M. Night Shyamalan.Photo: Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Friday’s series finale ofServanttitled “Fallen.”
After four seasons ofServant,M. Night Shyamalanhad an emotional last day on set with the cast and crew of a show he says is all about family.
Executive producer Shyamalan, 52, tells PEOPLE all about the final episodes, whether there could be moreServantin the future, and which cast member was an emotional “mess” on the last day of production. (He, too, admits he “teared up” that day.)
PEOPLE: How much of this ending is what you and the team had envisioned back in season 1?
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN: It was bubbling. Really, there was an inflection moment at the end of season 1, where Tony [Basgallop], the writer, brought the cult in in a big way. It was just a last-minute idea that we went, “Oh, my God! This is what the show is about.” Then, in season 2, the breaking away from the cult informed us of [Leanne’s] mythology, and said we always knew the mom and the family, they’re not having this conversation: When will [Dorothy] wake up? When will they have the conversation? When should that conversation happen? Should it come at the end of the season? What should it be?
Then, eventually decided, no, that should come at the end of the show. So what is Leanne’s architecture came when the cult came in. In the middle of season 2 is when we realized, okay, this is the movement of a fallen angel that they can’t stop.
Then, when the pandemic happened in the middle of season 2, I was able to just take a deep breath and architect out the rest of the show. That’s when it got, okay, this is episode 9, which I’m going to direct, [Dorothy] wakes up. Then, if I can, I’ll do 10, but, if I can’t, I’m going to do 9. And 10 will be the unstoppable force that is Leanne.
I was just so compelled. It was [writer/creator] Tony Basgallop who brought the pilot to me, and that was in the pilot, a mother whose child had passed. We hadn’t figured out at that point what exactly had happened. Then I had seen a documentary on the tragedy of, they call it hot-car syndrome, where the child is forgotten in the car. And I just thought it was like, if that happens then there just can’t be a God. There just can’t be, right? There just can’t be anything good in the universe. That driving me as a human being during this story was compelling, that “How can good exist ifthathappened?”
Tell me about getting the moments when Dorothy wakes up and remembers everything. We’ve been building to this moment for so long. How did you help Lauren Ambrose get to that place?
I walked her through everything, saying, “These are the beats we rehearsed,” as we normally do on my episodes. We were careful, and then we had to give you the physicality, because she starts attacking them. There were 10 shots in there of the attack sequence, and what does the violence look like, and how does she get out there? This is the part where she disintegrates and leaves us, or not. Then the boys were there this time, whereas they weren’t there last time, so they could hold her together and not let her leave, emotionally and spiritually.
What’s going through Julian’s mind in those final moments of the finale?
Julian is such a beloved character. I love him. I love directing him, andRupert [Grint]is the greatest. Seeing a character come to terms with a supernatural and realizing their place in it is so delicious. When the writers and I, we were joking about it at first, and then we were like, “Wait a minute,” because that could be really fun, the idea that the mythology swaps or becomes handed over. We were all very happy to have this putt movement up in that last moment.
Are we supposed to think the Church of the Lesser Saints is good at the end? Where do you fall on whether Leanne is good or bad?
I fall into the case that they are good, but there will always be problems, rogue members that could use their position in a bad way. That’s why Aunt Josephine’s were there and all of that stuff.
So much of the show takes place in one confined setting. In the writers' room, were you ever like, “We’re running out of ways to make this interesting!” How’d you come up with creative ways to keep everything fresh?
I never feel like I run out of ideas for the dinner table or the living room or whatever it is. I find the domesticity is so beautiful when you couple it with supernatural. That was also something I think that astonished everybody as we made it. I’m like, “We’re never leaving this brownstone. That’s what we’re doing.” We just kept expanding it and made the home bigger and bigger and bigger, with attics, guest rooms, apartments down below, and the backyard into the park. Then, in the end, the rooftop is still expanding as we go.
You almost always set your stories in Philadelphia. What do you think that brought to this story in particular?
That’s the street that I’ve been down a million times. Actually, it’s the same street I shotSixth Senseon. TheSixth Sensehouse is down the block, so you can see it from the front of the Turners' house.
It’s just a home for me. I love Philly, and I love shooting there, so it felt right. Also, I can’t spend five years on it at that time, where I am really the main person on it; it’s hard to have it somewhere else.
Your core cast, I’m sure they got very close over four seasons. What was it like on the final day of shooting?
It was very emotional, as you can imagine. We shot it out of order so that I would be the last one directing. We shot 10 and then we shot 9 so I was the last one on that set, directing those actors. As we got to each of their last scenes, I went out and I was giving the boys notes, and the rain towers were going, and I got choked up giving them the notes. Then I came back in and I teared up, and Nell [Tiger Free, who plays Leanne] was a mess. It was very emotional and very sweet.
I think everyone was feeling very grateful. The looks between all five of us were, it showed how much we thought of each other and knew how precious this was. I don’t know how it is at the end of other shows, but it felt like it went too fast, you know?
Not every show gets the chance to wrap up its loose ends and have a concrete ending. What does it mean to you to concludeServantlike this?
So just having the longevity and the love and the audiences growing allowed us to finish. Only now do I realize how precarious that is. I think I’ll forever be astonished at how we got lucky.
Is this truly the ending, or could we see future spinoffs or even a stage adaptation one day? I feel like the intimate location lends itself to theater.
M. Night Shyamalan with his family: (from left) daughters Shivani and Ishani, wife Bhavna Vaswani, and daughter Saleka.Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images
What do you want the legacy of this show to be? How do you wantServantto be remembered?
I think how we deal with the dark things that happen to us in our lives and how important family is for that. You can’t go through that alone. I’m a big believer in the family community that I try to make everybody feel a part of that, but our real, real blood family — that’s who’s going to get us through the tough times. It’s a love letter to the strength of family.
Then, on a practical level, I hope that everybody sees these 40 episodes as beautiful pieces of art that we tried very hard on, that represent those directors and those writers very specifically. All these amazing filmmakers, I allowed them to put their voices on it, so I hope they’re seen that way. It wasn’t meant to be disposable, so I hope people go back, “I really love that episode, the bee episode,” or, “I love this episode,” or whatever it is.
Speaking of family, this was a family affair for you behind the scenes: Yourdaughter Ishana Shyamalanwrote and directed several episodes, and she has her own movie coming next year. What’s it like to see her follow in your footsteps?
First, it started as the one daughter [Saleka], the musician, who wrote all these songs for the piece, and she’s older. Then Ishana started directing in season 2 and grew into our main director and our main writer, essentially, for the show. That I didn’t expect, that she would direct more episodes than anybody including me, and she would write more episodes. It was astonishing. We ended up relying on her.
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source: people.com
