Summary

• Colony season 3 ended with Will and Katie preparing for a new war, leaving fans with major cliffhangers and unanswered questions.
• The canceled show's creators had a plan for up to season 5, but the USA Network decided to end Colony after season 3 due to high production costs.
• Cast members, including Josh Holloway, were disappointed as the show was abruptly ended without getting to fully explore the extensive future storyline.

The Colony season 3 finale marked the end of the series in 2018, though it left many unanswered questions that mean many of its loyal fanbase still revisit the episode. Colony starred Josh Holloway (Lost) and Sarah Wayne Callies (The Walking Dead) and took place in the L.A. of a dystopian future where Earth has been occupied by extraterrestrial invaders. Much of the show took place in a walled-off section of L.A., with human forces working for the mysterious Host aliens keeping strict control of the population.

Will (Holloway) and Katie Bowman (Callies) started Colony trying to find their missing son Charlie, with season 3 following the reunited family after they've escaped L.A. and found shelter in an isolated log cabin. Naturally, their peace doesn't last long and the third season finds the Hosts at war with a new race of aliens called the Demis, with the fate of the planet in the balance. While this set up an intriguing season 4, the Colony season 3 ending explained little of what was to come before the show was unfortunately canceled.

What Happened At The End Of Colony Season 3

Will And The Rest Of L.A. Were Preparing For Another Alien Invasion

The end of Colony season 3 saw Will reluctantly preparing to fight alongside Earth's alien occupiers against an even greater off-work threat, the Demis. Colony's resident weasel of a villain, Snyder, played by Peter Jacobson (House), implores Will to help make a deal. The proposed trade was simple — if 150 Outliers turned themselves over, the Hosts would defend Seattle from attack.

Will is the first to volunteer to fight for the Hosts and soon this bleak quota is filled. The Hosts keep up their end of the bargain true to Snyder's word, and a shield later prevents the opposing alien forces from destroying the city. Will and the other Outliers selected to fill the quota are sent to space in pods to fight the Demis, setting up a potential season 4 that was even larger in scope.

Before volunteering, Will and Katie meet up one final time and, after an argument about the events of the season, they make peace, though he doesn't tell her of his plan to turn himself over.

Before volunteering, Will and Katie meet up one final time and, after an argument about the events of the season, they make peace, though he doesn't tell her of his plan to turn himself over. The series finale of Colony also follows Katie as she tracks down her son Bram, who refuses to tell her where his sister Grace is and insists she leaves, or he'll turn her over. Katie is later trapped outside Seattle when the Demis fire on the city, suggesting she might be killed in the blast.

As for the members of the human Resistance, their eventual fate is also left uncertain. Amy and resistance member Broussard later take shelter in a bunker with other Outliers, but that is pretty much all the show revealed about what happened to them. If Colony had moved forward with a fourth season it would have been interesting to see how the Resistance handled the knowledge that the humans and Hosts were working alongside one-another to protect Earth from destruction at the hands of the Demis.

Why Colony Ended On Season 3

The USA Network Never Explained The Decision

Colony season 3 very much ends on a cliffhanger note, with the fates of Will and Katie very much up in the air, which promised a dramatic season 4. Unfortunately, despite a passionate fan campaign to save the show, it looks like "What Goes Around" really is the final episode of the series. Colony built up a solid fanbase since it debuted, but sadly, it was canceled after 3 seasons in 2018.

Josh Holloway revealed that the cast were just as put out by the fact the show ended after the third season

The season 3 finale "What Goes Around" was the last episode of Colony, even though it wasn't in any way designed as a conclusive ending. This episode ends with plenty of major cliffhangers too, with the Host's enemies preparing to attack. Season 3 was also rough on the Bowman family with Charlie shot dead in a previous episode, so both the wider story of the setting and the personal narratives of its central characters were at pivotal points when the show unexpectedly ended.

Speaking to Collider in 2020, Colony star Josh Holloway revealed that the cast were just as put out by the fact the show ended after the third season, and that the creators originally had plans to take the show much further:

Yes, they had a plan through Season 5, and we were all, of course, pretty bummed. Artistically, you bring a character to life like that and you want some redemption and some closure with it. So, it was about to be the big war. He was gonna be shot up to space and altered in a Jason Bourne kind of way, and come back as a bad-ass and have the big war. And then, Wayne Brady’s character had a redemption plan for the whole world, so that we would reset the world. It was a great ending. They had it all planned, but they didn’t get to do it. He got shot up to space in a rubber diaper. That’s how we got to end. Fantastic!

As for why Colony was canceled, the USA network didn't reveal the exact reason for not continuing with the show. However, given that the viewing figures dwindled as the series went on (despite the loyal following) and it was an incredibly expensive series to produce, it's more than likely that the network simply decided it was too costly to continue. Still, this explanation offers little solace for the many fans of Colony still out there, especially since the season 3 ending set up a riveting next chapter of the story.