Spring can be a stressful time for fans of TV shows that aren’t enough of mega-hits to be guaranteed renewals, and So Help Me Todd fans got the worst kind of news back in April. The CBS dramedy had been cancelled and would end after two seasons, with the news coming too late for the show’s behind-the-scenes team to craft a proper series finale to wrap the 2024 TV schedule. The creator has since established what would have happened next, and star Skylar Astin’s feelings are definitely relatable.
The series finale of So Help Me Todd aired on May 16, and as feared, it ended on a cliffhanger that was meant to be resolved in a third season. In what turned out to be the very last episode ever, Merritt Folding arrived and Margaret was set to get in some series trouble for problems that weren’t actually her fault. It was a solid setup for a third season, but a pretty frustrating ending for fans who had been watching across the two seasons on CBS.
The cancellation wasn’t altogether shocking, and I personally think that CBS’ promotion of the show wasn’t the greatest in establishing what it’s actually about to hook viewers, but it’s a shame all the same. When speaking with Deadline about the finale, creator Scott Prendergast addressed how he would have wrapped So Help Me Todd, if the stars had aligned for the show to continue:
We were going to try and cast Joe Pantoliano, who’s a friend of Marcia’s. He was going to be the big bad for season three, and Margaret was going to get in a lot of trouble, get arrested, and she would have to go to trial for all these crimes that she didn’t commit. And Todd would have to be working behind the scenes in the law firm to help clear her name. The whole family would have had to band together. And Susan [Inga Schlingmann] would come back and help her and they would all band together and figure it out.
Joe Pantoliano of The Matrix fame was Prendergast’s ideal choice for the villain of Season 3, and it sounds like he would have had an in thanks to star Marcia Gay Harden. Naturally in a show called So Help Me Todd, Skylar Astin’s character would have been active to help his mom behind the scenes at the firm. If it seems odd at all that Susan would have come back when Todd was so recently with Judy (Glee‘s Heather Morris), there were big plans ahead. The creator went on:
Todd and Judy [Heather Morris] were going to be together for a few more seasons. Heather Morris was spectacular. We love her. She was so charming, so great, so wonderful to work with. They were going to be together for three seasons. But then my idea was that eventually she would move to Thailand, because she couldn’t be tied down, and Todd would eventually get back together with Susan.
Prendergast clearly had some long-term goals in mind with So Help Me Todd rather than just a Season 3 to wrap up the immediate Season 2 finale cliffhanger, making it all the more tragic that the show was cut short. He continued:
He was going to keep working. He’d be working behind the scenes to help his mother, working as a detective. And eventually that empty 28th floor, he would take an office up there and he’d have his own private detective agency. Allison [Madeline Wise] was going to become a medical examiner, a forensic pathologist like Quincy Jones. We were trying to set Allison up as a spinoff where she’d eventually be a medical mystery series.
Not only did the creator have specific ideas for how to continue and then originally wrap So Help Me Todd, but he envisioned a future for an Allison spinoff! While there are undoubtedly plenty of details that Scott Prendergast hasn’t shared considering how far ahead he was planning, Skylar Astin reacted to the cancellation with a perfectly understandable sentiment. After an early message expressing gratitude to fans, he posted:
What kills me the most is I know how the series was really supposed to end. It was perfect. Emotional, full circle, and perfectly Todd.May 17, 2024
While Skylar Astin and Marcia Gay Harden’s journeys as So Help Me Todd stars have ended, you can revisit both seasons of the dramedy streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now. This cancellation was one of several this spring to spark worries about the future of comedy on network TV. Kathy Bates’ Matlock reboot will replace Todd on CBS’ Thursday nights in the fall, and it remains to be seen how the tone compares to its predecessor.