TV

Kevin Bacon gets his mojo back in Season 2 of ‘The Following’

“The Following” creator Kevin Williamson is remarkably candid — remorseful, even — about criticism of the serial-killer drama’s first season.

While the series was a hit for Fox, critics complained that the FBI was portrayed as inept, always one step behind the bad guys. Season 2, premiering Sunday night, attempts to be less of a cat-and-mouse chase and more character-driven.

“We kind of knew that we had, you know, some dumb moves,” Williamson said about Season 1 in a recent phone interview. “Me and my writers did the absolute best that we could, and if we fell short, I’m really, really sorry.”

The show’s first year focused on Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), a murderer who escaped from prison and used a legion of “followers” to torment his ex-wife, Claire (Natalie Zea), and pursuers, including former FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) and by-the-book young agent Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore).

The season-long pursuit was also a stumbling block. “The FBI was constantly losing track of the bad guys — but they couldn’t catch them,” says Ashmore. “If you capture the bad guy, the show is over.”

Williamson says it created an unrealistic drag for viewers. “We put Ryan Hardy in, and that was his goal, week to week to week,” Williamson says. “If he’s not attaining his goal, it gets frustrating. You’re looking at his every move and going, ‘Why isn’t he making any headway?’”

Lesson learned. “And by the way — I get it! I agree!” Williamson says, laughing. “I own up to it. I hope it didn’t deter anyone. This season is just frightening. And we try to not take ourselves so seriously; we’re having a little more fun this year.”

Season 2 picks up a year after Carroll presumably died in a fire and Hardy survived a knife attack by a follower. (The fate of Claire, who was romantically linked to Hardy and was also stabbed, is revealed in the first episode.) The alcoholic Hardy is newly sober and teaches criminology at a New York college. Weston has been suspended by the FBI for kidnapping and torturing — along with Hardy — a follower, a man Hardy killed in the first-season finale.

But the feds drag them into a new case when men wearing Joe Carroll masks stab several people to death on a New York subway car while shouting, “Joe Carroll lives! Ryan Hardy can’t stop us! The resurrection is coming!”

The show’s course correction includes more personal story lines, Bacon says, with Hardy spending time with friends and family. “I know this is such a cliché, but it’s true: You’re not going to feel really scared or tense unless you’ve got an emotional connection to a character,” he says. “Of course, you’re making sure that people get those kind of ‘Holy sh – -, I didn’t see that coming’ moments, too.”

Hardy also keeps both Weston and the FBI at arm’s length and conducts his own investigation with the help of his niece, NYPD detective Max Hardy, played by cast newcomer Jessica Stroup.

“Ryan Hardy is a little more of a bad-ass this year,” Williamson says. “It’s fun to watch.”

Weston, meanwhile, becomes increasingly troubled. “I think Mike’s moral compass will always point north,” Ashmore says. “He’s not going to get completely lost, but the line of what’s right and what’s wrong becomes a little blurry.”

And — no surprise — Carroll is indeed resurrected, sporting a trucker cap and facial hair worthy of a “Duck Dynasty” cast member. “We find out what happened to him,” Williamson says. “Whereas Ryan took a turn for the up, I’d say there really was a sad, lonely, depressed year for Joe,” Williamson says. “It’ll sort of become ‘How Joe Carroll got his groove back.’”

There are more new cast members as well, including Connie Nielsen as Lily Gray, an art dealer who survives the subway attack and becomes a potential Hardy love interest. British actor Sam Underwood will steal the show in a role that’s creepy, funny and guaranteed to fire up Twitter discussions during Sunday’s season premiere.

“He’s amazing,” says Williamson.

“It’s been a lot of fun this year,” he says of the new season. “We worked really hard and I think it shows. I hope it shows — you just don’t know,” he says, adding with a laugh. “But we’ll be reading Twitter and we’ll adjust accordingly.”