Ray Donovan: “We never thought we would be cancelled”

Ray Donovan showrunner David Hollander has spoken out on the cancellation of the series this week.

He indicates it was a surprise, and says he and his writers had already plotted out as the show’s final bow.

Here’s what he told Vulture:

What happened?
We’re still scratching our heads. We had no indicator that the show was ending. We were behaving creatively as though we were in mid-sentence. And so, there was no sense that this was going to be a completion. This was in no way a series finale.

Why do you think this decision was made?
The corporate elements of show business are complicated and often mired in things that will never be spoken out loud. I think the easiest external impact was the merger [between CBS and Viacom]. Whatever new environment grew from the merger clearly had some impact on their choice.

Had the show been on the bubble before? Did you consider ending it earlier?
Not even remotely. Every other year, it was them dragging us out kicking and screaming. We were so used to it being the other way, where we were burned out by a show that was very hard to make and the network would pull us and cajole us and push us. We were used to being a show that was not canceled. We never thought we would be canceled.

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