Like Emily Thorne (née Amanda Clarke) drawing a red “X” over the faces of those who have wronged her, ABC has canceled its Hamptons-set primetime soap Revenge, which will air its series finale on May 10.
Initially praised by critics as a smart, twisty soap, Revenge spiraled into ridiculousness after its second season. Ratings fell as the series lost sight of its simple revengenda and started bringing back the dead one too many times. (Lead revenger Emily VanCamp has also reportedly been looking to expand her film career.) The fourth season certainly has had a sense of finality, especially since the show’s best non-Emily character—Madeleine Stowe’s Victoria Grayson, the demonic succubus of The Hamptons—was recently written off. It’s hard to imagine Revenge without its Queen Victoria, so it’s probably for the best that we won’t have to much longer.
The news comes early, as ABC intends to make the bulk of its 2015-16 television season announcements on May 8, when we’ll learn the fate of bubble shows Fresh Off The Boat and Agent Carter. How To Get Away With Murder has already been renewed for a second season, and it’s pretty much a given that the rest of the Shonda bloc will also return, because Shonda Rhimes is television.
Farewell, Revenge. We’ll always treasure the memories of flashback hair and this slow-motion sequence from the season one finale, which the series finale unfortunately will never be able to eclipse because nothing can possibly beat that.