Yahoo Finance Exclusive: M. Night Shyamalan explains ending Servant early
Servant executive producer M. Night Shyamalan has explained why he is now planning to end the Apple TV+ show after four seasons, rather than taking it to six seasons as originally intended.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Shyamalan revealed that when he first began working on the show he picked "an arbitrary number in my head" when deciding how many episodes to plan out, ultimately deciding to "try 60 as a goal".
But after getting some time to properly sit down and work out the arc of the horror series, Shyamalan realised that the story would fit perfectly into four seasons rather than six.
Related: Servant season 2 star Toby Kebbell on butt splinter scenes
"When the pandemic hit, I got to sit down and work out the show in my head," he said. "How does it go? I wrote down a scene on the board, and I went, 'Oh!' And I wrote about this. And I said, 'What if this happens over here?'
"I kept writing ideas. I spent a month just throwing ideas at the thing. And I put them together, and went, 'Wow. This lays out like this. That's four seasons, like that.'
"Also, I didn't expect to be quite as involved as I've been on the show. When I started it, I was thinking I was launching it, and I was going to supervise it. But I was enjoying myself so much that I was like, 'Um... let me edit that. Just let me talk to the composer. Let me do that. Let the effects come to me first. I'll be in the mix.'
"I spent all this time on it. I think I feel more comfortable saying a four-year commitment than a six-year commitment to be that involved. I can see the finish line. I can commit at this level."
Related: Apple TV+ Servant season 2 – everything you need to know
The filmmaker added that he wants Servant to be "something I'm super-proud of" and that keeping the series a little shorter will enable him "to finish it properly".
"I don't want to feel that 'he limped across the finish line while he was actually trying to do something else' – that would be sad," he explained.
Actor Toby Kebbell, who plays bereaved father Sean Turner in the show, also spoke to Digital Spy about the direction of the series, revealing that the actors "get hints" about what is coming up but that they focus more on their characters' pasts to inform their performances.
"We get hints at what we're attempting to do, and we remember what we are," the actor told us. "But it's much more of a situational 'remember where you've come from, remember what you've done' rather than 'remember where we're going'.
Related: Harry Potter's Rupert Grint reveals how becoming a dad helped with Servant role
"So you don't get a constant reminder of that. It's much more of a reminder of what you've accomplished, and also what your mode of operation is from here on out."
Season two of Servant will pick up with couple Sean and Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose), who suffered the tragic loss of their baby son, Jericho, and spent season one caring for a reborn baby doll – the only thing that could stir Dorothy from her grief.
But when Dorothy hired young nanny Leanne Grayson (Nell Tiger Free) to help with 'Jericho', some very odd things started to happen in the couple's house...
Servant is now available to stream on Apple TV+.
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