It will be odd when Mr. Robot returns for its fourth and final season later last year (or possibly in 2020). For one thing, the last time we saw Elliot Alderson, he was played by Rami Malek, not Oscar winner and Bond villain Rami Malek.

Also, the entire season will be “one very long Christmas special.”

That’s according to creator Sam Esmail, who broke the news at the Tribeca Film Festival over the weekend. “Is anybody here a fan of British television?” he asked during the “Tribeca Talks: A Farewell to Mr. Robot” panel. “Typically how [British shows] wrap up series, like the British Office, you tend to do a Christmas special. So the final season of Mr. Robot is one very long Christmas special that will last about a week over Christmas of 2015.”

But why 2015, not now? There’s certainly no shortage of material. “The tagline for the first season was, ‘Our democracy has been hacked.’ A year later it happens. In the writer’s room, we’re continuing to let current events inspire us, and that’s what feels relevant,” Esmail explained. Part of the reason people connected to the show is we wanted to talk about now. The show is still set in 2015 for this reason. The technology will always look dated, but we specifically said, this is about 2015, so it’s almost like a period piece for current day.”

And now, a Christian Slater quote without context:

“With the title, I thought, ‘Oh, god, what will this be?’ In my imagination, I thought I’d be playing a butler as an android, lifting up my shirt and there’d be wires and sh*t, kinda like Mr. Robot Belvedere. But then I read the script, and the writing was extraordinary.”

Mr. Robot is a good show, but Mr. Robot Belvedere is a GREAT show.

(Via IndieWire and Deadline)