ATX Festival 2015: ‘The Leftovers’- A Conversation Panel Recap

They say to save the best for last and ATX Festival certainly did. The final panel of this year’s festival focused on the hit HBO show The Leftovers and came complete with some surprise guests for fans.

The Leftovers’ creator Damon Lindelof and executive producer Mimi Leder were originally announced as panelists, so fans (including myself) were delighted to see three extra nametags placed on the stage when they entered the SFA Ballroom. Christopher Eccleston (Rev. Matt Jamison), Carrie Coon (Nora Durst) and Ann Dowd (Patti Levin) joined the panel after a short session with Damon and Mimi, and talked to fans about their characters, their acting methods and more.

Our biggest takeaways from the panel are below!

Top 6 Things to Know From ATX Festival’s ‘The Leftovers’- A Conversation Panel

• Although Ann Dowd’s character Patti bit the big one last season ( in case you forgot she stabbed herself in the neck with a shard of glass after Justin Theroux’s character, Kevin Garvey, wouldn’t do it), it seems like we haven’t seen the last of her. Damon and Patti alluded to her return multiple times throughout the panel, although never 100% confirming her return.

• Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, whom you may know as the creators of two little shows, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, were in attendance at the panel and Damon credited them with giving him his big break while working on the series Wasteland.

• Christopher Eccleston never asks for dialogue changes when he receives his scripts. He feels that actors should work with whatever is given to them in the scripts, which is how he was trained.

• Both Carrie Coon and Chris Eccleston were fans of the Tom Perrotta’s novel, on which the show was based, before they even knew there was going to be a series.

• Damon didn’t want to hire any writers for The Leftovers that were big fans of his or Lost. “If you liked me or you liked my work you didn’t get hired.”

• HBO told Damon he should start thinking about his plan for the show’s second season after the airing of “Gladys,” the episode in which the Guilty Remnant member of the same name was brutally stoned to death.

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out our Boy Meets Girl Meets World panel recap and our Empire panel recap.

Stay tuned for more ATX festival coverage, including our Gilmore Girls reunion panel recap and a roundup of our entire weekend!

Photo Credit: HBO