Why FlashForward Shouldn't Have Been Cancelled

The writers clearly understood just how effective a good mystery can be in keeping fans engaged with a series, given how many they came up with! From the identity of Suspect Zero, a man in a blurred video who was awake during the blackout, to the overarching question of whether the futures in the flashforwards could be averted, the show was bursting with ingenious puzzles that offered viewers ample reason to keep coming back for more. The fact that the visions themselves were often strange or ambiguous helped to keep fans guessing and speculating right until the finale.

Of course, a captivating mystery can be derailed by a lousy resolution, as the Lost finale’s magic cork so memorably demonstrated. Fortunately, FlashForward’s writing team were just as talented at creating answers to the series’ questions as they were at devising the questions themselves, resulting in some truly incredible pay-offs.

An immense conspiracy responsible for the blackout was at the heart of the show, and FlashForward did a great job of making fans desperate to find out the truth about this fundamental mystery. However, the cancellation meant that lots of key questions, such as who was in charge of the plot and why they’d done it in the first place, remained infuriatingly unanswered.