THR: 'Fringe' Producer on Peter's Return: 'He Will Not Be Another Identity'

In a chat with THR, Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman recall "toying with" the decision to move forward with the game-changing season finale.

July 29, 7:49 PM 7/29/2011 by Philiana Ng

Earlier this week, Fox released a new Fringe teaser asking Season 4's biggest question: Where exactly is Peter?

Showrunners Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman spoke to The Hollywood Reporter after the show's Comic-Con panel last weekend and what they said was mind-blowing and head-scratching.

Joshua Jackson joked to THR that he would like his alter ego to return to the cult sci-fi drama in a "flash of light," when the time came. Wyman, however, wasn't as giving. "You know, that is an assumption," he replied when asked about how Peter would return to the series. "He will not be another identity."

"For us, we are really using Peter's story this season to explore a lot of the basic rules of the show, which are choices and connection," Pinkner added.

But Wyman and Pinkner were adamant in dispelling any theories that questioned whether the events in the season finale actually happened.

"It really happened," Wyman reassured. "What we are trying to do from a conceptual standpoint is have the audience understand that it happened and you know it did happen. We watched it and there has been a catastrophe and it needs to be righted. It will either right itself properly or it will go in a very negative way. Now you have to understand what those repercussions are going to mean."

He added, "Peter sacrificed himself. He was a selfless hero. There are sacrifices; a sacrifice wouldn't be hard if it was easy."

Before they decided to go ahead with the finale, there were discussions about the events that unfolded that would affect the trajectory of the series.

"Before we decided to actually pull the trigger and do that season finale, we convinced ourselves that it happened and we were willing to play with consequences," Pinkner said. "I think it ends up in a place that is really kind of beautiful."

"When we were toying with it, it is analogous to this," Wyman explained. "In Fringe, we get to tell the quintessential kidnapping story, not about a kidnapping but about crossing universes. We get to tell the love triangle with two people who are the same person. We get to reinvent these trite situations."

Pinker agreed: "And we have characters that really hold up a mirror to themselves, having a second Walter and having a second Olivia really exposes sides of their characters that you wouldn't otherwise get."
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