Skip to main content

Veronica Mars lasted for three seasons on broadcast television, before a movie revival and a fourth season on Hulu. Creator Rob Thomas saw the third season as a bit of a course correction from Veronica Mars Season 2. He admitted what he considered a mistake and his plans to fix it.

'Veronica Mars' Season 2: Kristen Bell stands in front of her costars
L-R: Ryan Hansen,Kyle Gallner, Tessa Thompson, Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Percy Daggs, III, Joason Dohring, and Francis Capra | Robert Voets/CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images

Thomas was on a Television Critics Association panel for Veronica Mars Season 3 in July 2006. Here’s what he learned from Veronica Mars Season 2 and why season 3 was a little different. 

‘Veronica Mars’ Season 2 parallel mysteries was ‘a problem’

Thoma’s mistake in Veronica Mars Season 2 came from the best intentions. Since Kristen Bell played the title character, Thomas didn’t want to force her to be in every scene solving the mystery. So he came up with a second mystery involving Logan (Jason Dohring).

“I think that was the problem with season 2,” Thomas said. “We almost worked Kristen to death in season 1. And the whole Logan long-term mystery of what happened on the night of the bridge, it was conceived largely to give Kristen Bell some much-deserved and much-needed time off, but it had the effect of putting two concurrent mysteries lasting 22 episodes with way too many suspects, way too many red herrings. We want to rein that in this year. There will not be two concurrent mysteries this year.”

Season 3 had more mysteries, but they were shorter 

The adjustment Thomas made after Veronica Mars Season 2 was to divide the season into blocks. Each block would focus on one mystery that would resolve before moving on, thus keeping them manageable. 

“To service a 22-episode mystery, you have to have a large playing field,” Thomas said. “To service a 9-episode mystery, we can keep that tighter, more focused. Instead of having 12 people who can be in the running for the villain, there might be five in one of those mysteries. I think it will be much cleaner. I think it will also give a new audience more jumping-in points.”

After Veronica Mars Season 2, The WB and UPN merged into The CW. The show made the cut for The CW lineup, and the network president suggested the new direction.

Related

How Jason Dohring Got Those Abs In ‘Veronica Mars’ Season 4

“Actually, the idea of doing shorter mystery arcs was a suggestion we got from the studio,” Thomas said. “I called Dawn Ostroff at the network and pitched it, and it was her brilliant suggestion that we do them uninterrupted. So that was sort of a two-phased plan that we owe largely to the studio and network suggestions. Dawn’s big note, and it was one that, believe me, we agreed with so there was no there was no argument here. We felt like we got too convoluted last year. We sort of freely admit that. Dawn asked us to clean that up, but that was sort of already in the works for us.”

Rob Thomas still likes ‘Veronica Mars’ Season 2

Although Thomas’s acknowledgment surely came as a relief to many fans, Thomas did not completely throw Veronica Mars Season 2 under the bus. 

I certainly don’t want to give the wrong impression. I’m proud of season 2, I’m happy with it. There are things I would change, certainly. And streamlining it would be one of them. We were probably about 2/3 of the way in and I read enough of the message boards to know that we were losing people, that we had become too complex. And the thing is, at that point in the season, there’s no real solution. Because at that point in the mystery, you spend the first half to 2/3 sort of expanding, and then the last third bringing it all back to a point. So we were already at the point where we were about to winnow down.

Rob Thomas, Television Critics Association panel, 7/17/06
Best in Entertainment