The Leftovers' agonisingly mysterious final episode has been (sort of) explained by series director Mimi Leder.
HBO's cult favourite only lasted for three seasons – shepherded to the screen by Watchmen's Damon Lindelof – and ended with Carrie Coon's Nora revealing to Justin Theroux's Kevin that she'd been successfully zapped through to the Other Place where 2% of the world's population were sent.
However, this was never shown visually, which made for ambiguous storytelling.
Speaking to Collider, the series finale director gave her breakdown of Nora's tale.
"I think that people have belief systems, and I think she believes she went through because I think we all need stories to tell ourselves to get through this life," Leder explained.
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"We tell ourselves stories to survive. So, do I think she went through? No."
We can certainly buy into that.
Meanwhile, Leftovers star Theroux also believes Nora was lying during the final episode.
"My theory is she's lying to me and she didn't go to this other place, and she's using that to try and get me to leave," he said. "It's sort of implied because our show would... a lot of times people would have monologues or say things – we'd flash back to those events, you know?
"In that monologue there's no flashback, there's no flashback to the event so I think it's a defence mechanism and she's like 'I'm gonna tell him this story and he's gonna go 'You're batshit crazy!' and then he's gonna leave'."
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
