After falling in love with The Leftovers during its first season, I admit that I was left wondering how they could possibly continue the series for another year. It seemed unlikely that another season could match the quality of the first, but by some miracle, the second season of The Leftovers not only continued the story in an unexpected fashion, but it managed to eclipse the first season in all areas. Unfortunately, viewership dropped significantly between seasons and it seemed possible that we had seen the last of Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) and his extended family.
Thankfully, fans of the show have been treated to another miracle as HBO has renewed The Leftovers for a third and final season. Showrunner and co-creator Damon Lindelof released a statement expressing his thanks to HBO as well as relating his excitment at the opportunity to bring The Leftovers to a "definitive" end.
I have never, ever experienced the level of creative support and trust that I have received from HBO during the last two seasons of The Leftovers, Tom, myself and our incredible team of writers and producers put tremendous care into designing those seasons as novels unto themselves…with beginnings, middles and ends. As we finished our most recent season, it became clear to us that the series as a whole was following the same model…and with our beginning and middle complete, the most exciting thing for us as storytellers would be to bring The Leftovers to a definitive end. And by ‘definitive,’ we mean ‘wildly ambiguous but hopefully mega-emotional,’ as all things related to this show are destined to be.
On behalf of our incredible crew and superb cast, we are all tremendously grateful that HBO is giving us an opportunity to conclude the show on our own terms…an opportunity like this one rarely comes along, and we have every intention of living up to it. One more thing. We are blessed by the unwavering support of our fans and the incredibly powerful voice of the critical community. We feel absolutely privileged to heat up one last helping of leftovers.
The Leftovers is a show that people seem to either love or hate, but I'd imagine that there are a few of you out there who are just as excited as I am about the show returning. Given that The Leftovers underwent a fairly major shift between seasons, it's unclear what changes, if any, await us when The Leftovers returns. I'd imagine that Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, and Christopher Eccleston would be back, but I'd also love to to see second season stand-outs Regina King and Kevin Carroll continue to explore their characters before The Leftovers departs for good.
What are your hopes for the final season of The Leftovers?