Fans of HBO’s “The Leftovers” have officially received the news for which they were hoping: the critically acclaimed series has been renewed for a third season.
That third season, however, will mark the conclusion of the series’ run.
HBO’s official statement, which includes comments from the network’s Michael Lombardo and “Leftovers” executive producer Damon Lindelof, attributes the decision to the creative team.
“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 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.”
“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 Damon 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.”
After airing its first season in the summer (and as a lead-out from HBO’s flagship series “True Blood”), “The Leftovers” endured more difficult scheduling in season two. It aired as a Sunday night fall drama, and thus faced Sunday Night Football, “Fear The Walking Dead”/”The Walking Dead” and (typically) a full slate of network competition. Its viewership predictably declined; whereas no first season episode drew fewer than 1.38 million live+same-day viewers, no second season episode even reached 1 million.
Good news, however, came in the season’s final two weeks. The penultimate episode and season finale set consecutive season highs.