HBO has announced that Damon Lindelof's surreal drama The Leftovers has been renewed for a third and final season. The show, which is based on Tom Perrotta's novel of the same name, finished its critically-lauded second season on December 6th. The whole season took place in a Texas town untouched by the Rapture, the "sudden departure" that rocked the show's world, and the drastic change in scenery — the first season took place in New York — paid palpable dividends in terms of audience response.

It wasn't clear after the second season's finale whether or not Lindelof and his creative team would be able to continue with the show. "The way we built the second season was Tom [Perrotta] and myself went into a room with a bunch of incredibly talented writers and we started to bounce ideas off the wall and we started to get excited about some of them," said Lindelof in a lengthy interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "I want to do the same thing again, but that hasn't happened yet — it can't happen until HBO says we want more... If we get to do more, I'm going to try not to f— it up."

"I don't want to drag it out unnecessarily"

In an interview with Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall, Lindelof confirmed that he wanted to end the show after three seasons. "It's a gut feeling," said Lindelof. "I feel like there's more story, but not MUCH more. And I don't want to drag it out unnecessarily."

"It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome back Damon Lindelof, Tom Perrotta, and the extraordinary talent behind The Leftovers for its third and final season," said HBO programming president Michael Lombardo in a statement. "We admire and fully support Damon's artistic vision and respect his decision to bring the show to its conclusion next season."

"We are all tremendously grateful that HBO is giving us an opportunity to conclude the show on our own terms," said Lindelof in the same statement. "We are blessed by the unwavering support of our fans and the incredibly powerful voice of the critical community. We feel absolutely privileged to heat up one last helping of leftovers."