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Natalie Zea and Eoin Macken’s sci-fi series on NBC,La Brea, ended after a three-season run in 2024. The series begins when a massive sinkhole opens at the La Brea Tar Pits in LA and pulls people, vehicles, and buildings into a time portal. The main characters end up in a location in 10,000 BC. The survivors’ search for a way back forms the plot of the three seasons.
There was no way the network could’ve pushed for more seasons, albeit a fourth season, after the challenges faced during the production ofSeason 3. The third season was much shorter than the first two seasons, with just six episodes as opposed to the 10 and 14 episodes ofSeasons 1and2.
The reception from the critics was mixed, especially in the later seasons.La Breawas created and executive-produced by David Appelbaum, who earlier served as a producer onThe MentalistandNCIS: New Orleans. The series was produced by Keshet Studios and Universal Television.
La Breawill not return for a fourth season
La Breareceived a straight-to-series order during the pandemic because the production of its pilot was put on hold at the time. It launched on NBC with a 10-episode first season in February 2021 and later was renewed for two more seasons. Before the series began production on its third season, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes brought Hollywood to a standstill.
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Once the strikes were over, NBC decided to opt for a shorter season intending to release the actors from their contracts. The news came out in November 2023, effectively ending the series after three seasons. The third and final season had six episodes, with the final episode airing on July 29, 2025.
While the cancellation came on the back of the strikes, there were more reasons behind the show coming to an end. David Appelbaum, the creator of the show, shared withColliderin January 2024 that he knew where to end the series right from the first episode. He shared:
From the beginning, I’ve always had certain landmarks that I’ve tried to hold onto. I knew how I wanted to emotionally wrap up the show, but not for everything.
La Breawasn’t exactly a rating success story for NBC. The series saw a steady decline in the ratings. According toTV Series Finale, the first season started off with an impressive 6.373 million viewers and ended with 4.944 million viewers streaming in for the season finale.
The second season saw a great drop as the premiere had 4.023 million viewers and the season finale had 1.768 million viewers (via TV Series Finale). The third season premiere only had 2.415 million viewers tuning in while 2.034 million viewers watched the series finale (via TV Series Finale).
The numbers weren’t great on the production side either. According toThe Sydney Morning Herald,La Breawas one of the most expensive shows to film in Victoria, Australia. Matchbox Pictures, a division of Universal Studio Group based in Australia, was involved in the production of the series.
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The high cost may have prompted the studio to move the filming of the third season to Queensland, Australia. The outlet also reported that the series cost around $50 to $70 million to film. During the first season, COVID-19 bumped up the cost by $300,000 per episode.
Natalie Zea, who played the main protagonist in the first season, was reduced to mere appearances inSeasons 2and3. It is speculated that she wasn’t happy with either the script or her paycheck for the role. It only made sense that you end the series before the viewers began questioning the absence of your main character.
David Appelbaum is 100% satisfied with the ending ofLa Brea
La Breahad a happy ending as the Harris family returned to their time in Los Angeles after a pretty action-packed final season. While the creator David Appelbaum claimed that the series went big on the action sequences, fans could see that it had a significant shortage in budget.
During his Collider interview, Appelbaum shared that he tried to squeeze it all in the final season. He shared,“There’s a lot of story to tell and we tried to pack in as much as we could, which is exciting. It’s about, can you balance all of that? Can you squeeze it all in?”. Appelbaum admitted that the third and final season was one of the most challenging to shoot with its six-episode run.
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Even as he was faced with a difficult task, he shared that he was“100 percent”satisfied with the ending of the series. He shared that he took particular care to make the character endings“as compelling and cathartic and emotional as we could.”He also left little to the imagination of the audience, answering all the lingering“mythology and serialized questions.”
Appelbaum went on to claim that the finale episode was one of the best episodes in the entire series. He shared that he hoped people would be in tears at the end of the final episode. Appelbaum shared with Collider:
The series finale is our best episode. It’s the biggest episode we’ve done. It’s the most emotional episode we’ve done. Everything in the season is building towards that, so it’s this real thrill ride that is crafted towards this goal of having a wallop of an ending. I hope people are crying, and I hope people are moved. I hope they just really feel like that investment for all these hours of television they put in had been worth it, and I think it will be.
From Appelbaum’s words, it is clear that he gave the series a definitive ending. It makes for a weak case for the“Save La Brea”crowd, as there is no purpose in bringing back the series or renewing it under a different network.
What happens in the finale ofLa Brea?
La Brea Season 3saw the group in the 10,000 BC time facing all kinds of threats, including dinosaurs, after the destruction of a time portal. Gavin Harris, played by Eoin Macken, and the group have to fight the Reisander Group in this season, while Natalie Zea’s Eve Harris is stuck in 1965.
In one of the craziest sequences in the finale, Gavin flies a Stealth Bomber plane over a Tyrannosaurus rex. Appelbaum, who was inspired bySteven SpielbergandJurassic Park, felt that it was fitting to bring the iconic T-Rex in the climax (via NBC).
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The members of the Harris family who escaped from 10,000 BC, including Gavin and his children Josh and Izzy, reunite with Eve in the final scene. There was a moment when fans thought that Eve was going to be stuck in the 1965 portal jail. It was the only scene that Zea appeared in the entire season.
Ty, played by Chiké Okonkwo, became an important character in the third season. The character, who contemplated suicide at the show’s beginning, had undergone some great character development. He was the only character to stay back in the 10,000 BC time as he fell for Tongva tribe leader Paara.
Scott, played by Rohan Mirchandaney, was another popular character of the show who got over his anxiety issues by the finale. Once back in 2021 in Los Angeles, he tracks down the love of his life. Appelbaum told NBC that if he got the chance, he would pick some of the characters from this series to build a new story.
La Breais now available for streaming on Peacock.
Hashim Asraff
Senior Writer
Articles Published :3017
Hashim Asraff is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, with over 2,800 articles published on celebrity culture, comic book movies, and major TV franchises. With a background in Sociology and a keen interest in pop culture, Hashim brings a unique lens to breaking news stories, character deep-dives, film rankings, and fan-driven perspectives.His coverage often includes the MCU, DCU, hit network shows, and celebrity profiles, giving readers a rich blend of entertainment and analysis. A longtime fan of crime and investigative series, Hashim has watched thousands of episodes of NCIS, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, Bones, Blue Bloods, and The RookieA passionate storyteller and wordsmith, Hashim has also worked as a ghostwriter and managed multiple social media handles. He brought his writing expertise to FandomWire to also pursue his lifelong love for cinema and television.
