The Real Reason Doom Patrol Season 2 Was An Episode Short
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Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doom Patrol season 2.
The ending of Doom Patrol season 2 left audiences desperate for more as the bizarre collection of heroes fought their own imaginary friends who had been brought to life. If you haven't seen the HBO Max series, that probably sounds very strange, but it all hinges on Dorothy Spinner (Abigail Shapiro), who has the ability to bring her hideous fictional companions to life. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, when she grows up and leaves childhood behind, she also releases an entity known as the Candlemaker.
This waxy behemoth is destined to bring about Armageddon, and the only thing standing in its way is the unlikely set of heroes. It's those typical season finale stakes: a terrifying villain threatening the world while also being closely intertwined with a main character's personal development. Although it seems likely that the team would figure out a way of melting the Candlemaker down to size, the episode ended with a surprising cliffhanger as the heroes were encased in wax by the monster.
The credits roll, you wait for that "Next Episode" button to appear, but it never does. That's because Doom Patrol season 2 was cut down by an episode due to some unsurprising circumstances.
The original finale was nearly finished
Doom Patrol season 2 originally had 10 episodes in its run, but the finale was cut thanks to (yep, you guessed it) the ongoing pandemic. Abigail Shapiro (Dorothy Spinner) explained to Insider that the cast and crew had already shot most of the final episode before production was halted due to the global situation and the producers were forced to use episode 9 as the finale. "It was basically all finished... There was going to be one more episode, and we only had a couple of scenes left, but we never got to finish that episode."
It's not clear how the series would have solved the problem of all its heroes being encased in wax, but it seems likely that Dorothy would be the one to somehow defeat the Candlemaker, since the villain was unleashed by her. It isn't the first time that the DC shows have faced problems with a finale, as the first season of Titans scrapped the finale in favor of a cliffhanger, later repurposing it for the season 2 premiere.
Thankfully, Doom Patrol season 3 has been greenlit over on HBO Max, so we will get answers at some point in the future. So it's likely the scenes the cast already shot could be used to kick things off in the third season. Luckily, various studios have resumed production on a number of shows and movies with strict safety guidelines in place, and hopefully audiences won't have to wait too much longer to see how it all plays out.