Warning: spoilers are ahead for the Season 1 finale of Murder in a Small Town, which aired on Fox and will be available streaming with a Hulu subscription.
Murder in a Small Town finished the first season in the fall 2024 TV schedule with a two-parter of sorts, with Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) and the Gibsons police department following clues to finally catch a serial killer whose crimes extended even further than they'd imagined. The bad guy of the Fox drama's final arc was Tommy Cummins, played by none other than Schitt's Creek's Noah Reid. Alberg did manage to close the case without Holly (Dakota Guppy ) being harmed, all while Cassandra (Kristin Kreuk) went on her own emotional journey and made a decision about her future.
The finale, called "Sleep While I Sing," ended with the central couple getting back together and continuing to avoid the "will they/won't they" storytelling cliche. The episode also aired before Fox made any announcement about the future of the series. So, when I spoke with executive producer Jeff Wachtel about the finale, he weighed in on whether the show will continue in a second season in the 2025 TV schedule as well as how Alberg and Cassandra's stories were wrapped.
Alberg And Cassandra Reunite
In the final moments of Season 1, when the action had finally died down and the characters had time to breathe, Alberg and Cassandra finally had a real conversation. He told her that his second daughter would be coming to town, and she told him that she'd be running for town council. Gibsons has become a home for both of them. He gently asked that she tell him about what happened in Sacramento some day, and she pointed out that they both think too much. She tearfully asked what he wants, and he immediately said "You."
And how else could the season end but with the two sharing a kiss after he dropped that comment to her? All in all, it was a very happy ending to an episode featuring the most dastardly criminal of the full first season. When I spoke with executive producer Jeff Wachtel about the episode, I asked if the Murder in a Small Town team had ever considered a cliffhanger ending as opposed to the happy moment, and he shared:
We looked at every possibility. There was the possibility of the cliffhanger, and there was honestly the possibility [that they wouldn't get back together], because she's not kidding when she says she doesn't want to date a cop. So we had to look at it carefully and have what we hope and believe was an organic resolution. That meant looking at it carefully and including the possibility that it was not going to work out. We looked at it from all angles, and it seemed that post-kidnapping, and then with – I thought – the legit and organic storyline of Episode 7 and 8, where they actually miss each other, they make each other smile.
Cassandra being kidnapped because of something Alberg had done years earlier could have really been an insurmountable issue, but the two had fallen for each other already, and they chose to be together again in the final moments of Season 1. Wachtel continued:
Did he go to her for advice about the artist because there was nobody else on the planet to ask. Probably there was a little something in the back of his head, because he really wants it. I think he had to pursue it. I think she was strong-willed enough, and as we'll see in the second season, the incident that she left Sacramento around was important enough and disturbing enough that even being around cops is not an easy thing for her. So Cassandra really does need to take stock and see what's the direction of her life.
The mentions of what happened in Sacramento won't be vague and inexplicable forever... assuming that Murder in a Small Town gets a second season, anyway. In light of the finale airing without the renewal already guaranteed, fans can at least enjoy the episode without having to worry that an imminent life-or-death cliffhanger will never be resolved. Wachtel clarified that the big kiss doesn't necessarily mean an happily-ever-after for the pair:
Kristin [Kreuk]'s a very smart lady. Cassandra is a very smart lady who has determined the course of her life and doesn't suffer fools and won't stay in a situation if it's too painful for her. So we needed to look at all that and have them on a positive but not lovey dovey, ‘Let's book the minister and get married’ moment. There's still going to be bumps in the road.
Considering that Cassandra joked – or semi-joked – about police oversight when she told Alberg that she'd be running for town council, could there be some new kinds of bumps as well as another daughter coming to town and Cassandra dealing with whatever happened in Sacramento? Hopefully it'll just be a matter of waiting to find out after a renewal is confirmed.
What About Season 2?
It's not unusual for a season of a show to end without news of a renewal or cancellation, so fans don't have to take it as a bad sign that Season 2 has not yet been confirmed at the time of writing. It's clear that the writers and producers are already coming up with ideas for what comes next, though, and EP Jeff Wachtel shared how far ahead they're planning at this point:
Fox gave us some money for scripts, and as part of that process, we had Ian [Weir] at least do thumbnails through the full season. We're not all the way there yet. We've got the first four episodes broken with full stories and just little sketches of the additional episodes.
Apparently, creator/EP/writer Ian Weir and the rest of the Murder and a Small Town team behind the scenes have made a fair amount of progress on scripts for a second season, which hopefully means not only a renewal sooner rather than later, but also hopefully new episodes sooner rather than later in 2025. After the final credits rolled to really establish why this is a different kind of crime show, Wachtel said:
Look, in some ways, it's a straightforward and traditional crime procedural. But these days, no one's safe, right? So you never really know. Going forward, we're really most excited about the relationship. We were just so pleased and amazed that the chemistry between Rossif and Kristin came together as well as it did, because we felt that the surprise element of the show or the extra special thing that we brought to the mix was their relationship. I mean, it's a beautiful location and there's a crime and you're pretty sure the crime is going to get solved, but you had no idea what's going to happen with these two, and you're rooting for it. So it was really wonderful to see how well it came together.
For now, you can always rewatch the first eight episodes of Murder in a Small Town streaming on Hulu. Prior to the finale, the drama ranked as the #1 new show for Fox content on Hulu as well as #3 for all Fox content on Hulu for the 2024-2025 TV season so far. Plus, Murder in a Small Town viewership numbers grow by nearly 130% with multiplatform viewing. The audience certainly isn't limited to Fox, and hopefully will be rewarded with a Season 2 renewal.
