HBO Gives THE LEFTOVERS a Third and Final Season
[photos: Van Redin/HBO]
HBO has ordered a third season for The Leftovers, also announcing that this will be the final season for the critically-acclaimed show.
Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming, made the announcement, saying,“It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome back Damon Lindelof, Tom Perrotta and the extraordinary talent behind The Leftovers for its third and final season.” He added, “This show has proven to be one of the most distinctive HBO series and we are extremely proud of its unrivaled originality, which has resulted in such a passionate following by our HBO viewers. We admire and fully support Damon’s artistic vision and respect his decision to bring the show to its conclusion next season.”
The Leftovers, based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, explores the aftermath of an event in which two percent of the population mysteriously vanishes. called “The Departure” in the show, it’s essentially the Rapture that precedes the end times. With the majority of the book covered in the first season, the show moved locations and changed characters for season two, and now that the renewal is official, there’s a question as to whether or not the show may move again — perhaps Australia? Lindelof is mum on the subject, but he’s enthusiastic about the reaction the show’s been getting.
“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,” says Lindelof. “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.
The announcement comes on the heels of the show enjoying a two-week season high, the season finale hitting 1.43 million viewers in Live+3 numbers.
Lindelof continued, “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.”
