ds44

I thought more people quit during the conde fiasco and then never came back.

drunkalice

I can't blame them, season 2 was atrocious.

I'll get back to you guys when I get to my laptop!

kerbear28

Yeah, whoever didn't give up during the whole Monde mess left after Francis died. I can't blame anyone if they stopped watching for either reason. Personally, I'm happy that I stuck with it.

I'm sorry to everyone who feels let down by the finale. I get it. But honestly, with them finding out they were cancelled in the middle of filming the final episode, I'm just so grateful they were able to at least give Mary some closure and peace in the end. I think they did a pretty good job with the situation they were put in, and the time they had. Hopefully, some of the rest will be resolved in fan fiction.

annie1408

Only Frary fans can be kind of happy. I'm elated that they didn't want the audience to decide with whom she ended up in the afterlife as spoilers suggested. It's a mess, they should have at least give us a glimpse of the french court, a lot would be happening in France. I get it, the show is about Mary and she was most important but the threesome, poor Claude. We got to see Margot, I was so excited about it but then remembered it was the series finale. I'm glad we didn't see too many deaths though. It's so clear they had no idea they were getting cancelled. The show was really interesting this season, maybe along my favourites. Oh well.. I'll miss the cast. It was a little gem. Starting from the innocent teenage show to more mature vibe and character development. Ade & Toby had an amazing chemistry!

Scottish_Queen

I was trying to think about why I first stopped watching. Mine was more because I had just had a baby and also I HATED that Lola and Francis baby story. I had a pregnancy loss of my own before having my son so that storyline of Lola having Francis's only child while poor Mary had to sit by and watch that rubbed in her face while having a miscarriage herself sooo pissed me off.

My Lola hate was through the roof. Even so, I always kept up with the show online and when I did start watching full time again I was like "WHY did I ever stop watching?! This show is amazing!"

I've said it a lot but for me that Monde mess was definitely less painful when watching it straight through on Netflix. You don't have the week to week drag that made the Lola stuff so painful for me when I was watching live.

I can't argue with anyone disappointed in the finale either. It wasn't my overall ideal finale but given the circumstances of being cancelled mid shooting that finale I think they did an incredible job at least with Mary's ending. I expected to hate it and be disappointed and was completely caught happily off guard with the Frary ending. Now I can go back and watch it all over again knowing at least in death Mary got a happy ending.

Bronson

Yes the Conde storyline was awful. Making a rape victim an unsympathetic character was awful. I stuck with the show thought. Sorry to see it end. Shame history did not have Mary and Elizabeth have some type of understanding.

I read a biography of Elizabeth and Mary as well as seeing documentaries on them and no doubt that Mary Stuart made a lot of bad decisions which came back to haunt her later. Marrying a man her subjects did not approve of and her final bad decision was going to England and expecting Elizabeth to help her. Hers was a tragic life which was a shame.

As to the show, Adelaide Kane portrayed Mary Stuart well and I so enjoyed the series. I would have liked for it to have lasted one more season or two but I have accepted this.

drunkalice

There were some awful choices, especially in season 2. And yet now that it's over I find that this show is staying with me. I guess it touched something in me, maybe my inner history nerd or maybe just the fact that there was some heart to it despite everything. I'm not saying it deserved another season, but it probably deserved the chance to wrap things properly. All those new characters and those major plots brought in... Oh well. But at least we there was closure for Mary.

NotDoneAbusingYou

I wasn't sure which thread to share this in, but I am currently trying to put together a virtual season 5. In essence it will be a big long fancy fan fiction with "episodes" rather than chapters. Some parts may even be in video or comic form. I will make fan art to go with it as well. I am toying with how exactly I will share it. I'm thinking of maybe a tumblr account or using wattpad and then just sharing it on other platforms. If anyone has any suggestions or would like to help out or knws someone who would want to help, please let me know.

kerbear28

That is so exciting, Amanda!!!! It is VERY much necessary. Thank you so much for taking on this project. I wish I was a good editor (or creative in any way ) so that I could help, but I'm sure you will find the right people to contribute.

annie1408

Exactly. I wish we could remove Conde, Gideon, Francis & Lola and instead get more of Mary's (and the french court) later years. I already miss the show although to be fair there was mostly drama. Almost all ships ruined. Having said that, I loved this season, I hate pandering to the shippers

BryceLarkinFanForever

I don't understand how a show that came on this season knowing they were shortened and this would be the final season, could not have been prepared for that ending with a far more cohesive finale than what we got. It's not like this cancellation was out of the left field, if anything, the show getting a shortened final season was more shocking. They should have known this was a possibility and prepare for it. This is show running 101, seriously, the fact that they didn't have a contingency plan and had to cobble up a quick one using flashfoward is just so lazy, so unprofessional. The news may have came out towards end of last year but they knew what the stakes were long before that because the production team and network were already talking about the fate of the show, this wasn't a shocking thing, they always knew the numbers didn't look good. I know people are trying to be nice about it and smooth it over with how "well they were cancelled mid shooting" but honestly, no, this is just bad show running and incredibly ill-planned. A better showrunning team that was actually prepared and had contingency plans would have never had this issue. It's so amateur.

This is indicative of unprepared by-the-seat-of-their-pants show running/writing they've been doing since season 2 really, so I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised.

It's just so frustrating and disappointing really, because this show had potential to do something so much better and so much of it was wasted. This show kicked itself off the air honestly, is it any wonder they were bleeding out cast members left and right.

This cast is honestly the only reason it's not a complete disaster, they're the ones doing above and beyond their jobs to carry the show. The only thing the finale got right in the story writing is Mary and Francis reuniting, that saved everything because if nothing else, at least they got this one thing right.

This cast deserves so much better. This cast is so incredibly talented.

sourburst

this over and over

ds44

I haven't watched since the back half of s2, but somehow I am not surprised. Laurie has always suffered from a great dose of hubris.

kerbear28

First of all, we need to clarify that the writers did NOT know for sure that this was going to be their final season. Everyone seemed very hopeful that they would be renewed (or at least get a short Season 5 to wrap things up.) I can't blame them for that, considering that they hadn't received any confirmation from the network before they began filming the finale. And we don't know what the network had told them previously. They made the decision to start filming an episode that would set up the next season. When they got the bad news, they were mid-way through filming, and it's not likely that they were given the time or the budget to re-shoot scenes or add additional scenes, even if they did have alternate endings prepared. For goodness sake, they filmed the ultimate ending almost TWO YEARS ago before Toby left to make sure that they had it ready to go whenever the show ended. IMO, that is not being unprepared, unprofessional or amateur. Especially as a Frary fan, I'm so grateful they were as prepared as they were!

I understand being disappointed with the finale. I really do. I wanted more closure for characters and storylines, too. I'm not making excuses for Laurie or for the writers. Obviously, I have not always agreed with the choices they have made throughout the series. But in the case of the finale... I guess I just blame the network more. There was no reason they couldn't at least have given them more warning so they could film a more cohesive final episode.

Scottish_Queen

If anyone missed the Reign Afterbuzz show I highly recommend watching it on youtube. It's nearly 2 hours long and Adelaide, Craig, Ben are on the whole time with appearances from Spencer, the girl who plays Keira, and John Knox.

It's a great final interview but Adelaide also says that they thought they were going to get a S5 that would be about 8 episodes to wrap it all up properly. Sadly, it didn't happen

Per the writers - Season Five would have also brought the dark side of Bothwell, Mary's continual fight for her throne complete with seiges, on the run chaos and her eventual breakout of Loch Leven castle courtesy of Bash, the religious massacre in France, and the rise of Walsingham in England who is the ultimate reason for Mary's downfall.

Completely agree. The finale is a product of cancellation mid shooting. There's not much you can do when you go into filming thinking you are getting a S5 only to be told nevermind halfway through shooting the finale. For the circumstances, I thought they did an amazing job even if there was so much more I wanted to see. I could kiss Laurie for filming the Frary stuff before Toby left. Love that it was always endgame.