Local ‘Mr. Robot’ writer: Watch till very end

• Kyle Bradstreet grew up in Palmyra and has an involved role on TV’s hottest new show.
• The 1998 Palmyra-Macedon graduate is a writer and producer on USA Network’s “Mr. Robot.”
• The show’s finale was delayed a week for a scene similar to the tragic deaths of two young journalists in Virginia.

A TV writer and producer from the Rochester area working on one of summer’s hottest new television shows won’t say much about its preempted season finale.

But Kyle Bradstreet will say that fans of Mr. Robot need to watch the USA Network show on Wednesday until the very end. The finale was delayed a week because of a graphic scene similar to the tragic deaths of two young journalists in Virginia.

“I can’t give away any spoilers,” said Bradstreet, a former Palymra resident now living in the New York City area. “It will be wise to watch past the credits, past the end credits. There are a lot more questions than there are expectations.”

The first-year show created by Sam Esmail stars brilliant but troubled computer programmer Elliott Alderson (Rami Malek). Plagued by psychological and drug issues, Elliott is recruited by a mysterious group that is trying to bring down a huge corporate cybersecurity firm. The cast features Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday (Carrie) and Carly Chaikin (Suburgatory).

The drama has been one of summer’s best-reviewed series, totaling about 2.9 million weekly viewers and receiving an audience score of 94 on Rotten Tomatoes. It was picked up for a second season before its first episode aired earlier this summer.

“People are just dissatisfied with some of the powers that be so they can relate to the utopian idea that Elliot believes is possible,” Bradstreet said. “I think that helps to bring in a larger and wider audience.”

Bradstreet, a 1998 Palmyra-Macedon graduate, joined the show in January. He has written episodes, collaborated with other writers to improve scripts and has worked with the cast to develop characters and flush out scenes, often standing in Esmail’s place in the producer role when he’s attending to other aspects of the show.

In one episode, Elliot demonstrates the power of cyberhacking by using a Bluetooth program to orchestrate a prison escape in an attempt to save his friend, only to find her shot to death in the trunk of a car.

“Kyle wrote one of my favorite scripts of the year,” Esmail said of the episode. “He brought a dangerous and thrilling poeticism to one of our most devastating episodes — and in this show, that says a lot.”

Unexpected career

Bradstreet, 35, didn’t set out to be a television writer and you can’t find him on social media. When it comes to cybersecurity he admits that he — like many Americans — doesn’t have a clue about the dangers of hackers taking over video cams or using smartphones to place “spoof calls.”

“Your mind is a little bit blown away as you are learning how they can gain control of your devices and how easily they are able to do so,” said Bradstreet. “I certainly don’t know the first thing about hacking, or didn’t until I started on the show.”

He relies heavily on research, whether it’s learning more about an 1860s-era detective for Copper, a BBC America show he worked on, or meeting with programmers in Los Angeles to learn more about how hackers work. By the way, the L.A. session convinced him to change all of his passwords.

“It’s really about delving into that world and finding out what the day-to-day life is like, what the living conditions are like and what’s their schedule,” he said. “It seems easier to find the voice once you add a little bit of background like that. I am always reading and looking for anecdotes ... or a song lyric will trigger something. I like the idea of three-dimensional, complex characters ... real is what you are going for.”

Bradstreet remembers growing up in Palmyra surrounded by shelves full of his books. His mother, Lauren Bradstreet, is a reading specialist at Pal-Mac schools and would often read to him when he was much younger. He enrolled at the State University College at Buffalo with the goal of becoming an English teacher.

“I got a little side-tracked,” he explained. “So far, so good.”

His career changed course after taking a graduate course by Tom Fontana, a Buffalo-born writer and producer living in New York City who worked on St. Elsewhere, Oz and Homicide: Life on the Street. The two got to know each other during conversations outside of the classroom and during trips to the airport.

“We would have great conversations about writing, about life, about moving to New York,” Bradstreet said. “Over the semester we became friends.”

It was a short film Bradstreet created for a class Fontana taught that caught the mentor’s eye.

“I knew right there that he had not only talent but an originality that you need,” Fontana said. “A lot of people want to write but only crazy people do it, so I could tell he was truly one of us crazies.”

Bradstreet moved to New York City after receiving a master’s from SUNY Buffalo State in multidisciplinary studies, a degree compiled of theater and English courses, and soon joined Fontana’s staff.

Bradstreet would also refine his writing skills on several of his own theatre projects before starting to compile credits on a variety of TV shows that included NBC’s The Philanthropist, Netflix’s Borgia: Faith & Fear and BBC’s Copper. He’ll be working on Berlin Station, a show scheduled to premiere on Epix in 2016, before re-joining the team of Mr. Robot in October to work on its second season.

“I want to see where our characters are going to go,” Bradstreet said. “It is so open-ended and Elliot is such a complicated character, he’s battling his past while attempting to make a better future for the people he cares about around him. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? How far can we push ourselves and what other directions can we take the show? It also makes you exited for a chance to have a second season and what you can do with that second season.”

TCLAUSEN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Mr. Robot season finale

When: 10 p.m., Wednesday.

Channel: USA Network (cable channel 32).

Website:bit.ly/1Ewa23n.