Created by Neil LaBute, Billy & Billie is a dramedy that revolves around a pair of step-siblings — Billy (Adam Brody) and Billie (Lisa Joyce) — as they deal with the consequences of their scandalous romance. The series also stars Jake Lacy, Gia Crovatin, and Phil Burke.
The series premiered in March 2015 and ran for 10 episodes. In December, LaBute said that he was hopeful that a second and third season could be made but “it’ll depend on a lot of factors like actors’ availabilities and things like that.”
It must not have taken long for LaBute to learn that a second season wasn’t going to be possible. On March 15th, DirecTV aired a one-hour special/episode of Billy & Billie as a series finale. Titled “Incesticide”, the finale was filmed like a documentary that discussed the fate of the main characters with friends, family, lovers and co-workers. Billy and Billie had apparently died in a car crash. Why the strange ending?
Prior to the finale airing, a commenter on this site named “Neil” (we couldn’t verify it but we believe it is LaBute), responded to our earlier article. “Neil” wrote:
Billy&Billie was not cancelled but was unable to go forward due to the unavailability of various cast and other creative personnel. A one-hour series finale was filmed, however, and that will air on March 15th on the AUDIENCE channel. It is filled with information about all of the various characters, including those returning and some new ones as well. It will serve as a end-cap to the first season and will allow the audience to know the rest of the story–primarily what happens between Billy and Billie.
A fellow commenter expressed her disappointment with the finale and “Neil” responded:
thanks for your honest response. sorry you didn’t like the finale episode but ultimately a choice had to be made: leave the series as is, with a single season that left much unanswered OR do what we did and at least give viewers a sense of where things might have gone with the characters and active story lines. it was definitely a risk but one that i would absolutely take again. thank you for being a fan of the show!
To an upset fan named ela, “Neil” later wrote:
sorry, ela, but it was either nothing or something. the content of the final episode is all mine, so love it or hate it you can blame/praise me, but i know that i’ve been in similar viewing situations and hated to never get a final glimpse of characters or see a story being rounded out by the creators rather than simply having the show cancelled. the idea of never showing the leads in the finale was because they weren’t available to me and therefore i devised an episode that was entirely about them without showing them in the flesh. and the nirvana song title “incesticide” was too good to pass up! hope you enjoyed the first season and that you’ll give the final episode a chance…
What do you think? Did you enjoy the Billy & Billie TV show on DirecTV? Did you like the finale? Would you have ended the show this way, another way, or left the series unresolved?
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