Was The Leftovers season 4 ever a possibility?
While The Leftovers season 3 finale (a.k.a. the series finale) is airing on HBO tonight, it still makes some sense to wonder: Was The Leftovers season 4 ever something that was strongly considered?
Based on some of the earliest indicators on the subject, it doesn’t appear so. The decision for the HBO show to end seemed to come via executive producers Tom Perrotta and Damon Lindelof more so than anyone at the network, with one of the big reasons for that being that the story in their minds had run its course. We don’t blame them for thinking that, or for Lindelof wanting to take on a shorter project after spending more than six years working on Lost, a show that often had much longer seasons?
If there ever was a The Leftovers season 4, odds are that it would have only prolonged a story that reached the same conclusion, and sometimes, the ending is a little more punchy and impactful when you reach it earlier on. It raises the odds of you ending your show on a high note, and not retreating off somewhere with a whimper and with ratings and buzz a shell of what it once was. Going into the series finale interest in The Leftovers has never been higher — the show wasn’t all that critically-acclaimed in its first season, but since that time the quality improved vastly and an ever-increasing amount of viewers and fans have gotten behind it. It almost took the show more embracing its own inner weirdo for it to really find itself and what it was great at.
Ultimately, you have to respect the showrunners’ decision that this was the right time to say farewell, though easily this is the sort of show where you could continue to watch it and write about it for many years. Regardless of the ending, it’s still worth stating in our mind that The Leftovers is ending its run as a winner, and one of the great shows of the past several years. Regardless of its mythos or its many questions, it made its viewers feel something. That alone is worthy of praise.
Did you want a Leftovers season 4? Share some further thoughts on the subject below!