It has been nearly 17 months since the American psychological suspense drama TV series “The Following” aired its Season 3 finale on Fox.
Shortly thereafter, the network decided against renewing the show for a fourth season amid the major cliffhanger left by “The Following” showrunners during the final episode of Season 3.
Despite the subsequent petition by fans at change.org to renew the show for a fourth and final season, Fox stood firm on its decision to cancel “The Following” which was primarily because of the miserable ratings of the TV series.
While the premiere season of “The Following” lived up to its hype as a psychological and suspense drama TV series, it was no longer the same during its second and third seasons after Kevin Bacon’s Ryan Hardy already put James Purefoy’s Joe Caroll behind bars.
It was obvious that “The Following” had its highs during the first season, highlighted by the mind games between FBI agent Ryan Hardy and serial killer Joe Caroll.
But when that plotline reached its end and was no longer present in “The Following,” it was all downhill from there.
Many critics are actually saying that had Fox renewed the show for Season 4, the network would have been comparable to waking up a dead horse already and it is likely that the TV series would just wander aimlessly until a fitting end is decided upon by the showrunners.
Although it is water under the bridge now, “The Following” could have been a great TV series had it carried its momentum from Season 1 to Seasons 2 and 3 but it did not happen, unfortunately.
The network also does not believe that the showrunners can turn things around in the supposed Season 4 so Fox just decided to minimize its losses and canceled the show after its Season 3 finale.
Does not feel bad at all
Despite “The Following” being cancelled for Season 4, Kevin Bacon appeared to have no hurt feelings against the network.
As a matter of fact, after the announcement of the show’s cancellation following its series finale on May 18, 2015, Kevin Bacon took to Twitter to express his gratitude to the loyal viewers of the TV series.
He imparted his big love to all of the loyal fans of “The Following,” and said that he felt it really an honor to work for them. He also cited that the sweat, tears, and lots of blood were worth it in delivering the final episodes of Season 3 of the TV series.
Accordingly, the reason why the “The Following” actually ended that way during its final episode of Season 3 is because it has more interesting stories to tell.
The revelation came from executive producer Alexi Hawley who said that the Season 3 finale was crafted as a prelude to a possible Season 4. But with Season 4 no longer happening, the Season 3 finale left “The Following” viewers with major unanswered questions.
A filthy rich serial killer would-be plotline
Hawley further disclosed that the show’s writing team was fascinated by the possibility of a serial killer that was not coming from the poor or middle class of society, reports Breathecast.
He said that if the show was going to have an evil force out there, it has to be something bigger than Theo, played by Michael Ealy, or something bigger than Strauss, played by Gregg Henry, or more dominating than Joe Caroll.
The showrunner said that the idea of having a very wealthy person or small group as the show’s big bad appealed to them.
He added that the concept of having an extremely rich serial killer, which he also described as an uber-rich serial killer, appealed to them in order for “The Following” to break away from the identity of the murderer.
Hawley said that the uber-rich were never identified and captured as serial killers, referring to alleged murderer and “Jinx” subject Robert Durst. He said that could not possibly be a result of genetics because they usually do not have such proclivities, notes the Vine Report.