Why Mr. Robot Ended After Just 4 Seasons

Fan favorite shows often come to an end before their full stories unfold. In the age of social media, displeasure with a rushed ending can reach a fever pitch in short order. But sometimes, what looks like a quick resolution has been the plan all along.

That was largely the case for the Rami Malek-led series "Mr. Robot," which called it quits after four seasons. Fans were crushed to see that there wasn't going to be more "Mr. Robot" after the final season was announced. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

Series creator Sam Esmail had made peace with the decision to end the series after four thrilling outings. He had never planned for "Mr. Robot" to stretch out much further. When the creative team is really thinking ahead, they can prepare for this. For "Mr. Robot," the end of their narrative and the network's vision for the show dovetailed nicely. But fans weren't so pleased. It was hard to let go of watching Malek as Elliot Alderson in pulse-pounding hacking scenarios after about half a decade, but that's exactly what they had to do when "Mr. Robot" ended.

Not long after the "Mr. Robot" finale aired, they were already calling for a revival or sequel series because the show's larger world still had a lot of promise for them. Elliot's other personalities, other problems around Allsafe Cybersecurity, and the fsociety hacking collective itself were all parts of the "Mr. Robot" narrative that could have made for at least a couple of more seasons or a spin-off.

But sometimes, you have to know when to walk away.

Sam Esmail is used to hearing questions about why "Mr. Robot" ended and whether the show could ever return. There have been murmurings about a movie, but they've led nowhere.

Heading into Season 4, Esmail talked to Entertainment Weekly about the closing chapter of Elliot's story. He said it ended not because the network pulled the plug, but because he never planned for more story than they aired.

"I don't know we ever thought it was going to be longer," he said. "In fact, my answer has always been between four and five seasons ... But basically the way we came to this decision is, after we wrapped Season 3, we went back into the writers' room ... and I just asked ... how much story do we have from where we ended Season 3 to [the planned Season 4 ending]?"

This painted a clear enough picture of his thought process heading into Season 4. While some fans might latch on to that mention of a fifth season, Esmail made it abundantly clear we were getting near the end anyway. "We let that dictate how much story we had left, and it turned out that this would be the final season," he said. "To us, it was very fascinating to do it this way, because it was really the story letting us know when it was time to end it."

There are many happy endings in Hollywood. You could argue the ending of "Mr. Robot" itself isn't exactly cheerful. But ending things on your own terms is always satisfying for creative people. In the case of this modern TV phenomenon, knowing when to walk away and then executing that vision is the best case scenario.