UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The Projects James Gandolfini Left … 
R.I.P. James Gandolfini 
Photos: James Gandolfini, 1961-2013 
Masterpiece To Co-Produce ITV Medical Drama … 
Warner Bros Sets Morten Tyldum To Helm … 
Zac Efron Thriller ‘The Falling’ Gets Jeremy … 
Why Was Ex-Soft Porn Filmmaker Recently Hired As Movie … 
ReelzChannel Cancels ‘The Big Picture’ After … 
Cillian Murphy Boards ‘In The Heart Of The Sea’ 
John Legend To Produce Comedy Project About Music Managers … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Crystal Fairy’ 
Sam Taylor-Johnson To Direct ‘Fifty Shades Of … 
Inside AMPAS Board Of Governors’ Meeting: Conflict Of … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Spectacular Now’ 
Glenn Geller To Run Current Programming For CBS & CBS … 
Shailene Woodley’s Mary Jane Role Cut From ‘The … 
New ‘Star Wars’ Film Cast Breakdown Unveiled 
CAA Signs Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck, Oscar-Winning … 
UPDATE: Dan Abrams Named New ‘Nightline’ Anchor … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘The Voice’ Finale On Par … 
Joy Bryant Returns To Longtime Agent Steve Alexander At … 
J.H. Wyman will be the sole showrunner on Fringe for the sci-fi drama’s upcoming 13-episode fifth and final season as Jeff Pinkner is departing. Both Pinkner and Wyman have been on Fringe since the first season, which was run by Pinkner, with Wyman joining him as co-showrunner in Season 2. According to TVGuide.com, Pinkner is leaving to pursue other projects.
Fringe executive producer J.J. Abrams, who created the Fox/Warner Bros. TV drama with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, issued a statement about Pinkner’s exit. “For four years, J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner have worked tirelessly as a team to keep all the worlds in order on Fringe,” he said. “We’re thankful for the invaluable contributions Jeff has made to the show and of course wish him well and look forward to working together in the future. J.H. Wyman’s importance to Fringe cannot be overstated, however, and I’m thrilled that he will continue as showrunner for the concluding chapters of our story. We can’t wait for our fans to see what we have in store for them in the wild conclusion of Fringe.”
With the prospect of an abbreviated final season, it is not unusual for series writer-producers to move on as their shows don’t need full staffs, and a departure would allow them to get a jump on development. Recently, a slew of 30 Rock producers, including executive producer John Riggi and Emmy winner Matt Hubbard left the NBC comedy, which will wrap its run with a 13-episode final season.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
It may be usual, but I don’t get why the producer wouldn’t stay to see his show to the end. I’m a newbie to Fringe; my brother and I have devoured the first two seasons. But regardless, this show’s quality won’t suffer. A show this smart will finish strong.
Um, really?
Pinkner leaving is strange, as he is the one stating that he has 7 seasons of stories, and saw 419 as the pilot of a spinn-off.
I blame him for the ruining of Olivia Dunham, who has been reduced to the girlfiend of Peter since midseason 3, and this season was made the victim.
Pinkner made the decision after the pilot to NOT write for Olivia Dunham, but only concentrate on Walter and Peter.
A great character Olivia wasted , with the lowpoint the finale episodes of S4, instead of the hero Olivia was reduced to the object activated by Bell, shot by Walter, and most importantly she had to be pregnant while activated.
It is not going to help season 5, from what I hear of John Noble, it will be all about Walter (how much does Noble wants Walter to be forgiven?)
then Walter and Peter, and then Walter , Peter and Etta.
No part for Olivia Dunham, other than Noble hypocritical pretending to speak for Anna Torv that she loves playing the mom of a 24 year old, who on top of that has replaced her as a central character.
I am certain Noble wants to be replaced in the final season as well, and on top of that has to play scenes with that replacement.
So basically Fringe season 5 will be in 2036, I hated that episode and Etta, so bye Fringe.
Actually I see it differently. I think that even if Olivia has always been a victim of Bell&Walter’s trial, and they still experiment on her, she somehow has found the power to overcome everything. She’s been strong enough to keep it together, to play a part of all these experiments and to make the best of them.
And with Olivia being only Peter’s girlfriend, I see it exactly opposite. Olivia solved the Machine problem from S3, she tracked down Sam Weiss, she is the crowbar and stopped the Machine. And even though Peter was the focus on the last episode of S3, she was the driving motor of Peter’s choices. And we all went along with new Olivia’s timeline, not with Peter to wherever he went.
In S4 the focus was on Olivia coping with everything that’s been done to her. Yes, she was abused, and lost, and experimented on, but she cam through. And Peter was there keep telling her that she’s not alone, that she can do this, that everything will be OK.
Just think about the fact how little attention they payed to Peter being home. Why? Because it wasn’t important. What was important was that Olivia has found herself again, has remembered her other TL as well, along with Peter and her abilities.
Though I do agree they focused too much of the ending on Walter and his self pity. Yes you did all these terrible things, start fighting and stop complaining. I would have loved more background into what made Olivia be so important for what she’s become… but oh well.
I still maintain this is the very best acting on TV. John Noble still deserves that Emmy – they’re all just the tops. The actors could not do such an outstanding job without an awesome team behind them.
Thanks so much, Jeff for everything you’ve done in this Universe and all the others! Can’t wait to see how it all concludes.
Oh brother…
He’s correct. John Noble is tremendous.
It does seem like an abrupt announcement, so I hope it’s just a typical moving-on situation. However, I have a good feeling about the final season nevertheless. Joel Wyman has an excellent rapport with the fans, and he even directed an episode last season that was pretty good, so hopefully he is in tune with the actors’ ideas as well.
Why leave it when its ending next season? Or is he being forced to go? I mean 13 more episodes isnt that many to oversee. Just weird when they both say they love creating the show and it was very lucky to be given a final season.
Who knows? Maybe it was budgetary considerations?
It is definitely budget-related, and not sudden. Had been discussed internally since the week after it got renewed.
He left because they offered him a crap deal. He is going to develop and is already writing a mega tent pole deal for Sony. JJ Abrams apparently wouldn’t give him meaningful points on the show, and the studio didn’t see fit to lock him up long term. Ballsy move
I think everyone is working for a lower fee, and the reason that there is a season 5 is because WarnerBrothers wants 100 episodes, Bad Robot has to deliver, as they have all their series in production with WB, see next up Revolution.
And they have to work faster , filming is now finished in November, last year episode 13 ws finished december 17 , so it looks like 7 days to shoot an episode, where it was 8 days.
Joel Wyman has a film in production at the moment, he wrote the script and produces it, he was called back to write on Fringe.
Is now half way the writing, with DFury as well, so he does his duty in ending Fringe at a high note.
And he has other projects lined up.
Irony is that Jeff Pinkner is the one mostly hyping 419, and now we are stuck with 2036.
And Pinkner was the one going on about so many storylines, I guess his love for Fringe and the cast and the fans ends with dollarsigns, once a lawyer, always a lawyer?
I am certain that the only cast member really wanting to go one with Fringe is John Noble, as he gets all the material.
Josh Jackson did not want to be in season 4, see his late arrival and him doing a film during 4.17 and 418, and
Anna Torv must be disgusted with what they have done to Olivia.
And Lance Reddick and Blair Brown could have so much more interesting storylines if they would have written for Olivia Dunham.
Broyles and Olivia in S1 and 2, and Nina and Olivia, the few scenes they got in season 4 showed that they completely wasted that chance.
According to TV Guide he’s leaving to pursue other projects.
So, according to Deadline, what’s the real reason?
Pinkner is clearly making a practical move – with only 13 episodes left why not? And (per earlier letters) speaking of wasted characters, Lt Broyles has been woefully underused – he started off as much more – hope that actor Reddick will get more complex opportunities in the future
It’s a bonus that this last season is even being made, so a lot of the writing staff are trying to line up their next job. Pinkner has a bigger paycheck and more opportunities than any other member of the staff so it’s not surprising that WB would want him to move on to another project (I’d probably see him working on another Bad Robot project).
Wyman will probably write most of the episodes and the rest of the season could be done on a purely “freelance” basis. They probably won’t have David Fury as a full-time staff writer but he could contribute a single script. Hell even JJ could have his name on an episode as a co-writer. Their are enough people connected with the show and BR to piece together a good final season. At least I hope that’s the case… if not I guess it will just be Wyman and a bunch of interns.)