Who's going to be the focus of 13 Reasons Why season 2? Well, hard to say now, but Zach Dempsey (Ross Butler) is going to play a pivotal role. His show-curated Instagram suggests that there's turmoil going on in his life. In his most recent post — and, to be clear, these are fake Instagram accounts — Zach remarks "Yeah, right" about a sign that reads, "Great day to be a tiger."
Something's afoot.
In the first season, Zach had a complicated storyline. Or tape, if you will. In season 1, episode 7, Hannah (Katherine Langford) outlines his crime: He emotionally sabotaged her in class by removing "compliments" from her "compliments" bag. (Ah, high school.) This was Zach's way of getting back at Hannah for refusing to go out with him. Then, Hannah writes Zach a letter about her emotional struggles, and he, according to Hannah, throws it away. His crime, though seemingly petty, was a small-scale versions of the violence she would face later in the season.
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Of course, the story is more complicated than that. Later, Zach reveals to Clay (Dylan Minette) that he still has the letter from Hannah. He didn't throw it away, and he regrets not doing anything about Hannah's confessions.
Speaking to Refinery29 this month, Butler revealed that, in season 2, the jockish Zach would align more closely with Alex (Miles Heizer), a non-jock.
"[Zach decides] to help Alex even though all of the other guys, especially Montgomery," Butler explained. "Zach is [helping Alex with] physical therapy, and Zach is seeing him in a more vulnerable way than Alex presents to other people." Alex ended last season with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He will, according to Heizer himself, survive it, though it will take adjusting.
13 Reasons Why season 2 will debut on Netflix this Friday, May 18.