13 Reasons Why boss reveals why season 4 is the final outing: "We knew it was the end"
The hard-hitting high school drama will return for its last episodes next month.
The showrunner behind Netflix's hard-hitting 13 Reasons Why has revealed why the series had to end after season four.
Brian Yorkey has worked on the streaming drama since it began back in 2017, initially exploring the reasons why a teenage girl decided to take her own life.
13 Reasons Why has since moved on to tackle other stories with similarly mature themes, prompting Netflix to place a content warning on the series directing viewers to crisis resources.
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Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Yorkey explained why he chose to end the series after reaching season four.
"Somewhere in the midst of making season two, when it became clear that we might have the chance to make more seasons of this, I pretty quickly got to a place where it felt like a four-season story," he said. "I'm always a little bit suspicious of high school shows that go beyond four seasons because high school is four years long.
"It felt like bringing these characters to their graduation and to scattering to their next things felt like the logical ending point. So for a long time, the idea has been, should we be so lucky to have the opportunity, we would do four seasons of this. So certainly going into breaking story for season four, we knew it was the end."
Yorkey went on to reveal that he had revisited a number of famous television finales, including Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, in preparation for starting work on season four.
Although some fans may be sad to see the series go, they can rest assured that 13 Reasons Why is going out on its own terms, which hopefully means it will deliver the most satisfying ending it possibly can.
13 Reasons Why season four is available on Netflix from Friday 5th June
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.