Give Me My Remote #1 featured THE FOLLOWING Post-Mortem: Kevin Williamson on the ‘Sad’ but ‘Necessary’ Loss

THE FOLLOWING Post-Mortem: Kevin Williamson on the ‘Sad’ but ‘Necessary’ Loss

[Warning: this post contains major, major, major spoilers for THE FOLLOWING’s “Evermore” episode. Please do not read this interview until you’ve seen the hour.]

THE FOLLOWING may have had its share of villains over the first three seasons, but none has made quite the impact of Joe Carroll — both with viewers or on Ryan Hardy. But with a character that big, his time was, sadly, limited: in Monday night’s hour, “Evermore,” Joe’s execution actually happened.

That Joe survived this long in itself was a bit of a surprise. THE FOLLOWING “killed” Joe in its first season finale, and an unaired (but filmed) alternate ending of season 2 had Joe being killed in “Forgive.” (Joe’s portrayer, James Purefoy, said at the time he didn’t even know whether Joe would be back for season 3.)

Before the season started, co-showrunner Alexi Hawley acknowledged “this season is a very crucial season — what is life after Joe Carroll? He plays a big part of this season, but at the same time, this season is about moving past him. It’s about introducing new villains. It’s about moving the center of the show a little bit to Ryan Hardy.”

And though the show needed to embrace life post-Joe Carroll, there’s an element of bittersweetness to the end of this particular storyline.

“Writing [for] James Purefoy and Joe Carroll has been one of my life’s greatest joys,” THE FOLLOWING creator Kevin Williamson shared. “The reason we didn’t do [Joe’s death] at the end of season 2 is because none of us could part with him; we just didn’t want to say goodbye to him. It’s hard. It’s very emotional. I think James loved the role, I loved James in the role, I loved writing James in the role. I think all of the writers did. It’s very sad, but it’s necessary for them to open the door to the future: future storylines, future life, future everything for Ryan Hardy. Ultimately, it’s sad…I called up James, and it was a very, very sad conversation. We’re saying goodbye to an old friend.”

Though Joe was absent from much of the earlier part of the third season — as Ryan tried to keep his vow to not see him again — recent episodes have seen the two longtime associates share scenes (and appear in each other’s dreams). And Joe’s death will have an impact on Ryan moving forward.

“It’s a love story. It’s Ryan and Joe,” Williamson acknowledged. “They’re the opposites of each other and they make each other whole. It’s interesting to watch how Ryan deals with it, because we know what Ryan means to Joe, but I don’t necessarily think we know what Joe means to Ryan. We think we know. We think he’s this bad guy he’s trying to catch. But it’s so much more than that.”

“There’s a true, honest relationship there between these two men,” he continued. “It’s sick and twisted, but it’s there. And [as] Joe leaves, it’s going to be interesting to see the fallout on Ryan, and how it emotionally [impacts] him, for better or worse. Ultimately, for the better. But it has an impact on Ryan Hardy, and it’s interesting to see how this diabolical twisted psychopath did [change] Ryan Hardy in a really emotional way. It’s been his life for the past 15 years…it’s complicated to say the least.”

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What did you think of Joe’s death on THE FOLLOWING?

THE FOLLOWING airs Mondays at 9 PM on Fox.

Related:

THE FOLLOWING: ‘Evermore’ Photos

THE FOLLOWING: ‘Kill the Messenger’ Photos

THE FOLLOWING: Brett Mahoney on Ryan’s Spiral, Theo’s Rage, Mark’s ‘OMG’-Worthy Return, and More

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