'13 Reasons Why' showrunner explains why show had to end with season 4

American teen drama web television series 13 Reasons Why is ending with a shortened season four on Netflix. Showrunner Brian Yorkey recently explained the logical reason behind it.

The popular series is all set to drop its final season on streaming platform Netflix on June 5.

Yorkey revealed that it felt like a four-season story to him. “Somewhere in the midst of making season two, when it became clear that we might have the chance to make more seasons of this, I pretty quickly got to a place where it felt like a four-season story,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

He went onto add “‘I’m always a little bit suspicious of high school shows that go beyond four seasons because high school is four years long. So when somehow high school shows become seven and eight seasons long, don’t get me wrong I watch them all, but I tend to get a little suspicious of something that began as a high school show.”

He continued “And it felt like bringing these characters to their graduation and to scattering to their next things felt like the logical ending point.”

“So for a long time, the idea has been, should we be so lucky to have the opportunity, we would do four seasons of this. So certainly going into breaking story for season four, we knew it was the end.”

The series is based on the 2007 novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. It revolves around high school student Clay Jensen and his deceased friend Hannah Baker, who commits suicide after having to face a culture of gossip, bullying and sexual assault at her high school.

Netflix dropped the teaser of the upcoming fourth season this week along with an emotional behind-the-scenes video.

Yorkey shared that the makers wanted to end the ‘dark series’ on a note of hope that was earned and that was not forced.