Warning: This article contains Season 4 spoilers from MGM Plus.
Amid giant dolls, killers and cunning, villains in yellow suits, Season 4 of MGM Plus’ horror-mystery series Four has introduced more obstacles and fantasy fuel for those still trapped in the game’s spooky city.
As Season 4 of The Rising nears its conclusion, I spoke with creator and executive producer John Griffin, showrunner Jeff Pinkner (Lost, The Edge) and director Jack Bender (Lost, Game of Thrones) about the show’s creepy puppet, the Yellow Man who sneaks in and “always” haunts fans. The fifth and final season of From is set to premiere in 2027.
“At the end of the day, our goal was not to tell a dull story,” Griffin said. “And that doesn’t mean it won’t be a difficult story to watch or a story full of sacrifice and sadness. No matter how it ends, our goal is to reward the audience for taking this journey with us.”
The second to last episode of From Season 4 premieres Sunday on the MGM Plus app and on the MGM Plus linear channel at 9 pm ET and 9 pm PT.
Q: This season of From felt a little different to me as a viewer because I know the biggest secret that the residents of From don’t know: The Yellow Man walks among them as Sophia. What was the thought process behind letting the audience in on that secret from the beginning of Season 4?
Griffin: A big part of it, you know, is looking at our villain, and the kind of villain that he is and the role he’s played behind the scenes in this world and in these people’s lives. It sounds like, ‘How much can he enjoy this next phase of the game?’ And how the audience can enjoy watching him work, so that he is not like a mysterious presence on the fringes of the show. It was like, ‘Oh, but, the last thing people in town would expect is for this thing to live among them.’
Giant dolls terrorize the residents of Froverville in Season 4.
Q: From the real monsters that come out of the night, to the giant killer dolls of Season 4, scary creatures and images are a big part of From. Can you tell me more about bringing those scary dolls to life this season and how you come up with new ways to scare viewers?
Jack Bender: I will say the dolls, when I first read them, I went, ‘Oh my god, OK.’ Because a lot of times Jeff and John and the writers come up with things, and I say, ‘OK, how do we pull this off in a different way that’s not going to be pretty and it’s going to be scary?’ We looked at many pictures of period dolls and other items. And it was our designer and production designer, actually, Matt Likely and Rachael Grant, who collaborated. Finally, Rachael came up with an overflowing doll look.
When I saw the dolls come to life standing, full of figures, I realized that seeing them running might seem small. Just because they are sharp and big and soft. And so the whole idea of the pool being flooded, and the seaweed dripping, and all that really helped. And the loose material and slight rips helped to keep it lively and terrifying. And then, of course, our vis[ual] it affects people by nature, Jeff and John, and we were all involved in it — the construction of those teeth and everything worked out well. So, like most things in our program, the best collaboration is inspired by the crazy [stuff] Jeff and John and some of our writers came with them.
Q: Boyd is faced with the dilemma this season of protecting the people in the city or endangering them in a theory that could bring them closer to returning home. What were the thoughts that expressed Boyd’s fear of the people of his town this season and the choice he ended up making?
Jeff Pinkner: I think with Boyd, the bond he’s in, and the bond that’s only going to get worse for him as we go forward, is protecting his family versus protecting the city. And there is a debate. When the show started, Donna’s attitude was, ‘Tomorrow’s not guaranteed, we’re enjoying today.’ That was kind of the philosophy of Colony House. And Boyd’s attitude, which was very important [much] against that, it was, ‘We stay safe today so that one day we can go home.’ Donna was like, ‘Well, going home isn’t guaranteed, so let’s have fun today.’
Boyd and Donna on Four, Season 4.
And over the course of these four seasons, that has been a ping-pong debate. ‘Are we trying to go home, risking it? This place clearly wants us to suffer. Perhaps the hope of returning home is our suffering.’ We always try to relate this to what would you do if you were in this position? What do you value? The premise of the show from the beginning is. Your life, the world is falling apart — who are you in that space?
And for Boyd, that’s always the question in front of him, ‘What’s worth moving here?’ And it’s an impossible choice, and the more impossible it is, the more alive Harold is [Perrineau] because, which is our greatest weapon, you know? One of the great joys of this show is our acting and writing in any of them. But writing for Boyd, especially, and Harold, that’s the problem. What are you doing? Do you take risks or not?
Q: I know I would like to see all the citizens of Froxville escape after everything that has gone down. But this show doesn’t seem like the kind where there can be a happy ending for sure, or you know, that might not happen. Do you miss the fans like you did last season?
Griffin: One thousand percent.
Pinkner: We always miss the fans. From the beginning, our premise was that the show can’t depend on the mystery and what the final answer is, because that’s not the way to satisfy the fans in the end. If you’re building a show based on, ‘What’s the answer?,’ it’s either too easy for the audience to guess — and they get frustrated — or it’s too easy for the audience to guess, and they get frustrated, ‘Wait, that’s all there was?’
So, our premise has always been the same, we will reveal all the answers. So the question is what do the actors do about it? Can they survive? Who will go? Who might be caught here? Will anyone be able to walk? And we always, always, always write from the perspective of, what is the audience engaging with? Are they frustrated? What do they want to happen? What are they afraid might happen? And sometimes we use that audience frustration on purpose, sometimes we lean on it. But when it comes to how we make a show, it’s always about the audience.
The citizens of Frownville gather at the Colony House in season 4.
Griffin: Our goal is never to punish the audience, to punish the actors or to punish ourselves. For me, the show has always been best summed up by the conversation Henry has with Tabitha in her basement, while we’re watching Tian-Chen’s funeral. And Henry says, paraphrasing Miranda’s words, you know, ‘They didn’t stick to it, so they fought.’ Although this show can be dark and difficult at times, for me it has always been a show about hope, because it is a story about people who have nothing to hold on to and reach out alone.
And that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a happy ending, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a sad ending. People will struggle. The audience will not get everything they want. Actors will not get everything they want. But at the end of the day, our goal was never to tell a dull story. And that doesn’t mean it won’t be a difficult story to watch or a story full of sacrifice and sadness. Whatever it ends up being, our aim is to reward the audience for taking this journey with us.
The Bender: What I will say is that my work has always been — and I always express it to you, John and Jeff — ‘OK, how do we make this a reality?’ You know, if this was us? The ‘what if’ question, I think, is essential to good storytelling. You know, whatever the country is, whatever the obstacle course those characters are tortured through, or have to go through. But the truth is, we’ve been trying to keep it human and real about how they deal with these issues.