Following the events of the season 4 finale - which saw the death and resurrection of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and the big reveal that she's pregnant with Peter’s (Joshua Jackson) baby - season 5 will catapult viewers to the dystopic future of 2036, first touched upon in the season 4 episode "Letters of Transit."
The Fringe team has now become renegades in their own world and must combat The Observer invasion force with a baby Bishop in toe. Sadly, where there's a war, there will inevitably be casualties. It’s almost guaranteed that one of our favorite Fringe team members won’t make it to see reality set right.
Loyal fans hoping to see our Peter, Olivia, and Walter receive much-needed reinforcements from Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel) and the alternate universe Fringe team will be sorely disappointed, as it looks like the bridge between universes has been forever closed.
In a recent interview with TV Guide, Fringe executive producer Jeff Pinkner had this to say on the subject:
”We had a conversation with Fox earlier in the season while we were closing the door. One of our Fox executive partners said, 'I was so sad. I had tears in my eyes when we closed the door,' and we said, 'Yeah, these were characters that you never wanted us to introduce in the first place because you were afraid that nobody would care about them.' She said, 'I was so wrong.'"
Season 5 has also been cut down from the typical 22 episodes to just thirteen - not only in an effort to save money, but also to streamline the critical events for the final season. Ultimately, that means quirky (albeit frivolous) storylines have been cut out to create what will definitely be a much more intense season.
Fringe returns for its fifth and final season Friday, September 28th @9pm on Fox.