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Being Human is closing its doors.
After four seasons and more than 50 episodes, Syfy’s adaptation of the British drama finishes its run with a series finale that promises to finish the story of the four supernatural roommates. In “There Goes the Neighborhood Part III,” Sally (Meaghan Rath) makes a sacrifice to keep her vision of Aidan (Sam Witwer) killing Josh (Sam Huntington) from coming to fruition, while Josh and Nora (Kristen Hager) consider their future as parents.
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As Witwer hints to The Hollywood Reporter, “not everyone makes it out of this” in Monday’s swan song. In a candid chat, the actor previews the series’ final episode, reveals his favorite episodes and tells what he’ll miss most.
When did you know this was the final season of Being Human?
We knew about a year ago. We were in a position where some weird things were happening with the finance and what it all amounted to was our budget going down and basically the decision was, sure, we could make a season five but it might not be any good. We all talked and decided that the best thing to do was to end it with season four and so we went to Syfy to make that request. First they said “sure” to an ending and they weren’t committing to it, but thankfully they honored the ending we created because the whole season was designed to be a swan song for all these characters.
It’s somewhat of a rarity for television shows to end on that note.
It’s extraordinarily rare, and to be honest, I’m super surprised that it all worked out because you never get that opportunity to end things on your own terms, to have something you feel happy with as a story from beginning to end. I really respect Syfy for honoring that.
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Did you notice, from a storytelling perspective, that the stakes were getting higher in the final 13 episodes?
That was the point, to do all the things we wanted to do but that the network didn’t necessarily let us. It was definitely a “swinging for the fences” type of situation. I may have gotten in trouble with my colleagues for saying this wasn’t the most even season we’ve done, but this is the season where we’ve had the most home runs. We’ve made a few mistakes here and there, but when it works, it works better than the show’s ever worked. For my part, I have a lot of fun playing perhaps the most human version of my character [Aidan, a vampire]; he’s a lot funnier and a lot more fun to be around. This last episode coming up centers on this issue of does my character deserve any kind of redemption for all the horrible things this guy has done. If people have watched the whole series, this is an interesting send-off for him.
Has Aidan’s journey progressed in a way that you’re happy with?
I’m very happy with it. No clearer was it for us when we did the episode where the characters went back to the first season. Me and Sam Huntington studied our season-one performances and we brought that dynamic back to the show for a couple of episodes.
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What is the one episode you’ll hang your hat on?
In the first season, it would have been the episode where Bernie [Jason Spevack] dies. For the second season, it would have been “Dream Reaper,” where we were all trapped in the house and Aidan’s having a crisis and has to drink from Josh’s arm. Season three I went to the writers and said, “I want to challenge you guys — I think we can have more fun with Aidan than you think we can.” Sally and Josh were these fun idiots making everyone laugh all the time and it was my job, and Mark Pellegrino‘s, to bring stakes to the show. Them bringing in Kat [Deanna Russo] and Kenny [Connor Price] into Aidan’s storyline brought the character to life in a fun way. Season four, [the writers] continued that; they like to have him off his pins. In terms of the final season, I liked what we did in the finale. There’s a scene I have where it’s possibly the most distraught we’ve seen the character.
What can you say about what viewers can expect in the last hour?
We bring the voiceover back. We get to hear from each of the characters. We largely have no guests in this episode. It’s going to kick off with a surprise, I’ll just say that.
How bittersweet will it be?
Not everyone makes it out of this and all of the karma they’ve built up. Some characters certainly have a chance at happiness. I have a big question about how fans will respond to the finale because we fell in love with the script, you shoot it, you see the cut version and a lot of great stuff had to go. I wonder in the final analysis what fans will think.
What will you miss most?
The show was modestly budgeted and it was very difficult to make for those reasons, but when you’re in those types of situations you’re expected to step up in a way you wouldn’t normally in other shows. What other show would I have the opportunity to write music for a scene or to collaborate with a degree of trust with the showrunner and cast? It was like making an independent movie every year. [I’ll miss] that and the people.
Are you planning on watching the series finale with any cast or crew?
I was going to try to live tweet and I think we’re going to go to one of the writers’ houses and steal his food.
Being Human airs its series finale Monday at 9 p.m. on Syfy.
Email: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
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