‘White Collar’ season 5 spoilers: Series boss on what’s next for Peter, Neal

So where do Peter and Neal go from here? At the end of Tuesday night’s season finale of “White Collar,” that was definitely a question that was practically screamed at us by the events that transpired. Peter was arrested under suspicion of killing Senator Pratt, and with James refusing to testify and with there being no real evidence against him, there is seemingly no way for Neal’s longtime “partner” (if you can really call him that) to get out of the terrible mess that he finds himself in.

So with the premiere of season 5 coming up in the fall (sad, right?), does show creator Jeff Eastin have an idea what is coming up next? Based on his new comments about the story in general to The Hollywood Reporter, it sure sounds like there will be something that is different, while in the same way it marks a return to the show’s roots that takes time in order to sort itself out:

“One thing I’d like to do is turn the rules back closer to the pilot, which was really going back to the initial core of the Peter-Neal relationship. We’ve really pulled them far upfield. So we’re going to try and re-set that, that’s what I’m looking forward to. You’ve got a lot of questions in the air here, so it’s a matter of working through those and trying to figure out how we can restore order to the universe. Peter has gone so far as to cross over some gray areas and into some actual dark ones. For me, being able to move the dynamics of the two guys back to something closer to the pilot, where Peter is more the taskmaster and Neal is trying his best to be good when the circumstances around him aren’t allowing him to do that. Mozzie (Willie Garson) and Elizabeth have a pretty good relationship now, and I don’t want to destroy that. The real key in the next season, as usual, the show works the best when Neal has something going on that Peter doesn’t quite trust. The more Peter puts his career in jeopardy for Neal, it makes it more difficult for him to sneak around Peter’s back. I have a really good idea on how to restore that to the show.”

Overall, what are you excited to see more in season 5: the future for Neal and Sara after that fake proposal (that was still nonetheless touching), or what happens with Peter moving forward? If you want to check out our full review of Tuesday’s episode, you can do so over here.

No matter what happens moving forward, we’ll be sitting on the edge of our seat for some time.

Photo: USA