Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson

Fringe's big move to the Friday dead zone has sent fans into a panic, but series executive producer J.J. Abrams says the sci-fi series will stay true to its story no matter where it lives.

But it's not going to get more complicated either. Abrams says at the risk of cancellation, writers won't be diving further down the rabbit hole. "It absolutely would if we weren't moving to Fridays," he says.

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Which is not to say things will be dumbed down. At its core, Fringe is about "a woman who was experimented on when she was a kid ... about a man who might not have come from here ... about a father who is holding incredible secrets including those that mean war," Abrams says. "These are things we talked about at the very beginning.

"To not embrace that means that we will fail on other people's terms," he continues. "So, if we're going to fail, let's go down doing the most badass, weirdest, interesting, sophisticated version of a series that we could possibly do."

On the bright side, Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly last week insisted reporters not write the show's eulogy "prematurely." He said if the viewers who watched the show on Thursdays all made the move to Fridays, it would be more than enough to keep Fringe going.

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Abrams says there are no hard feelings when it comes to the network's decision. "I literally have loved being at Fox, so much so that we're doing [the series pilot] Alcatraz for Fox," he says. "Having said that, I do not want Alcatraz to get a slot only because Fringe has left one for it. My goal is that they can co-exist happily. They're two very different series, but Fringe deserves to live beyond Season 3."

Check out a music video for the return of Fringe (Friday at 9/8c), with a sneak peek at what's ahead.