111 Fun Facts About The Leftovers

On which network did The Leftovers air?

HBO ordered a third season as the last, saying it respected Damon Lindelof's decision to bring The Leftovers to a conclusion on his own terms.

What percentage of the world's population vanishes in the Sudden Departure?

2% of humanity, about 140 million people, vanish in the same instant, and within three years new cults have sprung up in the event's wake.

On what date did the Sudden Departure happen?

October 14, 2011 explains the season 2 episode title 'Ten Thirteen': Meg's mother died the day before, leaving her one day to grieve before the whole world's loss eclipsed hers.

Who plays police chief Kevin Garvey?

Justin Theroux plays Kevin Garvey, who in the first episode has to shield the cult's protesters from a furious crowd, although his own wife left him to join them.

Who plays Nora Durst?

Carrie Coon plays Nora Durst, who keeps restocking her kitchen for her vanished family, throwing out the unopened food and buying the same items again.

Who plays Reverend Matt Jamison?

Christopher Eccleston plays Matt Jamison, a priest who stops to help two cult members being stoned, is knocked out himself, and wakes to find the cult has bought his church.

How is Matt related to Nora?

He is her brother, which Jill and Aimee only work out by skipping school to tail Nora after watching her deliberately knock a coffee cup to the floor.

Whom did Nora lose in the Departure?

Her husband, son and daughter vanished from the kitchen table in a single moment, just after she had snapped at them over a spilled drink.

In The Leftovers, which cult wears white and chain-smokes in silence?

The Guilty Remnant call themselves living reminders: members give up speech, write notes instead and stand watching townspeople so that nobody can forget the Departure.

Who plays Laurie Garvey in The Leftovers?

Amy Brenneman plays Laurie almost wordlessly through season 1, because Laurie's cult forbids speech; she pleads her case to its leader in handwritten notes.

In The Leftovers pilot, what do the cult's letter signs spell out at the Heroes Day parade?

Stop wasting your breath, held up one letter at a time as Nora finishes a speech about her family, so enrages the crowd that the parade ends in a brawl.

Whom does Tommy Garvey follow at the start of The Leftovers?

Holy Wayne's compound is raided by federal agents in the second episode, and Tommy shoots one of them dead to save a fellow follower before going on the run.

Who plays Meg Abbott, the woman seduced by the cult?

Liv Tyler plays Meg, first seen being stalked by the cult over dinner with her fiancé; by season 2 she is leading its most violent wing.

Who plays Jill Garvey?

Margaret Qualley plays Jill Garvey, who ends season 1 by following her mother into the cult and has to be carried unconscious from a burning house by her father.

In which fictional New York town is season 1 of The Leftovers set?

Mapleton holds a Heroes Day parade for its departed in the first episode; the police chief begs the mayor to cancel it, expecting violence, and is overruled.

Season 2 of The Leftovers moves to which fictional Texas town?

Jarden is where the Garveys arrive to find their rented house burned down, so Nora buys another outright at auction, sight unseen.

What makes the Texas town where season 2 of The Leftovers is set special?

Nobody there departed: every single resident was spared, so the town was fenced off as a national park and outsiders camp at the gates hoping to get in.

In The Leftovers, what is the national park around the Texas town called?

Miracle admits only people with wristbands, so a camp of the shut-out grows at its gates; after losing his own wristband, Matt chooses to go back and live there.

Who plays Erika Murphy?

Regina King plays Erika Murphy, the town doctor, who admits under Nora's questioning that she had been secretly planning to leave her husband.

By season 3 of The Leftovers, what new trade has John Murphy taken up?

Giving psychic readings is a double act with his new wife Laurie, who feeds him each visitor's details through an earpiece; a season earlier he burned down a palm reader's house for fraud.

In The Leftovers, what happens to Evie Murphy and two friends as season 2 opens?

They vanish, and the lake drains: an earthquake hits the same night, and all the search turns up is the girls' abandoned car beside the empty basin.

Which magazine does Kevin Sr. press on his son after escaping hospital in season 1 of The Leftovers?

National Geographic's May 1972 issue is what the voices in Kevin Sr.'s head insist his son must accept; he hands a copy to a baffled Kevin just before being arrested again.

How does Patti Levin die at the cabin in season 1 of The Leftovers?

She slits her own throat with a shard of glass moments after Kevin, who has refused to kill her, sets her free; she bleeds out in his arms.

In The Leftovers, near which New York town is the cabin where Kevin holds Patti captive?

Cairo, New York: in the cabin a dog hunter named Dean tries to kill the bound Patti, but Kevin fights him off and saves her life.

What unsettling habit does Kevin Garvey develop at night in season 1 of The Leftovers?

Sleepwalks and disappears for hours: his shirts keep going missing, and he later finds them scattered through woods he has no memory of visiting.

Who guides Kevin into the afterworld in season 2?

Virgil, played by Steven Williams, guides Kevin into the afterworld by giving him poison; he then shoots himself rather than administer the antidote.

What is Kevin warned never to do in the hotel afterworld of The Leftovers?

Drink the water and you forget why you came: the concierge who briefs Kevin takes a sip between their meetings and no longer recognises him.

What role does Kevin take on during his first visit to the hotel afterworld in The Leftovers?

An international assassin is the role that comes with the suit he picks from four outfits in the wardrobe, passing over a priest's robes, cult whites and his old police uniform.

Which former slave's Stoic maxim greets Kevin on the hotel wardrobe in The Leftovers?

Epictetus's line reads 'Know first who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly'; Kevin passes over his own police uniform for a suit, and that choice decides who he must be there.

In The Leftovers, where does Kevin's father tell him to take Patti to be rid of her?

To the well: his father, high on a drug in a Perth hotel room, breaks through the static on Kevin's TV to say it, and Kevin ends up pushing a child version of Patti in.

In The Leftovers, on which game show does Patti say she won enough money to leave her husband?

Jeopardy! won her $65,300, more than the $50,000 she had set as the price of leaving her husband; she tells Kevin she stayed with him anyway.

Which Verdi piece recurs through Kevin's first afterworld episode of The Leftovers?

The Hebrew Slaves' chorus from Nabucco, 'Va, pensiero', is based on Psalm 137, the song of exiles longing for home, and it plays again and again as Kevin tries to get back to the living.

In The Leftovers, which film do the characters cite as the model for Kevin's hotel mission?

The Godfather is named on screen: as his guide briefs him, Kevin asks, 'Like The Godfather?', and is told, 'Exactly like The Godfather.'

What must Kevin do to return to life in the season 2 finale of The Leftovers?

Sing karaoke: the wheel lands on Simon & Garfunkel's 'Homeward Bound', and he wakes up back among the living once he has got through the song.

In The Leftovers, how is the cult faction occupying the Texas town wiped out?

A military drone strike levels the visitor centre the cult had occupied; the government never admits it, and a crater still marks the spot three years later.

What does Matt bet at roulette in "Two Boats and a Helicopter"?

Money Kevin Sr. buried in the Garveys' yard becomes $160,000 on three straight bets on red, more than enough to buy back his church.

What does Reverend Matt use to expose departed townspeople as sinners in The Leftovers?

A self-published tabloid: Matt prints sheets shaming the departed, and an angry man storms one of his sermons to beat him up over them.

What happened to Matt's wife Mary during the Departure?

A car crash left her catatonic: another driver vanished at the wheel in the Departure, and the empty car ploughed into the Jamisons'.

What does Matt discover when he takes Mary for a hospital scan in season 2 of The Leftovers?

She is pregnant, which delights Matt, but John Murphy refuses to believe his account of how it happened and will not help the couple back into town.

What does the cult steal from homes across town at Christmas in The Leftovers?

Photos of the departed vanish from homes across town while the police are busy arresting the cult's leader and other members, who turned up elsewhere as a distraction.

What goes missing from the town's nativity scene in season 1 of The Leftovers?

The baby Jesus is only a shop-bought doll, so the mayor tells Kevin to buy another and scuff it up; he insists on hunting for the original instead.

What does the cult place around town in the season 1 finale of The Leftovers?

Lifelike replicas of the departed are left overnight at the spots where each person vanished; the enraged town answers by burning the cult's houses.

Where do Kevin and Nora have their first conversation in The Leftovers?

At the town's Christmas dance, in a school hallway, Nora tells him within minutes that her husband cheated on her, and they part with 'nice to meet you'.

What does Nora pay escorts to do in "Guest"?

Shoot her while she wears a bulletproof vest: Nora pays the escort to pull the trigger, and blasts Slayer's 'Angel of Death' to cover the noise of the gunshot.

What is Nora Durst's job in The Leftovers?

Fraud investigator for the Departure department: she ends each interview by asking whether the missing person is in a better place, and in 'Guest' a claimant finally answers no.

What does Wayne do for Nora in New York?

Hugs her and seems to purge her pain: Nora goes home, stops buying food for her vanished family and says yes to a date with Kevin.

Whose baby do Kevin and Nora end up raising?

The baby is Holy Wayne and Christine's: Christine abandons the newborn in a public restroom, and the infant turns up on Kevin's doorstep, where Nora finds her first.

What is the name of the baby the Garveys adopt in The Leftovers?

Lily is the name Kevin and Nora give her; by season 3 her birth mother has reclaimed her, and Nora, who never fought it in court, is reduced to visiting her at a playground.

What was Laurie Garvey's profession before the Departure in The Leftovers?

Psychiatrist Laurie was treating Patti, who told her on the eve of the Departure that something terrible was about to happen; afterwards their roles reverse, with Patti leading the cult Laurie joins.

What does Laurie lose in the Departure, as revealed in "The Garveys at Their Best"?

Her unborn child vanishes from the ultrasound screen in the middle of the scan, the show's proof that the Departure took the unborn as well as the living.

What was Kevin doing at the moment of the Departure?

At the moment of the Departure, Kevin is having sex with a stranger in a hotel room; the woman vanishes mid-act, as shown in 'The Garveys at Their Best'.

What Christmas present does Jill leave for her mother Laurie in season 1 of The Leftovers?

A cigarette lighter engraved 'Don't forget me': Laurie drops it down a drain in front of a fellow cult member, then comes back alone to fish it out.

What do Tommy and Laurie do together in season 2 of The Leftovers?

Deprogramme cult members: Tommy infiltrates chapters to find doubters and brings them to a support group Laurie runs, while she writes a tell-all book about the cult.

Which drug does Kevin Sr. take in Australia before he appears on Kevin's hotel TV?

God's Tongue is what he calls it when his face breaks through on Kevin's TV; in season 3 he recalls only waking in Perth with the bed on fire, sure the drug had failed.

Who plays Kevin Garvey Sr. in The Leftovers?

Scott Glenn plays him as a former police chief in a mental hospital, arguing with voices only he hears; his son, fearing for his own sanity, visits to ask how it started.

What does Nora have tattooed over her children's names in season 3?

The Wu-Tang Clan logo covers a tattoo of her children's names; Nora then slams her arm in a car door so a cast will hide it, a secret she finally admits to Erika.

Which sitcom actor contacts Nora about a machine in season 3?

Mark Linn-Baker, playing himself, contacts Nora; in the show's world the sitcom actor faked his own departure after his co-stars vanished, and now recruits for the machine.

What does the machine offered to Nora supposedly do?

Its builders claim it will send people to wherever the departed went by blasting them with radiation; Nora suspects it simply incinerates them and treats the offer as fraud.

What do the physicists ask before rejecting Nora?

The physicists ask Nora whether she would let a child die to cure cancer; she answers yes, and they turn her away from the machine, though she later talks her way back in.

What does Nora carry to Melbourne at the demand of the machine's operators?

A cash fee of $20,000 is what the machine's operators demand; Nora tells Kevin the trip is a DSD fraud investigation, and he asks to come along.

Why do Grace and her friends drown an Australian police chief in season 3?

To test whether he can die: Grace found a page of Matt's gospel about a police chief named Kevin who returns from death, and she picked the wrong Kevin.

Whom does Kevin think he sees on a live Melbourne TV broadcast?

Evie seems to appear on the TV in his room, so Kevin tracks the woman down; over the phone Laurie makes him see that he is projecting the girl's face onto someone else.

What does the man from the hotel afterworld claim to be when Matt meets him on a ship?

God is what David Burton calls himself aboard the ferry; he hands Matt a printed card that answers the questions he is most often asked about it.

What group is celebrating aboard the passenger ship Matt boards in Tasmania?

A pride honouring Frasier the Sensuous Lion has booked the whole ferry; the writers borrowed a real, elderly safari-park lion who became famous in the 1970s for fathering dozens of cubs.

What illness is Matt secretly suffering from in season 3?

Cancer, which Matt first beat as a child, has come back; he hides the nosebleeds on the voyage to Melbourne, and the finale reveals he died of it after reconciling with Mary.

What does Kevin become on his second trip to the afterworld?

The President and his identical twin, an assassin, are both Kevin this time: catching his reflection in a mirror or any shiny surface switches him from one brother to the other.

Whom does Kevin Sr. want Kevin to find in the afterworld to learn the last chant?

Christopher Sunday knew the last song, but Kevin Sr. fell off a roof onto him and he died of his injuries, so Kevin has to look for him among the dead.

What does season 3's penultimate episode reveal about Kevin Sr.'s flood prophecy?

It was false: Kevin wakes to find the rain has stopped without any flood, and climbs onto the roof beside his father, who can only ask, "Now what?"

What is the title of The Leftovers' final episode?

The Book of Nora answers the season opener, 'The Book of Kevin', and gives her the last word: the series ends with Nora telling Kevin her story over a cup of tea.

What does the older Nora keep on her farm in The Leftovers' final episode?

Messenger birds carry notes from local wedding guests back to her farm, where Nora, living as Sarah, passes them to a nun; she later accuses the nun of lying about where the notes go.

What does the older Kevin pretend at Nora's door?

That he barely remembers their relationship is an act: Kevin poses as a near-stranger on holiday, then admits he has spent his vacations for years searching for her.

What does Nora say happened when she went through the machine?

She reached a world where 98% had departed, Nora says, and found her husband and children happy there, so she had the machine's inventor build another to send her home.

Why does The Leftovers' last episode never show Nora's journey?

To keep it ambiguous whether her story is true, the writers had Nora tell it over tea instead of filming it, a compromise struck when the novel's author refused to put any answer on screen.

Which historical event does the cold open of The Leftovers' third season depict?

The Great Disappointment of 1844 opens the season: a Millerite woman in white keeps climbing onto her roof to await the Rapture, and each failed date costs her more of her own family's faith.

Who plays David Burton, the man Kevin meets on the bridge in the hotel afterworld?

Bill Camp plays David Burton, an Australian sports announcer who made headlines by apparently coming back from the dead, which is how he comes to cross Kevin's path in the afterworld.

Who co-created The Leftovers with Damon Lindelof?

Novelist Tom Perrotta was already attached to script his own book; Lindelof read it, tracked down the screen rights, and the two met, hit it off and wrote the pilot together.

Which earlier series is Lindelof best known for co-creating?

Lost began for Lindelof as a rewrite: he teamed up with J. J. Abrams to replace a rejected pilot script, then took over as head writer when Abrams moved on to other projects.

Whose New York Times review introduced Lindelof to The Leftovers novel?

Stephen King's review in The New York Times caught Lindelof's eye in an airport in 2011; he bought the novel, read it on the plane and went looking for whoever held the screen rights.

Which two of the co-creator's novels became Oscar-nominated films?

Election and Little Children both earned Oscar nominations for their screenplays; the novelist shared the second one himself, having co-written the Little Children script with director Todd Field.

What is Kevin Garvey's job in The Leftovers novel, as opposed to the show?

Mayor of the town is Kevin's job in the novel: a businessman who sold up and retired early, he runs for office after the Departure, while the show made him the police chief.

Where in The Leftovers does the novel's story run out?

The end of season 1 is where the novel's story runs out, so seasons 2 and 3 are original stories; the novelist stayed in the writers' room to help invent them.

Who directed the pilot of The Leftovers?

Peter Berg directed the first two episodes and plays a guard named Pete in the pilot; before the shoot he and Lindelof spent time in Newtown, studying how a town lives with sudden loss.

Which director helmed all three season finales of The Leftovers?

Mimi Leder first arrived as a guest director midway through season 1, then stayed on as an executive producer and directed ten episodes, including all three finales.

Who composed the score for The Leftovers?

Max Richter's main title theme opened season 1, then vanished from the credits until the penultimate episode of the whole run brought it back.

Whose song "Let the Mystery Be" opens season 2?

Iris DeMent's 'Let the Mystery Be' replaced the orchestral season 1 theme as the season 2 title song, and it returns over the opening credits of the very last episode.

What imagery accompanies the season 1 title music of The Leftovers?

A fresco in the Sistine Chapel style fills the season 1 credits; season 2 swapped it for everyday snapshots in which the departed are missing from the picture.

Which sitcom theme opens the second episode of season 3?

Perfect Strangers' theme, 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now', opens 'Don't Be Ridiculous'; from this episode on, season 3 changes its title song week by week to set up each story.

Which era does the wordless prologue of The Leftovers' second season depict?

Prehistoric times: a cave woman loses her whole tribe to a rockfall, gives birth alone and dies of a snakebite after saving her baby, which another woman then carries away.

Who plays Michael Murphy, Evie's twin brother?

Jovan Adepo plays Michael Murphy, the devout twin who keeps visiting and praying with the grandfather his mother has cut out of the family.

How did The Leftovers' final season differ?

Fewer episodes: eight, after ten in each of the first two seasons; the network renewed it in December 2015 as the last season, backing Lindelof's decision to end the story there.

What does Erika Murphy bury in a box as a wish ritual?

A live bird, a sparrow, goes in the box for three days; Erika found hers alive and wished her children would be fine without her, because she was planning to leave John.

Which Emmy nomination did The Leftovers receive in 2017?

Ann Dowd, Outstanding Guest Actress nominee, earned the show's only Emmy nod for one season 3 episode set in the afterworld, two seasons after her character Patti had died.

Which Critics' Choice award did The Leftovers win in 2014?

Most Exciting New Series honours shows the critics are still waiting for, so every nominee wins: The Leftovers took it on June 19, 2014, ten days before its first episode aired.

Before The Leftovers, Eccleston fronted the 2005 revival of which British sci-fi series?

Doctor Who returned in 2005 with Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, but he stayed for only one series: the BBC announced his exit four days after his first episode aired.

Dowd went on to win an Emmy as Aunt Lydia on which series?

The Handmaid's Tale won Ann Dowd the 2017 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama as Aunt Lydia, who drills captive women at the Red Center for life as handmaids.

Coon's next big TV role was a police chief in which anthology series?

Fargo cast Coon in its third season as Gloria Burgle, a Minnesota police chief who sets out to solve the murder of her own stepfather.

Which David Fincher film marked Coon's feature debut?

Gone Girl gave Coon her film debut in 2014 as Margo Dunne, the sister who stands by Ben Affleck's character when he is suspected of murdering his wife.

Theroux worked with which director on Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire?

David Lynch cast Theroux in Mulholland Drive as Adam Kesher, a film director whom mob-connected businessmen pressure into hiring their chosen actress, then brought him back for Inland Empire.

Laurie's actress first found fame on which police drama?

NYPD Blue made her name in 1993 as Janice Licalsi, an officer ordered by a mob boss to kill a detective; she falls for the detective and guns down the mobster instead.

Which Marvel superhero's girlfriend has Liv Tyler played?

The Hulk's girlfriend Betty Ross was Tyler's role in The Incredible Hulk: a scientist whose own father is the general hunting him; she returned to the part in Captain America: Brave New World.

Who is the real-life mother of the actress playing Jill Garvey?

Andie MacDowell is the mother of the actress who plays Jill; in 2021 the two played a mother and daughter opposite each other in the Netflix series Maid.

Janel Moloney is best known as Donna Moss on which series?

The West Wing billed Janel Moloney only as a guest star at first, yet she appeared in every season 1 episode as Donna Moss and joined the main cast from season 2.

Which Marvel show cast Kevin Sr.'s actor as the blind mentor Stick?

Daredevil introduced Stick in 2015 as the blind fighter who trained the young Matt Murdock and then abandoned him; the actor returned to the part in The Defenders.

Which Denzel Washington movie was Jovan Adepo's first feature film?

Fences (2016) was Jovan Adepo's film debut: he plays Cory, whose father, played by Washington, refuses to sign the papers for his college football recruitment.

Chris Zylka played Flash Thompson in which superhero film?

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) cast Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson, the school bully; on The Leftovers his Tommy Garvey ends up a police officer who shoots a gunman to save Kevin's life.

Who plays Aimee, Jill's friend who lives with the Garveys in season 1?

Emily Meade plays Aimee; on The Deuce she pressed for professional safeguards during intimate scenes, which led to an intimacy coordinator joining the set.

What is the ATFEC in the world of The Leftovers?

The federal bureau that also covers cults, the ATFEC adds Explosives and Cults to Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; its agent offers to wipe out the cult in Kevin's town, and he refuses.

Which cult member is stoned to death in a season 1 episode named after her?

Gladys is taped to a tree and stoned in the woods, breaking her vow of silence to beg her attackers to stop; Kevin gets so little help from his own department that he investigates alone.

Which DSD theory gets applied to Nora?

The theory is that some people are "lenses" who cause others to depart; having lost her whole family, Nora is treated as a possible trigger for another event, and she steals the new questionnaire.

How does Kevin die in The Leftovers' season 2 finale?

John shoots him inside an animal shelter, after Kevin insists that Evie staged her own disappearance and John refuses to believe it.

What does a rogue French sailor do aboard his submarine in season 3 of The Leftovers?

Launches a nuclear missile: the warhead explodes over empty ocean, but it grounds every flight into Melbourne, which is why Matt's party has to cross from Tasmania by ferry.