Jericho returns after a 10-week break Feb. 21 (8 ET/PT), ready to start answering some of the burning questions raised in the aftermath of nuclear explosions that hit distant towns.

As in other serialized dramas, Jericho had its freshman season split in two. CBS will air 11 new episodes repeat-free following a Feb. 14 clip show, teasing the mysterious past of Jake (Skeet Ulrich) and the malevolence of town newcomer Robert Hawkins (Lennie James).

“By the end of the season, you will know where Jake’s been for the last five years, you will know what Hawkins’ involvement is with the bombings and who is behind the bombings,” executive producer Carol Barbee promised critics here Thursday.

Is Jake, who saved a school bus in the series pilot, a modern-day hero? “I think, like Jake (thinks), that he’s not a hero,” Ulrich says. “That guilt in his past does not allow him to think that way.”

Ultimately, the show asks three pressing questions, only some of which revolve around the mysterious multi-city attacks, says executive producer Jon Turtletaub: “Who are you? What would you do? And aren’t these people hot?”