“We’re still scratching our heads.
We had no indicator that the show was ending,” showrunner David Hollander says.
Ray Donovanfans werent the only ones shocked by that surprising cancellation.
Mark Schafer/SHOWTIME. Inset: Getty Images
Were still scratching our heads.
We had no indicator that the show was ending, Hollander says in an interview withVulture.
We were behaving creatively as though we were in mid-sentence.
And so, there was no sense that this was going to be a completion.
This was in no way a series finale.
I think the easiest external impact was the merger.
We were used to being a show that wasnotcanceled.
Weneverthought we would be canceled.
Thats why we went into such detail to find the right cast.
[Showtime] knew that was my approach.
Thats why this season has some places where we lay up and build plot.
There are certain times when you have to refuel.
Youre gathering some strands and building for the future.
I was shooting for a longer arc, for sure.
Hollander continues, Its complicated.
The people who made this decision are the same people who brought this to the air.
They were unbelievably supportive creatively.
They were always deeply in the artists corner, and deeply committed to our success.
There was never a moment where I saw any of them negatively charged toward our show.
They were always proud of it.
They always accepted our indulgences.
They put up with the fact that I was demanding a visual template as strong as anything out there.
And thats time and money.
They were cool with that until they werent.
I would never say never, he says.
It is much easier to do in the now.
The sets are still standing.
The people are still contracted.
The mechanisms are in place.
Clickhere for the full Vulture interview.
