Damon Lindelof Talks ‘The Leftovers’ Finale & The Truth Behind Nora’s Story

**Spoilers ahead**

While “The Leftovers” might not have had as much buzz this spring as “Twin Peaks” or “Master Of None,” with last night’s season three and series finale, “The Book Of Nora,” it firmly established itself as not only one of the best shows of the year, but maybe of all time. After a season where the show seemed to double down on almost every wild, creative impulse the premise of the series could offer, it all ended on an extended grace note.

Centering entirely on Nora (Carrie Coon) and Kevin (Justin Theroux), “The Leftovers” changed tempo, jumped several decades into the future, and spun a gorgeous love story. Instead of a setpiece, the big moment of the episode came in Nora’s final monologue — one of the best pieces of TV writing of the year — where she tells Kevin, who has spent years searching for his missing wife, what happened after she stepped inside LADR machine. Depending on your point of view, Nora is sharing with Kevin the tale she tells herself, the one that lets her get through the day after everything that’s happened. Or, Nora has truly been on an incredible trip, and what she has witnessed answers so much about the universe where something like the Departure is possible. “I believe you,” Kevin states unequivocally when she finishes her speech, but the door is still left open for the audience to have their own interpretation. However, don’t ask showrunner Damon Lindelof for any definitive answers.

“I’m…learning conversationally as people are starting to watch the finale, or I’m getting interviewed about it, is that there’s a larger proportion of people who haven’t even considered the possibility that she’s not telling the truth than I anticipated. If I ask if they believed her, they go, ‘What?’ That’s surprising to me. At the very least, I thought her story would smell fishy and then people would decide whether or not to believe it. The fact that they just take it completely and totally at face value that it’s the truth has been surprising to me,” he admitted to Uproxx.

While Lindelof has a very clear answer about the veracity of Nora’s tale, he’s keeping it to himself, revealing that everyone involved with the show chose to go with a conclusion that left any firm conclusions harder to grasp. Though, at one point, the idea was kicked around to dramatize elements of Nora’s speech.

READ MORE: ‘The Leftovers’ Sticks The Landing With Style In Its Final Season [Review]

“…what I’ll also say is, from the moment that we talked about it, there was an evolution that started at, let’s literally shoot this story that she tells because it happened, and then that transformed into [writer and ‘The Leftovers’ author Tom] Perrotta saying to let her just tell it and let’s embrace the ambiguity of whether or not it happened, and then us having an internal conversation as writers; we needed to know whether she was telling the truth or not so that there would be no question whatsoever about our intention,” Lindelof explained. “Then [director] Mimi [Leder] got the material first, and my memory of my conversation with Mimi is that she was like, ‘Let’s not talk about whether or not Nora is actually telling the truth. Let’s just talk about what you want to have happen in the scene.’ Then Carrie got the scene and she never asked, and she and I at this moment in time two days before the finale airs still haven’t talked about whether or not Nora is telling the truth. The reality is, Carrie at this point is probably more qualified to answer that question than I am, my intention aside. That said, when I was in Australia watching her perform the scene and when I was sitting in the editing room watching her perform the scene, it was very hard to not believe her. That’s all I’m willing to say on the subject.”

Having been through the controversial finale of “Lost,” his experience on that show led Lindelof to keep his intentions to himself, and audiences to bring their own thoughts to the ending of “The Leftovers.”

“I can’t tell you what to believe and what not to believe in a show that is based on people telling insane stories. I think that Kevin does believe her and he is the audience’s proxy. Nora is surprised. She’s like, ‘You do?’ Because the story is so incredible, if you really sit and listen to what she says happened to her and, more importantly, how she says she got back. But hopefully it becomes, over time, less and less important whether it is literally true and more and more important that it was emotionally true. I’ve learned the hard way not to tell the audience what to believe and what to think and what to feel,” he told The Daily Beast. “I’m still yelling into the sky, ‘They weren’t dead the whole time!’ about ‘Lost.’ People are like, ‘Yeah they were.’ I’m like, I made the show! Isn’t my word worth anything? They’re like, well, we have our interpretations. So I’m letting go of what I want people to believe and feel.”

As for his feelings about “The Leftovers” ending, Lindelof says the time is right. “[Tom] Perrotta and I essentially turned in our draft of the pilot, like, four years ago this month. It’s been an incredible experience… I’m so glad that it’s ending. People keep saying it must be bittersweet. And I’m like: Is it arrogant to say I’m not experiencing the bitter part at all? It just feels like it’s ending at exactly the right time,” he told Variety.

Did you believe Nora’s story? Thoughts on the finale? Hit up the comments section and let us know.