"Sleepy Hollow" Has Been Renewed! An Analysis of the Renewal

At long last, Sleepy Hollow has been renewed!

Here’s the official press release:

“SLEEPY HOLLOW” PICKED UP FOR A THIRD SPELLBINDING SEASON ON FOX

Veteran Television Producer Clifton Campbell Signs On As

Executive Producer and Showrunner

FOX has renewed mystery-adventure series SLEEPY HOLLOW for a third season, it was announced today by David Madden, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. Television producer Clifton Campbell has signed on as executive producer and showrunner.

“SLEEPY HOLLOW is truly inventive television. The talented producers – led by Alex, Bob, Len and Heather – along with the brilliant cast, anchored by Nicole and Tom, have created a fantastic world that brings ‘history’ to life with compelling and vibrant storytelling,” said Madden. “I had the pleasure of working with Clifton on both ‘The Glades’ and ‘White Collar.’ He is an excellent producer, and we can’t wait to see what this team has in store for Season Three.”

Campbell joins the series after serving as executive producer on “The Glades” and co-executive producer on “White Collar.”

The jaw-dropping conclusion of Season Two left Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Lieutenant Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) with a decisive, albeit heartbreaking, victory over evil. In the name of good, Crane made the ultimate decision to kill his wife, Katrina Crane (Katia Winter). With evil seemingly at bay, the third season will explore how the partnership between Crane and Mills will evolve and what challenges these two witnesses will now face.

SLEEPY HOLLOW is a thrilling mystery-adventure drama series spanning two and a half centuries, in which a resurrected Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) pairs up with a present-day police lieutenant (Nicole Beharie) to save the enigmatic town of Sleepy Hollow – and the world – from unprecedented evil.

From K/O Paper Products in association with 20^th Century Fox Television, SLEEPY HOLLOW is co-created by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Underworld” and “Total Recall”). The series is executive-produced by Kurtzman, Orci, Wiseman, Heather Kadin and Clifton Campbell, who will serve as showrunner.

Hooray! Now, the big question a lot of fans have is, “Who is Clifton Campbell and what does his work on The Glades bode for Sleepy Hollow?”

I had never seen The Glades, so I took to my new Netflix account to watch the pilot. Just from taking a look at Campbell’s Twitter account, I felt like the show was in good hands since Campbell seems to have a deep bench for movie and play references, which will come in handy for scriptwriting. Also, he welcomes fan feedback, from all of his retweets of angry tweets by The Glades fans who have wanted A&E to bring the show back.

So after I took a look at the pilot, I was even more pleased with Campbell taking over the reins. He has a grasp for building tension and setting up a scene (as shown in the first few minutes of the pilot), writing witty, quick-fire dialogue, and does write women characters (like Callie, played by Kiele Sanchez) that don’t fall into the typical tropes. All of this bodes well for Sleepy Hollow, since it relies on quick-fire dialogue, women who don’t belong in tropes, and tension and scene-building.

I dare say Campbell knows more about world-building than Goffman did, since even though everything takes place in and around the Everglades and this small Floridian town, you get a sense that this is a lived-in place with a history that existed long before the main character Jim (Matt Passmore) got there. The first season of Sleepy Hollow had a great sense of world-building and character-building; the second season just slowed world and character-building down to a complete stop.

Also, The Glades has a multicultural main cast, with Sanchez, Carlos Gómez (who plays Carlos Sanchez) and Michelle Hurd (who plays Colleen Manus). Even cooler, Chadwick Boseman was in one of the episodes, so perhaps Campbell can use his contacts to get Boseman on Sleepy Hollow. Who knows? In any case, Campbell knows how to write people of color as just people, without any cultural tropes and stereotypes. That’s very welcome.

I know some people might be worried about the White Collar thing being on his resume. Look, people have to work. White Collar isn’t the bad guy here. It’s a show, and it provides jobs for people. Mark Goffman and Clifton Campbell might have been on White Collar at roughly the same time (Campbell was a co-executive producer between 2009 and 2010 and Goffman was showrunner/(co-)executive producer between 2010 and 2013), but that doesn’t mean they think or work the same.

Okay, so now that that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at what the next season will bring us. According to the press release, “With evil seemingly at bay, the third season will explore how the partnership between Crane and Mills will evolve and what challenges these two witnesses will now face.” Oh really?

So you’re telling me that we’ll see the relationship between Ichabod and Abbie “evolve”? Into what? How? I can tell you one thing: The people at Fox still aren’t done giving a big “F*** YOU!” to Season 2. They seem to have done more than listen to the fans; it seems like they’ve literally watched the episodes themselves, because there was a lot more vitriol coming from Fox than I was expecting. I mean, getting rid of Goffman is one thing, but letting fans make fun of Katrina and Henry’s deaths with memes? That’s more than unnecessary for a  network to do.

Now, Fox has made it clear that Ichabod and Abbie’s relationship is going to grow into something even more complicated than it already is. Fox has made it abundantly clear that they are not only huge fans of the show themselves, they are also on the side of the fandom that took it upon themselves to release their ire to social media. Color me intrigued. I’m interested to see how this is going to play out and just what kind of episodes we’re in for. If anything, I think we’re certainly in for episodes with a tighter direction and clear vision (especially since, despite Campbell’s talent, I’m sure he’s already gotten several notes from Fox as to what they want for a solid season).

Finally, one big thing to discuss is that the Sleepy Hollow production team is moving to Atlanta! That’s great for all the fans who live in the area (or, in my case, a state away). I’m hoping I’ll somehow be able to do a set visit. I’m putting it out to the universe.

What do you think about this news? Give your opinions in the comments section below!

Photo credit: A&E, James Dimmock and Brownie Harris/FOX

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