Notorious serial killer Joe Carroll, after being found guilty of murdering 14 female students on the Virginia college campus where he taught literature, escapes from death row. The FBI calls former agent Ryan Hardy to consult on the case, as he was the one responsible for Carroll’s capture in 2003. Ryan, working closely with an FBI team, including Mike Weston and FBI Specialist Debra Parker, piece together the ever-growing web of murders orchestrated by the devious Carroll.
Seasons
4 listed
Status
Canceled
Seasons
3 seasons
Episodes
45 episodes
First aired
Jan 21, 2013
Last aired
May 15, 2015
Episode length
43m
Network
FOX
Latest episode:S3 E15 The Reckoning (May 15, 2015)
Season 1
15 episodes Jan 21, 2013 6.8
Season one drags Ryan back into a world of horror, when the FBI reaches out to him in the wake of serial killer Joe Carroll’s escape from death row. Challenged with an ever-growing web of murders, Ryan and the FBI soon discovered they were up against not one killer, but a cult of killers directed by Joe.
1Pilot
2Chapter Two
3The Poet's Fire
4Mad Love
5The Siege
6The Fall
7Let Me Go
8Welcome Home
9Love Hurts
10Guilt
11Whips and Regret
12The Curse
13Havenport
14The End is Near
15The Final Chapter
Season 2
15 episodes Jan 19, 2014 6.2
As season two unfolds, Ryan, FBI Agent Mike Weston and Ryan’s niece, NYPD officer Max Hardy, lead an off-the-books investigation into Joe’s presumed death and the whereabouts of his cult’s remaining members.
1Resurrection
2For Joe
3Trust Me
4Family Affair
5Reflection
6Fly Away
7Sacrifice
8The Messenger
9Unmasked
10Teacher's Pet
11Freedom
12Betrayal
13The Reaping
14Silence
15Forgive
Season 3
15 episodes Mar 2, 2015 6.4
In season three, Ryan, for the first time ever, begins to suspect that his greatest enemy, the man responsible for an endless list of atrocities, may not be the biggest foe he’ll face – in fact, Joe just might be a prelude to horror he’s never imagined.
There’s a moment near the beginning of The Following pilot that lets you know how rough the ride will be. Kevin Bacon, as the damaged ex-FBI agent Ryan Hardy, calmly pours vodka into a water bottle. latestnetflix.com's take is that it’s not original—retired cop dragged back for “one last job” is TV shorthand.
Still, Bacon’s movements sell it. He doesn’t swagger; he moves like someone whose every joint aches. His shoulders slump, his eyes are sunken, and he looks like a man who survived hell only to find the world around him barely tolerable.
Fox launched the show in 2013, at the moment broadcast networks were scrambling to match cable’s edgier, bloodier fare. Creator Kevin Williamson, who made a career teasing out horror tropes in Scream, dove into a serialized cat-and-mouse thriller. The setup grabs you: Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), a charming literature professor and confessed killer of 14 women, escapes prison after a decade of cultivating a devoted cult of murderers on the outside.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.4/10
"A tense, addictive serial-killer thriller driven by a standout villain and strong first season, undercut by implausible plotting and a decline in later years."
The first season is the high point, with a compelling cat‑and‑mouse setup, intense violence for network TV, and memorable performances from Kevin Bacon and especially James Purefoy as the cult-leader killer. As the story expands, escalating twists, questionable character decisions, and new antagonists weaken the impact, and cancellation on a cliffhanger leaves it unfinished.
What viewers praise
Scene-stealing villainJames Purefoy’s Joe Carroll is charismatic, chilling, and convincing enough to make his cult’s devotion believable.
Solid lead performanceKevin Bacon is compelling as the damaged FBI agent, giving the chase emotional weight even when the writing wobbles.
Outstanding first seasonSeason 1 is some of the best TV of its kind, with a gripping premise and strong execution.
Fast-paced and addictiveThe plot moves quickly with constant danger and shocks, making the show easy to binge despite its flaws.
Bold, graphic intensityThe gruesome violence and disturbing set pieces are unusually strong for a network series, a plus for fans of darker thrillers.
Common complaints
Decline after season oneSeasons 2 and especially 3 are a step down, losing focus and never matching the impact of the debut run.
Convoluted, implausible twistsConstant reversals, stretched cult logistics, and abandoned plot points make the story feel silly or lazy over time.
Frustrating character choicesThe hero and law enforcement repeatedly rush in without backup and make irrational decisions, which undermines tension and credibility.
Weaker later antagonistsLater villains such as Theo are less compelling than Joe Carroll and not built up enough.
Unresolved cliffhanger endingCancellation left major threads hanging and no closure for those invested in the characters and long-term plot.
Recommended for
Serial killer thriller fans Dark crime drama watchers Kevin Bacon enthusiasts Psychological cult story fans High-violence TV seekers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reports
Kevin Bacon would not do 22 episodes, so Fox built a shorter, bloodier show around him.
Kevin Williamson's camp heard Bacon was reading TV scripts again, but only for cable. Williamson thought that was the end of The Following. Then Warner Bros. Television president Peter Roth refused to lose him. "Peter wanted him so bad for the part, he was like, 'You know what? Let's do 15 episodes.latestnetflix.com's take is that '" They also shot in New York, where Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick lived.The Hollywood Reporter later tied that shortened order to a wave of movie-star network dramas.,
The series premiered January 21, 2013, with Bacon as former FBI agent Ryan Hardy and James Purefoy as literature professor and killer Joe Carroll, a man who murders in honor of Edgar Allan Poe. USA Today's Robert Bianco called it "one of the most violent, and certainly the most frightening, series ever made by a commercial broadcast network." Williamson admitted the gore was "out there." He also told reporters he slipped violence past Fox standards by pointing at sex scenes. "In the same episode there's an actor cutting someone in the jugular, and you're harping on the sex scene?" A red-band trailer went out with a viewer-discretion warning. The premiere landed weeks after Newtown, which made the blood a news story before it was a ratings story.,,,
Bacon even spoiled his own show. After an episode titled "The Curse," he retweeted a fan who wrote that he was "a murderer too." International viewers had not seen it. He posted a video repeating "My bad," then tweeted, "To all the fans abroad and late watchers I'm truly sorry I retweeted a spoiler."
Williamson told Entertainment Weekly he had the series mapped through season 3. After that, he joked, "Then we're in a spaceship." The season 1 finale shot "two-and-a-half-ish" endings. He and Marcos Siega picked the version that stabbed Ryan and Claire because, as Siega put it, "people weren't mad enough at us." For season 3 Williamson stepped down as showrunner to run CBS's Stalker. Jennifer Johnson took the chair. He kept an executive producer credit.,,
Fox canceled the show on May 8, 2015, after three seasons. The Hollywood Reporter said same-day viewing had dwindled even with a Gotham lead-in, though timeshifting still pulled about 5.5 million viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49. SlashFilm, citing Deadline, put the season 1 premiere at 15.10 million viewers with DVR and the season 3 finale at 5.10 million. Warner Bros. Shopped a Hulu pickup. THR reported Hulu was not expected to engage. Bacon tweeted, "Sweat, tears and a lot of Blood!" The cult kept watching. A fourth season did not arrive.,,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as
unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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