Tonight at 10pm the final episode of “Banshee” will air. Of course, in the age of “binge TV”, the show will continue to attract fans for years to come, but there is definitely a sense of closure tonight for all of us that have ridden this roller coaster for 4 years/seasons.

The truth is I don’t know if any of us knew what we had signed up for 4 1/2 years ago. We had seen the pilot script and it was clear: the show was muscular, fast-paced and driven by these wonderfully flawed, intense characters. What we didn’t know, I think, is how attached we’d become to these characters and, well, to each other.

For 4 years, we basically went off on location for 6 months to Banshee “boot camp” and would shoot the equivalent of half an action movie (50 minutes) about every 9 days. Those in the business know — that’s a LOT. But it engendered a heightened sense of focus, urgency and adrenaline on set from both cast and crew. And on top of the tight schedule, we were almost always out of the safe confines of an air-conditioned studio and knee-deep in rivers, mud and rain; setting fire to trailers and trucks; doing shoot outs in decaying buildings, foot chases through the streets of New Orleans, fist fights in old barns in the Allegheny Mountains, car chases on the backroads of North Carolina. For the look and feel of the town of Banshee and the violence it engendered, this production team never took the easy route. Ever.

And because we were “on location” (Charlotte, Pittsburgh) we basically lived near or with each other, would then work together all day long — hard scenes, big scenes, fight scenes, sex scenes, crying, screaming, shoot out and CUT!! We’d then go home — eat and drink together — and then get up the next day and do it all over again.

The blood was fake, but the sweat and tears you saw on the screen rarely had to be applied and all of us in the cast — all of us — are walking away with bruises and scars (both real and emotional) from 4 seasons of doing our show. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

In my 27 years of working on TV I’ve never worked with a group as intensely and passionately as I did with these folks and my love for them is as deep as the dark secrets that weave their way through the stories of our show.

For those of you who made it happen and for the fans who took the ride with us — thank you.

No matter what happens tonight, I think we all know the ending: they’ll never be another show quite like “Banshee”.

xoMatt Servitto