems to correspond with when Royal and Autumn met for the first time and shook hands. Likewise, Falling Star (Kimberly Guerrero) disappeared sometime in the 1970s, sending her back to the 1800s where she would eventually die. It seems like any physical connection between two time-travelers could have disastrous effects on the world around them, though the primary element involved is the mysterious mineral that embodies time itself.

Is the Future Already Predetermined in 'Outer Range'?

Of all the themes on Outer Range, one of the most prevalent is the idea of predestination. Whether it's Royal's monologue in the series premiere about the Greek god Chronos (whom showrunner Charles Murray says could potentially exist) or Cecilia's own Christian faith (where divine providence and predestination are common themes), there are a lot of threads that imply that the future is set. Royal has now seen his own death, and he's also traveled to a future where the mining company BY9 (a third reference to the number nine) has begun digging for the black ore substance and examining the black hole (which has seemingly returned). To make things worse, "The End of Innocence" concludes with Autumn forcing her own existence by throwing Amy into the hole. When she awakes at some undisclosed point in the past, she has no idea who she is, believing her name to be "Autumn."

This leaves us wondering whether the future can be changed, or is it already pre-written? Is Outer Range more like Back to the Future, where the future changes in real-time (like Joy changing Royal's past), or like The Terminator franchise, whereby by sending people back in time we're effectively changing the future forever? This remains to be seen, but there's certainly potential for either free will or predestination here. Some have pointed out that the revelation via Autumn's scar that she's actually an older version of Amy sort of comes out of left field, with seemingly no obvious scar present on Autumn before the fight between Rhett (Lewis Pullman) and Perry in "The Family." Likewise, Perry's adventures in the past during Season 2 have seemingly rewritten the series premiere, but we've seen no changes in the present. Right now, we have a lot more questions than we have answers, but that's what makes a thriller like this so, well, thrilling! Only time will tell exactly how time travel works in Outer Range as we eagerly await a renewal for this engaging series.

Outer Range Season 2 is currently available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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