In a chat with ET, creator Rob Thomas reacts to the online fan petition asking the finale to be redone.
Warning: If you have not watched all eight episodes of Veronica Mars season four on Hulu, this story contains massive spoilers. Read our take on the game-changing finale, see why creator Rob Thomas took a huge creative "gamble", hear what Jason Dohring had to say about Logan's fate and why executive producer Diane Ruggiero-Wright hasn't watched the finale.
It's been one week since Veronica Mars dropped its entire fourth season, but the response to the watercooler ending has continued to spur passionate debate among fans online.
In the final minutes of the season four finale, ominously titled "Years, Continents, Bloodshed," Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), the once arrogant 09er-turned-responsible military man and Veronica's soulmate, unexpectedly died after a car bomb left in the backseat of Veronica's car detonated, killing the fan-favorite character in explosive and devastating fashion in an effort to bridge the series to hypothetical future seasons.
The creative risk, which creator Rob Thomas confessed was a huge "gamble," divided viewers. An online petition was even started asking Thomas and the writers to undo Logan's death soon after the episodes dropped. So, with the benefit of hindsight, is Thomas rethinking the ending amid the vocal response to it? Don't hold your breath.
ET caught up with the Veronica Mars creator during Hulu's portion of the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Friday to get his take on the fans' reactions to the shocker ending and criticisms about the season.
ET: Have you kept tabs on fan response to season four?
Rob Thomas: I've stayed off of Twitter, so if people are trying to yell at me on Twitter, I'm not seeing it. I do check out my Google alert headlines in the morning, and that gives me a pretty reasonable synopsis on what the reaction has been. [Executive producer] Diane Ruggiero-Wright, who writes most of our episodes, she went on Twitter last night to live-tweet her final iZombie episode, and she called me and said, "Rob, do not go in there. You do not want to wade in there." But the raw, general response to the episodes has been great. I knew going in it would upset a segment of the fans. Hopefully, it upset all the fans because Logan's death should mean something. But in terms of like, We will never forgive you, I think it's a much small section.
In postmortem interviews about the season, you seemed to be preemptively preparing yourself for the fan backlash. In hindsight, are you second-guessing the ending?
No. The reason I did it was for the show moving forward. I don't think badass detective and her boyfriend -- I want the show to become more of a pure mystery show, and I think that's a less appealing vision of the show moving forward.
One of the criticisms of the season is how Logan's death conveys a message that successful women of Veronica's stature can't have it all.
That was not my intention. I've been real upfront about my intention. It's that the hero of your television show, Veronica Mars, needs to be single if the show is going to keep surviving. If they had told me, "You never get to make another episode of Veronica Mars," Logan would have survived the end of the show. I'm certainly not trying to make a statement that women can't have it all.
There is also an online petition floating around asking for Logan's death to be undone. What is your response to that?
I have not seen that. It doesn't surprise me. I don't think it's going to happen.
You've said that you see the show continuing on as an Agatha Christie-style mystery. Because of how fans have responded to season four, are you rethinking the approach to season five after fan response?
The answer is no, I'm not rethinking. I'm sort of intrigued by, like, I feel like the response has been great. I'm happy with the reviews and I'm happy with the fan response. I'm even happy that Logan's death inspired as much [conversation]. So no, I'm not rethinking.
All eight episodes of Veronica Mars season four are now streaming on Hulu.
For more on Veronica Mars, sign up for ET's daily newsletter below.
RELATED CONTENT:
