Veronica Mars Season 5 - Will It Ever Happen?
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When "Veronica Mars" Season 4 dropped on Hulu in July 2019, fans were thrilled to see their favorite teenage P.I. all grown up and still navigating her fictional California town's tough class divides and numerous mysteries. After several bombs were set off during Neptune's popular spring break season, Veronica (Kristen Bell) put herself on the case and eventually solved the crime while maintaining relationships with her father Keith (Enrico Colantoni), boyfriend Logan (Jason Dohring), and others.
As shocked as fans were by the show's surprise arrival on the streamer (the revival season hit Hulu a full week ahead of schedule), they were even more shocked by Season 4's decisively tough finale, which finds our titular heroine heartbroken and moving on from the town of Neptune. This ending leaves plenty of room for future "Veronica Mars" adventures, and fans have been waiting with bated breath to see if the plucky blonde investigator will return to screens with new cases and new struggles. But how much hope should they really have? Will a "Veronica Mars" Season 5 ever truly happen? Here's everything we know about this possibility.
Why hasn't Veronica Mars Season 5 happened yet?
In the fall of 2018, Hulu announced that it would air an eight-episode revival of "Veronica Mars" slated for release in 2019. By July of that year, fans around the world were gearing up for a new season that was years in the making. After the 2014 "Veronica Mars" movie – which was largely regarded as total fan service (understandable, considering that it was literally funded by fans) — audiences were excited to see Veronica back in an episodic format, especially since creator and showrunner Rob Thomas promised a grittier reboot that felt more like the original series that premiered in 2004.
Season 4 of "Veronica Mars" ended up dropping a week early on July 19, 2019, after the cast and crew assembled for a panel at that year's San-Diego Comic Con. Of course, viewers rushed to binge the short series and get their fix as fast as possible. Both fans and critics liked the season, which was celebrated as a fine return to form and full of fun new directions. So why has Season 5 never come to pass? As Thomas revealed to TVLine in 2019, he has ideas for more stories in mind; a lack of creativity is definitely not the problem here. But Hulu made it clear at that time that they simply had no interest in further Veronica Mars adventures, and their opinion doesn't seem to have changed in any significant way.
Nowadays, Thomas is busy with the "Party Down" reboot, and Bell has been devoting her time to productions like "Frozen 3," "Central Park," and "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window." They might still be down to return to Neptune — in fact, they might be downright eager. But the truth is, if Hulu isn't into it, it's unlikely to happen.
What Hulu and Rob Thomas have said about Veronica Mars Season 5
Hulu brought "Veronica Mars" back to life ... but to many fans, it also seems like the streamer put it back in the grave. The truth is complicated. When discussing the situation back in 2021 (via /Film), Hulu executive Craig Erwich remarked, "We were thrilled with the entire Veronica Mars experience that we brought to our viewers. It was a really unique set of content in terms of having past episodes and then a new seasons ... We watched a lot of new people discover the show for the first time. For fans of the show, the opportunity to check back in and see where she is in her life was very exciting." Sounds like a solid foundation for more episodes, right? Not so much. Erwich continued, "That collection, that journey of Veronica Mars in terms of the television episodes and in terms of her life as a character exists on Hulu and will exist for a long time. There's still a lot of 'Veronica Mars' for people to check out. Right now we think that's a really satisfying narrative experience for them."
Creator Rob Thomas diverges from this perspective. In fact, he's bursting with ideas for more Veronica-helmed adventures. "I do think that this next version of Veronica is going to lean very hard into being a mystery," he told ET. "My fear about continuing to do the show as its constructed, is that it relies on nostalgia ... The idea that I'm noodling with for a potential fifth season, if we are so lucky — I am knocking on wood — have been these Agatha Christie sort of Murder in the Country Manor drawing room mysteries, even though I would update that concept a bit." Will he ever get to put these ideas into action? It's possible — but it's definitely not certain.
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What could be explored in Veronica Mars Season 5?
The end of "Veronica Mars" Season 4 sees Veronica hit with the highest highs and lowest lows of her life thus far. After marrying her longtime love Logan and committing to their relationship once and for all, she ends up watching as Logan falls victim to a car bomb meant for her, hidden as one last gift from Penn Epler (Patton Oswalt), the season's villain. One year later, Veronica is finally seeking therapy — which was a huge bone of contention between Veronica and Logan while he was alive — and leaving Neptune seemingly for good, taking to the road to pick up more cases for Mars Investigations.
This ending definitely opens the door for plenty more mysteries. Season 5 could possibly focus on Veronica's post-Neptune career, as well as the goings-on at Mars Investigations back in California. Creator Rob Thomas has many ideas along these lines — and some entirely new ones as well. In an interview with TVLine that touched upon a potential Season 5, he explained, "[Season 5 wouldn't be] a total reinvention. I feel like these eight episodes were a step in the direction of what it's going to be. It is going to be pulling in a new cast of characters for each mystery. These mysteries are going to feel a lot more standalone. Mystery is going to be the focus of the show." What kind of mysteries are we talking about? "I have a couple ideas in my head, one of which is very Agatha Christie-[esque]," Thomas revealed to TVLine. "It won't be this exactly, but some version of Murder in a Manor House. Something that is so explicitly detective-y ... I want to really lean into that we are a detective show ... I feel like Season 4 was the bridge season, to take us from half soap opera/half mystery show to full detective/mystery show."
Who would star in Veronica Mars Season 5?
Most of the core cast of "Veronica Mars" ended up returning for the Season 4 revival, including Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni, Percy Daggs III (who plays Veronica's best friend Wallace Fennel), Ryan Hansen (Neptune's village idiot Dick Casablancas), and Francis Capra (Neptune's resident bad boy Weevil). The season also brought in a handful of new faces like Patton Oswalt, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and even Academy Award-winner J.K. Simmons. (One face that was conspicuously missing was Tina Majorino's Mac — the actress declined to return when she found out her arc would be smaller than she thought.)
It remains to be seen which members of the cast would return for a possible Season 5. There is one actor, however, who definitely wouldn't. Fans were shocked, dismayed, and heartbroken when Logan Echolls (Dohring), the love of Veronica's life, was killed by one last bomb at the end of Season 4. Dohring is confident that Logan would remain six feet under in any future installments, but noted that it's possible "Veronica Mars" could bring new and old faces back to Neptune again.
As far as Bell is concerned, she's definitely in for "Veronica Mars" Season 5 if it happens: As the star told TVLine, "I told [series creator] Rob Thomas that I will do Veronica Mars until it's 'Murder, She Wrote.' I will keep doing this show until everyone in Neptune is dead. And then the big reveal is that Veronica's the criminal; she killed everyone!" Fans might not be eager to embrace that final detail, but they're doubtlessly happy to know that Bell is all-in on Veronica Mars, no matter what the future holds. If the show is happening in any capacity, you can be certain she'll be there.
Season 5 would have to reckon with Logan's death
Were "Veronica Mars" to earn a Season 5, it would have to find a way to handle the elephant in the room: Logan's sudden, shocking death by car bomb. Why did he have to go in such brutal, tragic fashion? According to Rob Thomas, it was necessary. "It's like cutting off a limb to save the body," the creator told ET. In his view, "Veronica Mars" had no future with him in tow. "My feeling is that if we move forward, it has to move forward as a noir detective show," he remarked. "And it's hard to do that when your kick-a** noir detective has a boyfriend back home. It becomes increasingly difficult to work."
Many fans were outraged by the loss, but Thomas has no regrets. When TVLine asked him if he'd reconsidered the decision, his answer was swift and assured: "No. Not even a little bit. I know what the show needs to be moving forward ... There's a reason shows end when the couple gets together. I'm not going to start doing 'The Thin Man.' It's not going to be Veronica and Logan solving mysteries, so what is Logan doing in the show?" He knew fans would be upset, and even accepted their ire as valid, saying, "If they don't think the show will have any appeal to them without Logan, I don't begrudge them that. That's certainly their prerogative."
How many fans would still want to watch without Logan, though? Any potential Season 5 would have to reckon with this difficult question. A 2023 poll on the "Veronica Mars" subreddit revealed fans are split about wanting more of the series, and many commenters cite Logan's death as the reason why. User Starryjean2012 summed it up by saying, "Unless it starts with Logan in the shower and 'it was all a dream,' I have no interest."
Where to watch previous seasons of Veronica Mars
Interested in revisiting your favorite "Veronica Mars" moments? Curious about finally getting into the show but unsure of where to start? Looking to binge watch the whole series in preparation for a potential Season 5? You're in luck, no matter what category you fall into — "Veronica Mars" is available to stream on a variety of platforms at a wide range of price points. First and foremost, the whole series is available on Hulu. Notably, Hulu is the only streaming platform that offers Season 4. Amazon Prime users can purchase individual episodes for $2.99, Season 1 for $42.99, Season 2 for $24.99, and Season 3 for $23.99. Over at iTunes, the first three seasons are available for $49.99. Vudu offers every episode of the first three seasons for $1.99 each, as does Google Play. YouTube users can buy standard definition episodes for $1.99 or high definition versions for $2.99.
What about the "Veronica Mars" movie? It's available to rent for $2.99 or buy for $9.99 from YouTube, Microsoft, Google Play, and Redbox. Vudu charges $2.99 for a rental and $6.99 for a purchase. Finally, you can rent it from Amazon Prime for $2.89 or purchase it for $11.69.