The Following's Ryan Hardy appears to have put his life back together, but his fragile house of cards could soon come crashing down.

After a year of AA meetings and quietly teaching, Hardy (Kevin Bacon) had built up a semblance of normalcy around his life. However, secreted away in a back room, the FBI agent continued to hunt the allegedly deceased Joe Carroll (James Purefoy). Now that the serial killer's followers are active once more, Hardy will be drawn into the hunt for his nemesis with renewed fervor.

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"Seemingly I have lost my obsession for Joe. . . . He is no longer burning inside my heart in the way that he was in season one," Bacon explained to PopSugar. "Truth is, he is incurably important to me... [Joe is] sadly, the most important thing in my life."

While Hardy continues to work separate from the FBI for the time being, he may wish he had the Bureaus backup when mysterious phone calls lead him to the most dangerous threat he has ever faced in "Foe Joe." Could he be meeting Luke (Sam Underwood). Meanwhile, Carroll will slowly start to figure into the picture.

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"He's taken a year out-a sabbatical-from serial killing, if you will, to think about what he did last year and how successful it was," Purefoy told Parade. "It's a nice slow burn this season. You know that he's up to something and you can't quite tell what it is."

Find out how Hardy and Purefoy fare in The Following, which airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox. Click the video below to see a preview of next week's episode, "For Joe."

Tags: The Following fox television