Is Mr. Robot coming to an end? Last week, some very curious comments surfaced from our very own interview with co-star Christian Slater, who told us he was under the impression that the upcoming fourth season of Mr. Robot will be the show’s last. Sam Esmail’s twisty drama series launched in 2015 on USA to glowing reviews and built immense buzz over the course of its first season, somewhat shifting the public perception of what a USA original series could be. Mr. Robot was obtuse, heady, and wildly cinematic—a far cry from USA’s steady singles and doubles like Royal Pains or White Collar.

The show has continued to showcase Esmail’s ambitions as the story gets more complex, but it also feels like it does have a definite ending up ahead—sooner rather than later. According to Slater, that’s the upcoming season, but we’ve heard no official word that Mr. Robot Season 4 will be the end of the series. So when Collider’s own Christina Radish spoke with Malek about his work in the upcoming film Papillon, she asked him about Slater’s comments. Here’s how that exchange went:

Collider: I spoke to Christian Slater recently, and he told me he thought Season 4 of Mr. Robot might be the last one because Sam Esmail doesn’t want to carry things too far past where it should go, creatively. Have you heard anything about that? Has anybody said anything to you?



MALEK: I’ve heard rumors, back and forth, to be quite honest. I know Sam Esmail has always said that it would maybe be four or five seasons, from early on.



MALEK: Yeah, he’s always said maybe four or five, and that is still pending in his head. I’ll tell you that I’m sure the studio would love to see it go for as long as it could, but he’s restrained. He’s got a story to tell, so I’m all for whatever he wants to do. He’s a very brilliant human being.

In a separate interview Malek claimed to know nothing about these Mr. Robot Season 4 ending rumors, so either he was pulling that interviewer’s leg, or we caught up with him after he had spoken with Esmail. Either way, it sounds like Mr. Robot Season 4 could very well end up being the final season of the series. Esmail already has a few other projects in the works, including producing the Andy Greenwald-penned USA pilot Briarpatch that has Rosario Dawson starring and Ana Lily Amirpour directing.

Mr. Robot Season 4 hasn’t even started filming yet so there’s still some time for things to change or for USA to make some sort of official announcement. Or it’s possible that during the prep phase, Esmail and his writers decide they have two more seasons worth of story to tell. As Malek says, USA would no doubt be happy to continue on for longer, so it sounds like this is very much up to Esmail. Stay tuned…

Look for our full interview with Malek on Collider soon.