Mysteries have piled up over three seasons and it’s up to M. Night Shyamalan to offer answers as the fourth and final season of Servant unfolds on Apple TV+ beginning January 13.

The slow-burn watch revolves around a grieving couple (Dorothy and Sean, played by Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell respectively), who hire a young nanny (Nell Tiger Free plays Leanne) to take care of the doll that has replaced their dead child but the doll turns into a baby. Julian (played by Rupert Grint), Dorothy’s young brother, is suspicious.

Besides family secrets, many magical powers pepper the final season. The action picks up from season three’s edge-of-the-seat conclusion — Dorothy fearing for the safety of her baby, Jericho, sneaks him out of the house. At the same time, Dorothy is in the midst of a conflict with her husband Sean and the nanny she’s terrified of, Leanne. It ended with Dorothy falling several stories when a creaky termite-infested railing gave away.

“I think each season has felt like it had a very different tone. And when we meet the characters again at the beginning in the wake of the trauma of Dorothy’s accident, it ripples through the family and how she’s now disabled. Also, Julian is still kind of living in the house and I think being there is kind of triggering all these dark memories of his role in the tragedy and the guilt is very much coming forward,” Rupert Grint tells t2 over a late night video call.

EERIE MUNDANE SETTING

After the first season of the show in 2019, the pandemic set in, leaving M. Night Shyamalan, the showrunner and executive producer (besides occasionally directing an episode), with a lot of time to take the thriller to a new level.

“What I do for my movies… I have a notebook. If I like an idea, I buy a notebook; it’s a big ritual for me. And then I just start throwing ideas at it. When there is a certain amount of ideas — there is no specific number — I am ready to make a movie. And in this case, over the pandemic, I kind of had this board in my house and I just wrote down things. Like, how would it be if Leanne is left alone and the others go on vacation. I just came up with these ideas and then arcs of character movements. When the board was completely full and I ran out of ideas, I wondered how many episodes that would be. There is a combination of the creative part and a physical aspect of how much time I am spending on the show. It looks very tight to me. Four seasons felt doable,” the award-winning director had told us earlier.

The final season begins with Leanne preparing the house for the return of Dorothy. She turns a blind eye towards how Dorothy feels about her. Leanne even bakes Dorothy’s favourite cake. It’s a mundane setting but the close-up shots are nothing less than chilling.

“I think with Leanne, she’s a completely different character in season four than what she was in season one. She is always trying to play her role in the household authentically and I think she’s ready for danger at any moment; she’s on high alert. Since this is the last season, it was like, just leave it all out on the table and go as far as we could. Since it was our last chance, I think we all just kind of pushed ourselves and went out with a bang,” says Nell.

PERSONAL ANXIETIES

Most of the show unfolds in a Philadelphia townhouse. Early on in the new season, the chilling atmosphere reaches the level of Alfred Hitchcock films, especially The Birds. We see Leanne being chased by cult members in disguise. She fights back and is rescued by a flock of birds.

Over short 30-minute episodes several themes — anxiety, fear, apprehension and love — are showcased. Some of the themes spoke to the cast members. “The show deals with so many different emotions. The fears for me… personally… had to do with becoming a dad midway (his daughter, Wednesday, was born in 2020). I think that affected me quite profoundly. Suddenly being in a position (as an actor) where grief just felt like… when you’re a new parent, there’s so much anxiety, and you’re just trying what you can to keep this baby happy. I think what happens in Servant is just unthinkable. And I think that I found that kind of helpful in a way to kind of tune into how that would affect a family and the kind of trauma that would create. That definitely for me would be the big one,” says Rupert.

For Nell, it’s the responsibility of deciding what she will do for the rest of her life that keeps her mind in overdrive. “Where I am in my life… the most prevalent thing that I can relate to with in terms of themes is finding who I am as a person and am I malleable enough to change. Or is this just your destiny? I’m 23. And I think I’m at that point now where I sort of have to decide who I’m going to be forever. I think my character is dealing with that often and at a nightmarish level.”

One of the high points of the series has to do with Night’s daughter, Ishana, taking the director’s chair on several episodes. “She has been to film school and she has been by my side… she has nailed it (the episodes she has directed). Apple was stunned. She is different from me. She has a little bit of Guillermo del Toro; she likes magic realism,” Night has said.

Rupert, who has worked with some of the best directors in the industry, says Ishana is in the DNA of Servant. “There’s definitely a similarity. Ishana has been great; she’s so smart and tuned into the season. This series, she has directed many episodes and has written a lot. She’s really part of the DNA of the show. They also communicate flawlessly. We’re very lucky to work with both of them. It’s been a family kind of affair, which I think really brings something to the show about a family,” he says.

Going by the preview of the first three episodes, we are certain that it will be a thrilling ride and all hell will break loose. For the moment, Nell is reliving the behind-the-scenes moments during the shoot of the final season: “The last day I was very emotional. We were all crying. It was beautiful. The last day was a testament to how much this was a group project.”

MILESTONES FOR APPLE SERVICES

Apple has usually been willing to take its time to get things right. The company’s focus on services is paying off well, going far beyond expectations.

The company has shared two important figures — it now has more than 900 million paid subscriptions across Apple services, with subscriptions on the App Store driving a “significant” part of that figure.

Second, the tech company has now paid out a record $320 billion to app developers since 2008.

When Apple talks about services, there are at least 13 that are important — App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Shazam, Apple News and Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, Apple Podcasts, Apple Books, Apple Maps, Apple Pay, Wallet and iCloud and iCloud+,

It’s unclear what services contributed the most to the milestone. It’s also unclear whether subscribers primarily signed up for individual services or in bulk via an Apple One subscription.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice-president of services, in a blog post has said that subscribers get access to 100 million songs on Apple Music and that Apple TV+ now has 1,305 nominations for awards and 300 wins, including becoming the first streaming service to win an Academy Award for Best Picture with CODA.