It’s not easy to end a show. And the process differs from person to person. That was just one of the lessons learned during a drama series panel discussion at the Variety A Night in the Writers Room event in Los Angeles.
First, Eric Kripke, showrunner and executive producer of Prime Video’s The Boys, and Matthew B. Roberts, showrunner, writer and executive producer of Starz’s Outlander and Outlander: Blood of My Blood, both revealed their plans for the upcoming series finale.
Director Kripke, whose final episode of the series will be aired on May 20th, says, “I’m really nervous.” He said there is a bit of pressure because the superhero genre is usually “judged retrospectively on the last episode.” “When you stilt a finale, they say, ‘Maybe that wasn’t a very good show,’ which is unfair and corny, but it’s true. So I approached it with incredible anxiety, but in a way that I thought was healthy, because I really agonized over every detail, writing and rewriting, kicking all the tires, and just trying to focus on the emotion.”
Ultimately, he says, it comes down to emotion. “If we can make the audience feel something as they say goodbye to their friends, the rest will be just gravy.”
Sam Levinson and Matthew B. Roberts perform at the Writer’s Room Variety A Night held at The Edition on May 7, 2026 in West Hollywood, California.
JC Olivera
Roberts, whose series “Outlander” ends on Friday, May 16, agreed.
“I wasn’t thinking about landing a plane, but it’s like landing a plane when you don’t know how to fly a plane and about 5 million people are saying, ‘This is better,'” he said. “We’re storytellers, but I think our real job is selling emotion. We want to feel when we watch something. We want to care about the characters. We want to know if they’re going to be successful or not. If we can do that, I think that’s a successful show.”
HBO’s Euphoria hasn’t announced whether season 3 will be its final season, but creator Sam Levinson has approached it as if it were its final season.
“The first season was a tough shoot. As I was writing it, I thought, ‘If they don’t bring me back, will I be happy?'” That’s how we approached Season 1, and then they allowed us to come back for Season 2, said the writer, director, and executive producer. “I always come into every season as if this is the last season, and if the story ends here, would I be proud? Am I saying what I want to say? Looking back, I’m really proud of the way this season ended and where we got to. I’m really excited. Overall, I think we landed the plane in really beautiful shape. So again, if they can’t bring me back, I think I’m happy with this.”
Bruce Miller finished The Handmaid’s Tale last year, but immediately began work on Hulu’s spinoff, Testament. But he could take a slightly different approach. This time, it wasn’t based on another book, but rather a “sequel to the TV show.” And he’s reading feedback from fans.
“It affects the storytelling for me, but more so in terms of what they get out of the show and how they feel about what happened. Do people tell you what to do next? If you do what they say, they’re going to be very upset,” he said. “Before, when you started this job, you had to get a letter in the mail. Now you get feedback so you can actually know what the show on TV was like for them, so it helps you make better decisions going forward.”
Bruce Miller, Vince Gilligan, Eric Kripke and Geneva Robertson-Dworet attend Variety A Night in the Writers Room held at The Edition in West Hollywood, California on May 7, 2026.
JC Olivera
Generally, the process is different for each writer. Some are starting to wonder how the show will end, whether it’s this year or years down the road.
Fallout executive producer and showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet has experience in feature films and has “ideas in her head” about what future outcomes for the Prime Video series could look like.
“I think, like a lot of things in show production, it’s important to have a plan and work toward it, but also to have the flexibility to change that plan when a better idea comes along. If it’s someone else’s idea, great,” one of the writers said. “I certainly feel like we’re moving toward the ending, so I’m really excited and looking forward to showing it to the audience.”
As for Vince Gilligan, he already has “some ideas” about how Apple TV’s “Pluribus” will end up — “much more than I did with ‘Breaking Bad’ or ‘Better Call Saul,'” he said. “But I agree with Geneva. You have to be willing to give up a good idea for a better idea. I always likened it to when AAA gave me a travel ticket. When I moved from Virginia to California to work on ‘The X-Files,’ I went to the AAA office and got a travel ticket. It’s basically following 40, but you can also take these little detours if you want. That’s how I like to think about it.”
