Over the last two seasons, HBO’s The Leftovers has become a critical favorite. But it won’t be around for much longer.
HBO has announced that The Leftovers has been renewed for a third season of ten episodes, which will also be the last season. This is per the request of series creators Tom Perrotta and Damon Lindelof. The Leftovers is based on Perrotta’s novel of the same name. However, the second season was based on an original story by Lindelof and Perrotta.
“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,” said HBO’s Michael Lombardo. “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.”
Lindelof was one of the co-creators and driving forces behind Lost, and he has long advocated the idea that TV series don’t have to run for as long as networks can make them. He and co-showrunner Carlton Cuse convinced ABC to let them end Lost after only six seasons. With The Leftovers, Lindelof and Perrotta are wrapping up their story after only 30 episodes across three seasons.
“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,” said Lindelof in a statement. “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,” added Lindelof. “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 Season 3 will premiere in 2016 on HBO.
