Damon Lindelof on what to expect from The Leftovers’ third and final season

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

HBO's The Leftovers hasn't been everyone's cup of tea, but I've loved the show from the very first episode. Athough it's sad that the series didn't last longer, I'm pleased that the upcoming third and final season will allow The Leftovers to go out on its own terms. Created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers takes place several years after a global event called the "Sudden Departure" in which 2% of the world's population, some 140 million people, mysteriously vanished off the face of the planet.

Each season of The Leftovers has switched up its central location and the upcoming final season will be no different as it will send Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) down to Australia. Damon Lindelof recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly to tease the conclusion of The Leftovers and explain why Australia was chosen as the place to end the series.

Australia is the end of the world geographically and our show is about the end-of-the-world emotionally. And there’s also something about Australian cinema — it’s primal, ancient and spiritual — that felt like it fit The Leftovers, whether it’s Mad Max movies or Walkabout, or Waking Fright or Peter Weir movies.

Lindelof is naturally cautious about revealing too many secrets about this final run of episodes, but he did say that it will kick off with Kevin and several other characters paying a visit to his father (Scott Glenn) in Australia. The senior Garvey, who may or may not be receiving messages from God, immediately pulls Kevin into a "rather unexpected situation." From there, we'll have to find out for ourselves, but Damon Lindelof reassures fans that it will all be leading up to something conclusive, even if it will be doing so by playing with the series' own set of rules.

Though there are some big crazy ideas in the third-and-final season, we wanted to feel like we were building toward something conclusive. I wanted to take full advantage of the fact that when the audience watches the first episode of season 3 that they know it’s the beginning of the end. You don’t want to feel like an epilogue, but a climax.

We’re constantly trying to modulate and fulfill the promises we’ve made. And it’s not enough to say that all we care about is the characters and not the mythology. But I do think with The Leftovers the word ‘mythology’ doesn’t necessarily apply the way it does to Lost or Westworld or Stranger Things or True Detective. Those shows have clearly defined mythologies. We don’t want to frustrate the audience but The Leftovers plays by its own set of rules and will continue to do so.

EW also debuted a first look image at the final season of The Leftovers which will premiere in April 2017.