Leftovers, The (HBO 2014-2017, Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon)

When 2% of the world’s population abruptly disappears without explanation, the world struggles to come to terms with what happened. Three years later, The Leftovers is the story of the people who didn’t make the cut.

Based on Perrotta’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Leftovers is an original look at The Rapture…or was it The Rapture at all? Set in a small New York suburb, the intimate family drama focuses on the residents of the fictional town of Mapleton, whose preconceptions are shattered in the wake of a global event dubbed “The Sudden Departure.” Three years after the fateful day when 140 million people disappeared without a trace, the series focuses on the ways ordinary people react to inexplicable events that can unite or divide families and communities, examining how their untold grief and the strain of an unprecedented calamity can turn faith into cynicism, paranoia, madness or cult-like fanaticism.

At the heart of The Leftovers is the Garvey family. Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux), the town’s beleaguered chief of police and father of two, is trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy when the notion no longer applies. While Kevin and his rebellious daughter, Jill (Margaret Qualley), try to go back to the way things used to be, Kevin’s son, Tom (Chris Zylka), sees the event as a wakeup call to take action. At the same time, Kevin is faced with the conflict between the townspeople of Mapleton and the Guilty Remnant, a mysterious cult-like group that seems to offer an escape for traumatized residents.

In addition to Theroux (“Mulholland Drive”; HBO’s “John Adams” and “Six Feet Under”), series regulars include: Amy Brenneman (“Private Practice”) as Laurie, a mother with a successful career who felt all she could do after the Departure was surrender; Christopher Eccleston (“28 Days Later”) as Reverend Matt Jamison, who thinks he knows exactly what the Departure was and wasn’t, and is committed to renewing the town’s faith; Liv Tyler (“The Lord of the Rings”) as Meg, who has serious doubts about her impending wedding; Chris Zylka (“The Amazing Spider-Man”) as Tom Garvey; Margaret Qualley as Jill Garvey; Carrie Coon (“Gone Girl”) as Nora Durst, who lost her entire family in the Departure; Emily Meade (HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”) as Aimee, Jill’s friend and the big sister she never had; Amanda Warren (“The Adjustment Bureau”) as Mayor Lucy Warburton; Ann Dowd (HBO’s “True Detective”) as Patti, a Guilty Remnant leader; Michael Gaston (“The Mentalist”) as Dean, a stranger who could be Kevin’s greatest ally, or a force to be reckoned with; Max and Charlie Carver (“Teen Wolf”) as Adam and Scott Frost, twins who forge a friendship with Jill and Aimee; and Annie Q (“The Rewrite”) as Christine, a follower of Holy Wayne and object of Tom’s interest.

From HBO’s press release, January 2017… The Leftovers: In an instant, 140 million people vanished from the face of the earth. The cause of that incredible event remains unknown, nor is there any indication that those gone will ever be seen or heard from again. This drama series follows the lives that were forever changed on Oct. 14, and those who were spared from the event that shook the world. In adapting Tom Perrotta’s bestselling novel of the same name, season one explored the dynamics of one family, the Garveys, in the suburbs of New York. Continuing to focus on the ways ordinary people react to inexplicable events, season two uprooted that family and introduced another, the Murphys, as the series ventured into the unexplored territory of Miracle, Texas.

In the third season, those families come together as they desperately grasp for a system of belief to help better explain that which defies explanation. The world is crackling with the energy of something big about to happen, a corresponding bookend to the Sudden Departure that sent them all spinning years earlier, bringing their journey Down Under. Season three cast includes Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Amy Brenneman, Kevin Carroll, Christopher Eccleston, Scott Glenn, Lindsay Duncan, Regina King, Jovan Adepo, Janel Moloney, Margaret Qualley, Jasmin Savoy-Brown, Liv Tyler and Chris Zylka. Created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta; Lindelof serves as the series showrunner; executive produced by Damon Lindelof, Tom Perrotta, Mimi Leder, Tom Spezialy, Gene Kelly, Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey; produced for HBO by White Rabbit in association with Warner Bros. Television. Filmed on location in Texas and Australia. The eight-episode third and final season debuts in April.

cast
Justin Theroux as Kevin Garvey
Carrie Coon as Nora Durst
Amanda Warren as Lucy Warburton
Amy Brenneman as Laurie
Ann Dowd as Patti Levin
Chris Zylka as Tom
Christopher Eccleston as Matt Jamison
Janel Moloney as Mary
Jovan Adepo as Michael
Kevin Carroll as John
Liv Tyler as Meg
Margaret Qualley as Jill Garvey
Regina King as Erika

other cast info
Annie Q as Christine
Charlie Carver as Scott Frost
Emily Meade as Amy
Max Carver as Adam Frost
Michael Gaston as Dean

key behind the scenes crew
Albert Berger as Co-Executive Producer
Damon Lindelof as Creator/Executive Producer
Peter Berg as Executive Producer/Director of Pilot
Ron Yerxa as Co-Executive Producer
Sarah Aubrey as Executive Producer
Tom Perrotta as Creator/Original Author/Executive Producer

show type
drama

broadcast from
6/29/2014 – 2017

network and production companies
HBO – Adventure Corps – Warner Bros. Television