After three acclaimed seasons on the streaming platform, Apple TV+'s Servant is coming to a close with season 4. The mystery of Leanne Grayson and the nature of Jericho is coming to a boil as supernatural events intensify around the Turner home, with Sean and Dorothy forced to make a choice of where their allegiances lie.
Nell Tiger Free returns to lead the cast for M. Night Shyamalan's Servant season 4 alongside Toby Kebbell, Lauren Ambrose, and Rupert Grint. Unlike many other shows, Servant is getting to go out on its own terms, and is doing so in a tense and exhilarating fashion, promising plenty of new mysteries while solving the ones that have plagued viewers for three seasons.
Ahead of the show's premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with stars Nell Tiger Free, Toby Kebbell, and Lauren Ambrose to discuss Servant season 4, their new character dynamics, and the physical challenges of filming the one-location premiere episode.
Nell Tiger Free, Toby Kebbell & Lauren Ambrose on Servant Season 4
Screen Rant: I am so happy to talk with you all for one final chapter of Servant. Nell, the premiere episode is such an intense rollercoaster for your character. What was it like putting together that episode, especially since you are so confined for a lot of it in that car?
Nell Tiger Free: Yeah, it was really tough hitting the ground running, in a sense, with how intense that episode was straight out the gate. I didn't have my castmates with me as much as I usually would, so I was kind of alone for a lot of it. It was suffocating being in this one location. We're used to that on Servant, but I was in this car for 90 percent of the episode, and there's only so much you can do in a frickin' car. [Laughs]
I was really trying to keep it fresh and exciting. I think we needed to start the season as we meant to go on, and come into it with this sort of irreverent, exciting firework of an episode because that's the tone of the whole season. I don't think there's one dull episode in season 4; something insane happens every five minutes, and I think we're setting the precedent for the rest of the nine episodes to follow. They just build and build and build.
From what I've seen so far, you're absolutely right. Toby and Lauren, I've loved the unique evolution of your relationship throughout the show. In season 4, Toby, you are trying to now reconnect with Lauren after this breakdown in season 3. What is that like for you, exploring this new dynamic and this new evolution?
Toby Kebbell: It was great, it was great to get the scripts and read that that was the process. Season 3, I'd had a whole process of being a believer in everything that Nell stands for, and that she represents, and finding that path through, because ostensibly, Sean's journey is to eventually just tell the truth to his wife as often as he can until she can hear him. That's really what it's about for Sean, so that reconnecting is great.
I always love to have scenes with Lauren, they're always so rich, they're always so layered, so yeah, it's always a joy. Obviously, I've had fantastic opportunities all over but it was so important to do that, because it ultimately builds to the crescendo, which is episode nine, which really just was so important, so yeah, it was great fun.
Lauren Ambrose: Yeah, well for me, one of my favorite themes we were exploring on this show, we're exploring all of these big ideas, was, "What is grief?," but also, "What is a marriage?" What is it to have real intimacy, to be able to tell the truth to one another, and so getting back to that in this last season, was interesting, and there were really some rich scenes and rich moments. I really enjoy working with Toby and all that he brings to the character.\
After four years of working together, we have this like real comfortability with one another, and as actors, and I think we were just trying to get at this, like Toby said, about getting to a place of true honesty, you know, will this couple be able to face their grief? Will this little family be able to look at the real problem? So, that's always been a very moving theme of this show to me, and one of the reasons I wanted to do it, so yeah, so exploring those themes in this past season has been really special.
About Servant Season 4
Following the suspenseful season three finale, season four will bring the final chapter of the Turner story to an epic and emotional conclusion. Leanne’s war with the Church of Lesser Saints heightens, threatening Spruce Street, the city of Philadelphia, and beyond.
Meanwhile, the shattered Turner family must not only confront the increasing threat of Leanne, but the certain reality that Dorothy is waking up. As the Turner family brownstone continues to crumble, questions are finally answered: who is Leanne Grayson, and who is the child in their home?
Check out our other Servant season 4 interview with creator M. Night Shyamalan as well.
Servant begins streaming on Apple TV+ on January 13.