Warning: spoilers are ahead for the Season 1 finale of Murder in a Small Town, which aired on Fox and will be available streaming with a Hulu subscription.
Murder in a Small Town finished the first season in the fall 2024 TV schedule with a two-parter of sorts, with Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) and the Gibsons police department following clues to finally catch a serial killer whose crimes extended even further than they'd imagined. The bad guy of the Fox drama's final arc was Tommy Cummins, played by none other than Schitt's Creek's Noah Reid. Alberg did manage to close the case without Holly (Dakota Guppy ) being harmed, all while Cassandra (Kristin Kreuk) went on her own emotional journey and made a decision about her future.
The finale, called "Sleep While I Sing," ended with the central couple getting back together and continuing to avoid the "will they/won't they" storytelling cliche. The episode also aired before Fox made any announcement about the future of the series. So, when I spoke with executive producer Jeff Wachtel about the finale, he weighed in on whether the show will continue in a second season in the 2025 TV schedule as well as how Alberg and Cassandra's stories were wrapped.
Alberg And Cassandra Reunite
In the final moments of Season 1, when the action had finally died down and the characters had time to breathe, Alberg and Cassandra finally had a real conversation. He told her that his second daughter would be coming to town, and she told him that she'd be running for town council. Gibsons has become a home for both of them. He gently asked that she tell him about what happened in Sacramento some day, and she pointed out that they both think too much. She tearfully asked what he wants, and he immediately said "You."
And how else could the season end but with the two sharing a kiss after he dropped that comment to her? All in all, it was a very happy ending to an episode featuring the most dastardly criminal of the full first season. When I spoke with executive producer Jeff Wachtel about the episode, I asked if the Murder in a Small Town team had ever considered a cliffhanger ending as opposed to the happy moment, and he shared:
Cassandra being kidnapped because of something Alberg had done years earlier could have really been an insurmountable issue, but the two had fallen for each other already, and they chose to be together again in the final moments of Season 1. Wachtel continued:
The mentions of what happened in Sacramento won't be vague and inexplicable forever... assuming that Murder in a Small Town gets a second season, anyway. In light of the finale airing without the renewal already guaranteed, fans can at least enjoy the episode without having to worry that an imminent life-or-death cliffhanger will never be resolved. Wachtel clarified that the big kiss doesn't necessarily mean an happily-ever-after for the pair:
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Considering that Cassandra joked – or semi-joked – about police oversight when she told Alberg that she'd be running for town council, could there be some new kinds of bumps as well as another daughter coming to town and Cassandra dealing with whatever happened in Sacramento? Hopefully it'll just be a matter of waiting to find out after a renewal is confirmed.
What About Season 2?
It's not unusual for a season of a show to end without news of a renewal or cancellation, so fans don't have to take it as a bad sign that Season 2 has not yet been confirmed at the time of writing. It's clear that the writers and producers are already coming up with ideas for what comes next, though, and EP Jeff Wachtel shared how far ahead they're planning at this point:
Apparently, creator/EP/writer Ian Weir and the rest of the Murder and a Small Town team behind the scenes have made a fair amount of progress on scripts for a second season, which hopefully means not only a renewal sooner rather than later, but also hopefully new episodes sooner rather than later in 2025. After the final credits rolled to really establish why this is a different kind of crime show, Wachtel said:
For now, you can always rewatch the first eight episodes of Murder in a Small Town streaming on Hulu. Prior to the finale, the drama ranked as the #1 new show for Fox content on Hulu as well as #3 for all Fox content on Hulu for the 2024-2025 TV season so far. Plus, Murder in a Small Town viewership numbers grow by nearly 130% with multiplatform viewing. The audience certainly isn't limited to Fox, and hopefully will be rewarded with a Season 2 renewal.
Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer
Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).
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