THE FOLLOWING Boss on the Series Finale: ‘All Bets Are Off’

THE FOLLOWING is ending its run next week with a two-hour series finale, and the action doesn’t slow down for one minute.

“[In] the final two hours, we’ll be picking up directly from episode 13 with the brutal stabbing of Mike, and Mike’s life hanging in the balance,” THE FOLLOWING co-showrunner Brett Mahoney teased. “And what that means for the relationship between Mike and Max. We pick up directly from there.”

While Mike’s fate is up in the air, Ryan will find himself with a new will to live now that he knows his former girlfriend, Gwen, is pregnant with his child.

“That is actually a big, key change for Ryan, in terms of the realization he’s going to be a father,” Mahoney acknowledged. “That’s the thing that gets him to turn towards the light and finally reject Joe, that devil off his shoulder. And that’s the final place we see Joe — in that meeting, when Ryan says he wants to be in a better position, and he’s finally saying goodbye to Joe, and he’s exorcising that demon. As we move forward, Ryan is in a better place than he has been in a while.”

Which means, yes, this time, Joe is truly gone for good. And though Ghost Joe’s final exit was quiet — a semi-nod, to acknowledge his acceptance of Ryan’s new lease on life, before he disappeared — Mahoney admitted how to handle Joe was a hot topic this season

“Oh my God, when you talk about debate: that’s a debate in the writers’ room, a debate with the network, a debate with the studio, debate with Kevin Williamson  — who, you know, Joe Carroll is one of his favorite characters ever,” he said. “Anything to do with Joe Carroll, there was always a tremendous amount of debate. And yes, in this closing goodbye to Joe, there was a great deal of struggle and debate about how that should be handled.”

“That [goodbye] is the only version that was filmed,” he continued. “There are different takes of that. And everything [was in play]: do we see Joe walk away? Do we see him disappear? There was no other big, huge ways it was filmed, but there were other shots in terms of seeing Joe walk away, or walk through the door. But [what aired] felt like the most powerful way to display it…we didn’t talk extensively about whether there should be words exchanged between the two of them. That was actually never really brought up.”

As Ryan is moving forward post-Joe, Theo is ramping up his revenge: following the loss of Penny, Theo will be more dangerous than ever.

“Just like Ryan finding out he’s [going to be] a father changes him — the loss of Penny is truly a devastating factor in terms of where Theo is, and what he wants to do,” Mahoney previewed. “I don’t think I’m taking away from the story [by] saying that after the loss of Penny, Theo really thinks about ending it all together. And then he recalls Penny’s spirit, and what Penny would want from him is to not take himself out, but take out all those that have taken Penny away from him. So, before, while he was willing to be restrained, and do what was necessary to get back his anonymity and get under the radar, all that goes away now that Penny’s gone. All bets are off.”

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THE FOLLOWING two-hour series finale airs Monday at 8 PM on Fox. And be sure to check back after the episode for more from Mahoney.

Related:

THE FOLLOWING Exclusive Clip: Ryan Gets Dumped
THE FOLLOWING: James Purefoy on Joe’s Fate and Ryan’s Breakdown
THE FOLLOWING Post-Mortem: Kevin Williamson on the ‘Sad’ but ‘Necessary’ Loss
THE FOLLOWING: Brett Mahoney on Ryan’s Spiral, Theo’s Rage, Mark’s ‘OMG’-Worthy Return, and More

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