TV Drama Writers on Ending a Show, Plannning Ahead and Fan Reactions

Ending a show is not easy — and the process is different for everyone. That was just one lesson learned during the drama series panel at the Variety A Night in the Writers’ Room event in Los Angeles.

First, both Eric Kripke, showrunner and executive producer of Prime Video’s “The Boys,” and Matthew B. Roberts, showrunner, writer and executive producer of Starz’ “Outlander” and “Outlander: Blood of My Blood,” opened up about crafting their upcoming series finales.

“It’s really nerve-racking,” says Kripke, whose series finale will air on May 20. He noted that the super hero genre is usually “retroactively judged on the finale,” which adds a bit of pressure. “If you stiff the finale, they’re like, ‘I guess that wasn’t such a good show.’ It’s unfair and shitty, but it’s true. So I approached it with an incredible amount of trepidation, but in a way that I think was healthy, because I really agonized over every detail, wrote and rewrote and kicked every tire, and I just tried to focus on the emotion.”

finally, it comes down to emotion, he says: “If I can make the audience feel something as they’re saying goodbye to these friends, then the rest will just be gravy.”

Roberts, whose series “Outlander” will wrap on Friday, May 16, agreed.

“I didn’t think about landing a plane, but it’s kind of like landing a plane when you don’t know how to fly a plane, and you have about five million people in your ear saying, ‘You better do it like this,’” he said. “We’re storytellers, but I think our real job is, we’re emotion dealers. We wanna feel when you watch something. I want to worry about the character. I want to know if they’re going to make it or if they’re not going to make it. I think if we can do that, that’s what a successful show does.”

though HBO’s “Euphoria” hasn’t announced whether Season 3 is the final one, creator Sam Levinson still approached it in the same way he would if it were.

“For the first season, it was a tough shoot. As I was writing it, I thought, ‘If they never let me come back, will I be happy?’ That’s how I approached Season 1, and then they let me come back for Season 2,” the writer, director and executive producer said. “I’ve always done every season like it could be the last season and if the story ended here, would I feel proud? Is it saying what I want it to say? Looking back, I’m really proud of the way this season ends and, and where we were able to get to. I’m really excited by it. As a whole, I think we landed the plane in a really beautiful way and so again, I would say if they never let me come back, I’m happy with this.”

Bruce Miller ended “The Handmaid’s Tale” last year, only to jump right into a spinoff, Hulu’s “The Testaments.” But he was able to approach it a bit different — this time, it was “a sequel to a TV show,” not based on another book. And he does read some feedback from fans.

“It impacts storytelling for me, but much more in terms of what they’ve gotten out of the show and how they feel about what’s happened. People telling you what to do next? They would be very upset if you did what they said,” he said. “Before I had to get letters in the mail when I started this. Now you get feedback and you can really tell whaat your show was like on television for them. So it does help me make better decisions moving forward.”

In general, every writer’s process different — some begin knowing how the show will end, whether that’s this year or many years down the road.

Geneva Robertson-Dworet, executive producer and showrunner of “Fallout,” has a background in feature films — so she “has an idea in mind” for what the future ending of the Prime Video series looks like.

“I think, like much of creating a show, it’s about having a plan, something that you’re working toward, but also having the flexibility to change that plan when a better idea comes along, and it’s nice when it’s someone else’s idea, one of your writers say,” she explained. “I’m certainly feeling like I am building towards an ending that I’m really excited and hopeful that we get to show audiences.”

For Vince Gilligan, he already has “some ideas” about how Apple TV’s “Pluribus” will eventually wrap up — “more than we did for ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul,’” he said. “But I agree with Geneva. You’ve gotta be ready to jettison the good idea for the better idea. I always likened it to back when AAA give you those trip ticks. When I moved from Virginia out to California to work on ‘The X-Files,’ I went to the office at AAA and I got the trip ticks. It’s basically follow the 40, but you can take these little side trips if you want and that’s kind of how I like thinking about it.”