

Many people were upset about the cancellation of HBO's gay drama Looking after its second season, despite viewership that was not much worse than some of HBO's critical-darling shows. But, as we learned when that announcement got made, the cast and crew will reunite one more time for a finale movie, and location shooting for that is about to begin this fall, right on schedule per the last two years as if they were doing another season.

HBO said back in March, in a statement, "After two years of following Patrick and his tight-knit group of friends as they explored San Francisco in search of love and lasting relationships, HBO will present the final chapter of their journey as a special. We look forward to sharing this adventure with the show's loyal fans."

The specifics are few, at this point, however British star Russell Tovey just landed stateside last week, in New York, and tweeted a photo of the Looking movie script, titled "Looking for an Ending." And LA gossip monger Mike Sington said the shoot begins at the end of the month.

Also, Raul Castillo who's landed a role on Fox's Gotham, confirmed he'll be reprising his role as Richie, with shooting beginning soon in SF.

Oh, it seems Raúl Castillo confirmed that he's going to be in the #LookingHBO movie. I can breathe again. #TeamRichie pic.twitter.com/FvcWjfIE9a — Tom (@tomlandish) October 8, 2015

No official announcement appears to have been made about star Jonathan Groff departing the cast of uber-popular new Broadway musical Hamilton, in which he's been playing King George since it was still off-Broadway in February. However that departure, be it temporary or not, appears imminent. Update: My bad: Broadway.com has it that Andrew Rannells will step in for Groff between October 27 through November 29, so that also gives us a better idea of the length of the shooting schedule.

Director Andrew Haigh, who will also direct the finale, caused a stir in August when he gave an interview in which he blamed gay men for the cancellation, and gay HBO executives, for being too squeamish about the sex on the show, and for anyone who objected to the portrayal of gay characters who were somehow flawed. I wrote plenty about the show's other flaws in the course of recapping it, and I'll just say that while I had no objection to flawed characters or graphic sex, I did object to writing that felt uninspired and even rote at times, and pacing that was better suited to an hour-long show, when these were only half-hours. All that said I look forward to seeing the story arcs of these characters (especially Doris!) get wrapped up.

Prepare to see Patrick, Kevin, Richie, Dom, Augustin, and Doris in the streets of San Francisco at least for part of November.

HBO had earlier said the movie was on the schedule to air in early 2016.

Previously: HBO Cancels Looking, Will Conclude With One Final Special