What We Know About The Leftovers’ Final Season
We’re just a few weeks away from the return on HBO’s critically-acclaimed drama, The Leftovers. While season two delivered a satisfying finale, we were thrilled when it was renewed for a third and final season. The series hasn’t focused on answering why its main premise - 140 million simultaneously vanished from the face of the earth - occurred; it chose to depict how those left behind have coped. Still, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t hoping for some answers in the series’ final 8 episodes.
The following contains titles and detailed descriptions of season three episodes. Here’s what we know going into the final season, which premieres on Sunday, April 16th.
From HBO:
Adapting Tom Perrotta’s bestselling novel of the same name, season one explored the dynamics of one family, the Garveys, in the suburbs of New York. Continuing to focus on the ways ordinary people react to inexplicable events, season two uprooted that family and introduced another, the Murphys, as the show ventured into the unexplored territory of Miracle, Texas.
In the third season, those families come together as they desperately grasp for a system of belief to better explain what defies explanation. The world is crackling with the energy of something big about to happen, a corresponding bookend to the Sudden Departure that sent them all spinning years earlier, bringing their journey Down Under.
The cast of season three includes: Justin Theroux (as Kevin Garvey), Carrie Coon (Nora Durst), Amy Brenneman (Laurie Garvey), Christopher Eccleston (Matt Jamison), Kevin Carroll (John Murphy), Jovan Adepo (Michael Murphy), Scott Glenn (Kevin Garvey Sr.), Lindsay Duncan (Grace), Regina King (Erika Murphy), Chris Zylka (Tom Garvey), Margaret Qualley (Jill Garvey), Janel Moloney (Mary Jamison), Jasmin Savoy-Brown (Evie Murphy) and Liv Tyler (Meg).
With the seventh anniversary of the Sudden Departure approaching, Kevin Garvey is at a crossroads. Though no longer tormented by Patti, he still questions if an ordinary life is possible. For Nora, Miracle didn’t turn out to be the safe haven she was looking for, and Kevin’s strange behavior has made her fear for the stability of their family. But Nora’s nothing if not resilient.
Laurie Garvey, who left the Guilty Remnant (G.R.) and became a sworn enemy of her former cult, has rejoined her splintered family in Texas. Steady, watchful and wiser than her years, Laurie’s daughter, Jill, seeks stability in her own life. Laurie’s son, ex-Holy Wayne follower and former undercover G.R. member Tom, wonders if he can just be a son and brother again.
Meanwhile, Matt Jamison’s faith in God — and in Miracle — has been rewarded. His wife, Mary, who awakened pregnant from her coma, has resumed life with him. All Matt can do is count his blessings and keep preaching the Word.
Season three also finds the Murphy family affected forever by the faked disappearance of their rebellious teenager, Evie, and by the rogue operation in Miracle, conducted by Meg, the most radical member of the G.R. Hardcore skeptic John Murphy has been shaken to his core by a series of inexplicable events, making him believe there may be miracles in Miracle after all.
Erika Murphy, a physician who dabbles in magical thinking, and a mother spurned by the daughter she loves, is smart and tough, but there’s only so much she can take. Son Michael, the most religious member of the family, is a faithful Christian who believes he has witnessed an actual resurrection.
And while all of them in Miracle are trying to find what is lost, to reconnect, to get better, Kevin Garvey, Sr. (Scott Glenn), the former Mapleton Chief of Police who heard voices in his head, is now at large in Australia.
That the final season would take place in Australia, at least partially, was to be expected since it has been mentioned in small, yet meaningful, ways. Last season, the man who resided atop a tower in the middle of Miracle asked Michael Murphy to mail a letter to David Burton in Australia. Also, when Laurie Garvey meets with publishers in the episode, “Off Ramp,” one mentions there’s a man in Australia who claims to have “gone to the other side” and now “he can’t die.” Finally, it’s believed that the man who speaks to Kevin on the bridge in “International Assassin” is David Burton.
We won’t be going down under right away according to the episode description for the premiere, “The Book of Kevin, written by Damon Lindelof and Patrick Somerville, and directed by Mimi Leder.
Three years after Miracle, Texas was overrun by the Guilty Remnant, Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) has returned to his role as chief of police. Although he seems to have moved past the incredible events surrounding his “resurrection,” the Seventh Anniversary of the Sudden Departure is just two weeks away and many believe another apocalyptic event may come with it.
Interesting that the Garveys are setting down roots in Texas with Kevin returning to law enforcement. There are bound to be unique challenges in policing a town that’s also a National Park. The next episode, “Don’t Be Ridiculous,” will showcase another new location.
In her official capacity as fraud investigator for the Department of Sudden Departure (D.S.D.), Nora (Carrie Coon) travels to St. Louis to investigate a possible scam that involves convincing the family members of The Departed there’s a way to see their loved ones again.
Last season, in the episode “Lens,” Nora was tempted to believe there was something about her which caused her entire family to depart. It makes sense that she’d be working to keep other families from being harmed by departure scams. Could this work lead her to real answers, though?
Season 3, Episode 3, “Crazy Whitefella Thinking” sounds like just the kind of episode that might provide some answers, or push us further down the rabbit hole.
With the clock ticking towards the anniversary of the Departure and emboldened by a vision that is either divine prophecy or utter insanity, Kevin Garvey, Sr. (Scott Glenn) wanders the Australian Outback in an effort to save the world from apocalypse.
“G’Day Melbourne,” the next episode, finally brings us to present-day Australia where it appears both Kevin and Nora are on fact-finding missions.
Kevin (Justin Theroux) and Nora (Carrie Coon) travel to Australia, where she continues to track down the masterminds of an elaborate con, while he catches a glimpse of an unexpected face from the past, forcing him to confront the traumatic events of three years earlier.
The Matt-centric episodes from season one, “Two Boats and a Helicopter,” and season two, “No Room at the Inn,” were both exceptional and there’s no reason to think Season 3, Episode 5,“It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World” will be any different.
Convinced it is Kevin’s (Justin Theroux) destiny to be in Miracle for the coming seventh anniversary of the Departure, Matt Jamison (Christopher Eccleston) impulsively heads to Australia in an effort to bring Kevin home. Unfortunately, God gets in the way.
It appears Laurie heads to Australia in “Certified” where her professional services are mostly likely needed for both the Garvey men.
Laurie Garvey (Amy Brenneman), a former therapist, must become one again as she heads to Australia to help Nora (Carrie Coon) and Kevin (Justin Theroux) along their paths.
And while they won’t tell us anything about the series finale, episode 8 (not even the name), here’s what we know about the penultimate episode, “The Most Powerful Man in the World (and His Identical Twin Brother)”
On a mission of mercy, Kevin (Justin Theroux) assumes an alternate identity.
If that’s not enough to tide you over, have a look at the season three trailer.
