It’s all over and done with for the American psychological thriller drama TV series “The Following” on Fox but talks about the ‘what ifs’ and the ‘could have beens’ of the show continue to persist online.
One of the more interesting ‘could have beens’ of the show came from Alexi Hawley, one of the showrunners of “The Following,” who said months after the show was canceled by Fox for its fourth season, that the TV show would have featured an uber-rich serial killer in the supposed fourth season.
Hawley disclosed that the showrunners have talked about the concept of having an extremely rich serial killer to break away from the identity of the murderer, notes Breathecast.
He said that it would have been a richer and more domineering murderer than Joe Caroll, played excellently well by James Purefoy in Season 1; Strauss, played by Gregg Henry, in Season 2; and Theo, played by Michael Ealy, in Season 3.
Dwindling ratings was the cause
Last year, Fox announced that it had canceled “The Following,” the TV series about former FBI agent Ryan Hardy, played by Kevin Bacon and serial killer Joe Carroll.
The series, which debuted in January 2013, aired its two-hour series finale on May 18, 2015 after three seasons of dwindling ratings.
While some are saying that show had excellent storylines, many critics say that only the first season of “The Following” measured up to uniqueness and excellence. The next two seasons have been half-baked compared to the show’s debut season, notes the Vine Report.
The series finale, which was locked in before “The Following” was canceled, was crafted as a prelude to Season 4. But with Season 4 no longer an option, the Season 3 finale left “The Following” viewers with major unanswered questions.
Despite the petition of fans to give the show one final season to tie all loose ends, Fox never bothered entertaining the notion since the petition was not able to muster the needed numbers to be even considered worthy of exploration by the network.
Too plenty on their plates
Incidentally, it was not just Kevin Bacon who got busy even after the show was canceled by Fox for Season 4 in May of last year.
It was also the same path taken on by British actor James Purefoy, who played serial killer Joe Caroll in the TV series.
Purefoy only appeared during the first two seasons of “The Following” and was no longer there during the third season, where the ratings significantly dropped, prompting fans and critics that the tandem of Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy is what make the show clicked in the first place.
The British actor is a veteran of very good and top-rating TV shows including the epic sword-and-sandals TV series “Rome,” which many described as the prelude to the now very popular “Game of Thrones.”
“Rome,” created by Bruno Heller, was an expensive, complex and advanced TV show that is way ahead of its time. It was a show that lent itself to encores and binge-watches by pitting larger-than-life historical icons against rowdy commoners and pushed sex into almost every exposition scene.
Purefoy’s performance in “Rome” was so wonderful that he was actually considered for a role in “Game of Thrones” which he rejected because he was still busy with “The Following.”
When “The Following” was canceled last year, Purefoy started entertaining offers from other TV shows. He is now the lead star of the TV series “Hap and Leonard” and the small screen reboot of the racial discrimination story “Roots.”
The aftermath of the cancellation of “The Following” for Season 4 was not really a downer for James Purefoy because he got so busy and his career flourished all the more, similar to the path taken on by fellow lead star Kevin Bacon.