Spoilers ahead for Episode 9 of Murder in a Small Town Season 2, called "The Fall of Holman" and available streaming next day with a Hulu subscription.
Believe it or not, the second season of Murder in a Small Town is nearly over in Fox's 2025 TV schedule, and the penultimate episode wrapped up one major story while also setting up a conflict that could be very scary for Cassandra in Season 3. "The Fall of Holman" could well be the last time that fans see Marcia Gay Harden on the series.
Showrunner Ian Weir spoke with CinemaBlend about why some big twists happened ahead of the finale and the chances of a creepy new character coming back in the 2026 TV schedule or beyond.
Mayor Holman's Swan Song
The end seemed nigh for Mayor Holman as the mayor of Gibsons after Cassandra got her hands on some incriminating emails, and Holman seemingly managed to find a way out of a public shaming by resigning before Cassandra could expose her. That turned out to not be Holman's biggest problem in the episode, however, as she was attacked outside of her home later that night.
Fortunately for anybody who has been enjoying Marcia Gay Harden on the show, Holman did not become one of the many small town murders of Murder in a Small Town. She was hospitalized with a concussion while Karl and Co. tracked down her attacker, who turned out to be her son-in-law. He wanted to take her out before she could learn about his embezzlement, but some lucky timing saved her life.
While it remains to be seen if Harden will appear in the upcoming Season 2 finale, "The Fall of Holman" was a pretty intense hour of television that seemed to fully wrap up a major season-long storyline. When I spoke with the showrunner, Ian Weir shared why the writers delivered a finale-worthy episode as the penultimate:
That's a really great question, and we totally debated that with the writers and with producers as well. Ultimately, we just thought that having had the wonderful chance to work with Marcia over the course of the season, we wanted absolutely to do a story built around her character, but didn't want to get locked into something that had to be the high octane, escalating murder mystery plot line, [but] something that could lock in more on the relationships of the characters. That's why the decision was to go with that storyline in Episode 9, and then in Episode 10, shoot off all of the fireworks.
Murder in a Small Town has had an ongoing plot with the death of Cassandra's friend decades ago, with the truth starting to emerge that there's more to the story. By wrapping up Holman's story early, the show was able to devote a full episode to her downfall (and Marcia Gay Harden's performance) before a finale full of "fireworks." Weir went on:
[Fireworks] in terms of bringing to a culmination, the season-long story beginning with the death of Cassandra's friend Lauren Park, 25 years ago in high school, and the slow realization that there was a thread that linked that death and two or three other deaths over the years, and then paying it off with the with the discovery of what was really going on in Episode 10. It just felt that going that route, we could go more high octane, pedal to the metal as far as the A plot storytelling would go in Episode 10.
If "The Fall of Holman" was the last time that viewers see Marcia Gay Harden as her character, Harden will go down as one of the most memorable members of the cast between both seasons so far. Season 2 has also featured a number of standout guest stars, including Malcolm-Jamal Warner for his last performance and an X-Files vet I'm always happy to see back on the small screen.
Trouble For Cassandra In Season 3
While Cassandra's involvement in the story of Holman's attack more or less ended after she handed over the emails and was cleared as a suspect, she was in a different kind of danger throughout "The Fall of Holman" due to the arrival of Warren, a former friend from Sacramento who has now stalked her to Gibsons.
Warren approached her several times in the penultimate episode, trying to get close to her again while she tried to push him away. The situation grew more complicated when Todd saw that Warren was making her uncomfortable, and I was on the edge of my seat about whether 1) Warren would attack Cassandra and/or 2) Todd and Warren would get into it with each other and escalate an already bad scenario.
The episode ended without any violence, but I noted to the showrunner that Warren struck me as one of the scariest characters of season despite not being one of the killers. He responded:
I'm glad you said that, because I agree. There just is something. Birkett Turton did a lovely job as the actor as well. He was creepier than I had hoped for, actually. We were hoping to get a vibe from Warren in the writing, and then when he was actually in those scenes with Cassandra, it really was a feeling of, 'Oh, holy cow!' There's something really unsettling with what the actor was able to bring to the role.
Birkett Turton came to Murder in a Small Town with credits on shows like Riverdale, Family Law, and Keeper, and the actor apparently made Warren even creepier than the character was written on the page. The showrunner went on to share that the show might take advantage of that "unsettling" performance into a third season. Weir went on:
I would love, if we were to be lucky enough to have a Season 3, I would love to find a way to explore a bit more with that character. I think part of it is there's an everyman quality about him. The character looks on the surface like someone you might be sitting next to at the coffee shop. But there's something really unsettling about him, and was certainly pivotal in Cassandra's life in Sacramento being brought down around her ears through no fault of her own.
Part of what made Warren so unnerving over the course of just a few scenes was Kristin Kreuk's frightened but defiant performance, with the showrunner agreeing that the Smallville vet was "terrific in those scenes." He continued:
She's terrific right across the show, but she was really terrific in those scenes with Warren. I also got with the two of them that there really was the sense that they had once been close. They had been friends, and now here we are.
The show has not yet been renewed for a third season for Ian Weir to definitively say whether Warren will be back, and Cassandra's future will likely be guided by whatever happens in the Season 2 finale. Called "Nightshade," the finale will involve Alberg and Co. discovered an item on a crime scene that could be linked to other murders, with Cassandra unable to heed his instructions to stay out of the case due to her personal connection to it.
Tune in to Fox on Monday, December 2 at 8 p.m. ET for the Season 2 finale of Murder in a Small Town. My fingers are crossed that news of a Season 3 renewal will break sooner rather than later, although nearly two months passed between the Season 1 finale last year and the renewal for Season 2. We may be in for a bit of a wait, but at least it's safe to say that the showrunner is already thinking ahead.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
