For From, the beginning of the end is … well, beginning.
MGM+ has renewed From, the supernatural thriller series starring Oz and Lost alum Harold Perrineau, for a fifth and final season, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively confirm.
Filmed on location in Halifax, Canada in what the production refers to as “From Town” (an actual town built from the ground up specifically for the show), From centers on a nightmare town with no discernible way in or out. Monsters roam the streets at night, spiders and cicadas and worse stalk the surrounding forest, and existential dread permeates all the townspeople trapped within. What is this place? Why is this place? And is there really no way to escape? With more mysteries than you can comfortably fit into a box, From fans (lovingly known as the “Fromily” within the fandom) finally stand ready to receive those answers, beginning with season four, premiering April 19.
As the most-watched show on Amazon-owned MGM+, the decision to conclude From doesn’t come lightly. In fact, according to creator John Griffin, there was some temptation to extend the narrative to a sixth season.
“There was a fair amount of soul-searching,” he tells THR. “But we all came to the realization that if we made that sixth season, it would be for us, because it’s just too hard to say goodbye.”
The long goodbye is already underway, as the writers room is currently open for the final season, with production expected to begin this summer. As that work begins, THR checked in with the three creative forces who call the shots on all things From Town: creator and executive producer Griffin, executive producer Jeff Pinkner, and executive producer and director Jack Bender. Ahead, they weigh in on the decision to put From to rest, what fans can expect from the coming fourth season, and more.
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John, why is now the right time to wind down From?
John Griffin: In full transparency, five seasons was always the goal, but we always wanted to let the story tell us when it was time to end. When we reached the end of season three and the death of Jim (Eion Bailey), it felt like we reached the end of the beginning. Similarly, season four very naturally feels like the beginning of the end. We’ve had the opportunity to tell this story from the beginning the way we really wanted to tell it, with the full support of Michael Wright and everybody over at MGM. It’s rare you get to tell this type of story and give it the life you feel it needs, to let the story decide when it’s time to end.
Jeff, you have worked on some of TV’s most beloved mythology-driven shows: Alias, Lost, Fringe, just to name a few. With that experience in mind, what’s your perspective on bringing From to an end?
Jeff Pinkner: A very smart friend of mine, very early in my career, told me: “TV is about making the audience fall in love with characters, and then watching them suffer.” I think she was right. It’s the foundation of this story, and a lot of the more mythologically-centered television shows I’ve been really fortunate to work on. There’s always a balance between what’s the plot, what are the questions and answers that the audience is asking and seeking, that the characters are asking, and then there’s the emotional journeys the characters are enduring. What I’ve learned is as much as the audience is watching for the answers to those questions, if a show is only built around that, there’s going to be dissatisfaction at the end. Either the answers are too elusive and frustrating for the audience, or they were too obvious. Ultimately, then, these shows succeed or fail largely on making you fall in love with the characters and where their journeys end up. We’ve designed From to force these characters to suffer, and they have, and whether they end up victorious — who’s going to live, who’s going to die, and in what manner are they going to live or die — I’m unbelievably gratified that the audience has stuck with us to the point that we can tell this tale through to its conclusion.
Similar question for you, Jack. You had your boots on the ground in Hawaii leading Lost, and your boots are on the ground in Halifax where you film From. When you look at your time with this show, can you pinpoint what’s made it creatively satisfying for you?
Jack Bender: I remember my first phone call with John and Jeff, back when they asked me to join this party. I asked them, “Okay, well, what’s the deal with this town?” And Mr. Griffin, who I had not yet met, started off with a description that made me go, “Oh my god, the amount of specificity in his head in terms of what and how and why…” There was one point after about 30 minutes of his nonstop, really smart monologue, where I said, “Okay, here’s my task. I know that we will go down that journey, that all will be revealed, and we have all of that architecture to build on. My job is to make sure we have characters we care about, who we are scared shitless for.” And we ended up doing that. I think that’s one of the reasons people care so much about these kinds of shows, going back to what Jeff said.
Before the show ends, we’re getting ten new episodes here in season four. What can you say about what’s ahead?
Pinkner: I think season four is our strongest season in every way. From storytelling, performances, the direction, the presentation… we’re wildly proud of it. What I’ve observed in streaming television as a viewer, is when you watch a narratively driven show, you’re so invested and then so afraid that this story we love may get canceled or end prematurely. Now, allowing our audience to know that they are going to get the ending, it’s only going to increase people’s enjoyment of season four.
Griffin: This season brings our characters closer to the truth than they ever have been before. In fact, it doesn’t bring them closer. It brings them the truth. We see this place push back than it ever has before to direct them down the wrong path.
Let’s check in on some of the biggest plot points right now. Season three ends with the reveal that even if the characters manage to kill one of the monsters, the monsters will find a way to come back to life. Boyd (Harold Perrineau) is a firsthand witness to that. Where does that leave him?
Griffin: Boyd has to come to terms with the realization that he’s no longer a peace-time leader. He’s a war-time leader now, because they really are at war with this place, and going home may require sacrifices he’s not altogether willing to make, because it’s not only himself he’s having to sacrifice — it’s also the people around him. That’s a struggle that comes with leadership, and it’s a struggle he has to face this season like he never has before.
Season three also ended with a massive reveal: two of the townspeople, Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and Jade (David Alpay), have been here before in previous lives, all the way to the very beginning. How does that reveal inform the narrative this season?
Griffin: Jade and Tabitha are realizing their central role in this place. They both feel a great deal of guilt and responsibility, and those feelings manifest in very different ways for both of them. We’ll see them try to find a way to come together with this knowledge they discovered, to put it to good use.
In the season three finale, you killed off your biggest character yet, Jim, by way of introducing a new villain, the Man in Yellow (Douglas E. Hughes). What changes about From now that you have an official big bad on the board?
Griffin: For three seasons, we’ve wandered through the dark with our characters, wondering when the boogeyman was going to show himself. To have that happen during such a critical shift, where Jade and Tabitha discovered this knowledge, costing the life of Jim … the fact that the Man in Yellow steps out of the shadows in that moment not only provides us with a wonderful antagonist, but also, mythologically, it gives us this question: why did he choose that moment to step forward? Why were those memories for Tabitha and Jade the catalyst for the Man in Yellow’s arrival? This season’s going to answer that.
I’m fortunate enough to have spent some time on the From set, which is so immersive. Jeff, who do we need to talk to in order to keep the town open for visitors after the show ends?
Pinkner: The Canadian Prime Minister.
Bender: If we were a Disney show, you know there would be a From Land!
Pinkner: You know, this question assumes From Town is going to survive season five…
High stakes! Are you feeling those stakes yourselves, as you prepare for this final phase of From? Are there any questions you feel you absolutely have to answer before the timer runs out?
Pinkner: We set so much into motion in season one. A lot of seasons four and five are continuing those things we set up, many of which are obvious to the audience, and some of which is not. There are a lot of inevitabilities coming into season five. Our challenge is making sure we tell those stories in the best way we know how. Creating stories is intuitive, it’s done as a team, where the best idea wins. It’s a matter of subjectivity. There’s luck involved. There are things you end up leaving on the table. It’s going to be imperfect, and we will surely have some regrets about what we missed at the end of the day. But our job is to do this as well as we can, forgiving ourselves of the requirement to be perfect. But I’ll say, based on the weeks we have already spent talking in the writers room, I feel very confident the audience will feel honored and respected by the way these stories end. It’s feeling both surprising and inevitable, and we’re being very mindful about the things the audience is curious about, and all the questions that need to be answered.
Griffin: We love this show. We love the questions the fans have, because we’re asking those same questions ourselves. We’re as excited about answering them as you are about getting the answers. And so I don’t mean this as a cop out: I’m not worried about any one particular reveal or answer. At the end of the day, what I want to ensure is that you miss these characters once they’re gone. When I think about finales, I think about Six Feet Under and Friday Night Lights, these shows that live on for you as a viewer after they’re done. There’s a moment in our show where Tian-Chen (Elizabeth Moy) says, “We’ll never have these days again.” I’m thinking a lot about that. I want to ensure the emotional experience of season five is not just about “the ending,” but also about truly saying goodbye to this show.
Bender: And it really does feel like the right time, for all the reasons John articulated. There’s always a goodbye. And the goodbye on the things I’ve loved the most that I have worked on, always comes as a mixed blessing. I feel like we’ve told a wonderful story with an exceptional cast and crew. Now, it’s time to tell another story.
The fourth and penultimate season of From begins April 19 on MGM+.
