M. Night Shyamalan Knew Servant Was A Risk That He Had To Take
M. Night Shyamalan is a busy man right now. Not only did he just release his new apocalyptic horror film "Knock the Cabin," but he also completed the fourth and final season of the television show "Servant," currently airing on Apply TV+. Unlike a movie, which is guaranteed to have a complete story whether it booms or busts at the box office, a TV series presents the unique problem of leaving the large narrative unfinished between seasons. The format's penchant for being potentially open-ended means that there's a chance the story will never end if the show gets canceled, but Shyamalan was willing to take the risk for the sake of broadening his creative horizons.
"Servant" is a mystery box show, a supernatural thriller that constantly presents questions and encourages audience theories as it moves along. Although Shyamalan serves as showrunner, it's British TV writer Tony Basgallop who created and largely penned the series. The narrative follows a couple (Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell) from Shyamlan's signature favorite setting of Philadelphia who "adopt" a doll to cope with the tragic death of their infant son. They hire a mysterious nanny (Nell Tiger Free) to look after Jericho the doll and supernatural intensity ensues. Originally planned as a 60-episode run, according to Shyamalan, the series will wrap up its 40 episodes in the coming weeks, with the finale planned to air on March 17, 2023.
Serving up an ending
Filmmakers who migrate or dabble in television aren't a rarity at all anymore. The medium has provided room for interwoven, complex stories that even the longest movies don't have time for. On the other hand, the web of narrative threads inevitably gets more tangled as a show progresses, so it helps to meticulously plan out the structure over the length of several seasons. That's why Shyamalan wanted to have the entire plot of "Servant" planned out from start to finish, even with the knowledge that Apple may not renew the series.
In an interview with The Verge, he said:
"You can't tell this suspenseful story with no ending. It is a gamble that my partners, Apple, and — more importantly — the audience would be interested and supportive, which is what has happened with 'Servant.' It was a risk. I love taking risks when the only mitigating factor is our execution. That's been my approach to the industry for the last eight years. [...] Unless I put myself in jeopardy, I am not going to be the storyteller that I want to be."
Instead of writing each season as if it was going to be the last, Shyamalan made sure that an entire four-season-long story was set in stone. It was essential that contingency endings wouldn't muddle the already complicated narrative flow of the series, even if that meant a potential cancellation would make for an extremely dissatisfying and wholly incomplete run. This calculated gamble paid off in the end as "Servant" nears a conclusion at least five years in the making, a payoff that the show's creators had planned from the start.