The Leftovers' new credits are wildly different

It's not just the cast and location that has had an overhaul for the second season of The Leftovers.

As viewers found out earlier this week, the opening credits had a startling makeover - and it almost couldn't have been further from what they were like before.

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Contrasting the first season's in-your-face apocalyptic vibe, this breezier new sequence is compiled of numerous photos of people enjoying life.

However, some folks have been edited out and are simply silhouettes - referencing the Sudden Departure, the event which saw 140 million people mysteriously disappear. This is played out with the jarringly upbeat theme song 'Let the Mystery Be' by Iris DeMent.

Here's a video of the first season's credits to jog your memory:

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Co-creator Damon Lindelof told Vulture that he was aiming to make the title sequence "self-aware" and "tonally more in line with what [he wants] the show to be".

"I loved those titles from last year, but I can't say they're not super, mega-pretentious," he added. "And while I will certainly cop to a certain level of pretentiousness, I think those titles completely and totally tipped over.

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"And most importantly, [they] were completely representative of what I did not want the show to be anymore."

The reaction online was pretty mixed, with one YouTuber posting: "I couldn't even believe this was the opening. I checked to see if I was watching the right show."

Twitter was similarly confused:

The new credits for The Leftovers are so gorgeous and dissonant and sad and I can't stop thinking about them help!! https://t.co/etEy9dVHL9

— Caroline Framke (@carolineframke) October 5, 2015

NO! BRING BACK THE LEFTOVERS OLD OPENING CREDITS!

— Taylor Tsuji (@taylortsuji) October 5, 2015

Woah. Any show ever had a more drastic difference in the opening credits between seasons 1 and 2 than The Leftovers?

— Steve Richards (@srichards31) October 5, 2015