‘There’s a nice surprise at the end’: ‘Barry’ star Stephen Root is happy with the show’s ending

With just three episodes left in Bill Hader’s satirical dark comedy, Barry, fans are curious about how the series will come to a close. Not only is Barry currently on the run following his escape from prison, the show has now jumped forward in time, moving the action forward by eight years. Now, actor Stephen Root (who portrays Monroe Fuches, Barry’s handler, on the series) is speaking out about the series finale, revealing that he’s happy about where things end up.

In an interview with Collider, Root was asked to elaborate about his experience working on the series finale. Root was cautious not to spoil viewers, but stated that the cast was “very careful” not to know what was going to happen in each successive episode. “But since we block film, which means filming two or three at a time, we had to know where we were going in the arc of the scene,” Root explained. “But we did not know that, for the last scene. We got that late, as everybody did. It was satisfying to me, that it’s gonna end the way it ends. I was happy with the resolution of the main characters, and there’s a nice surprise at the end.”

Root also revealed that Hader, who writes and directs the series, had an idea for how the show would end even before the final scripts were written. COVID appeared to impact the show hard, necessitating rewrites on large swaths of season 3. For season 4, however, Root says that “even though Season 4 wasn’t written entirely by the time we started filming, they knew exactly where they were gonna take it and it didn’t change. Bill had a full vision of what he wanted to do, and that’s what’s so great about him directing all the episodes.”

Root’s words are very believable – in its final season, Barry has been on a tour-de-force. Its cinematography is as full of symbolism and style as ever, its writing still sharp, and its plotting is bold and unexpected. Hader’s work on the series has revealed him as a multi-talented actor, capable of helming his own award-winning prestige show. Should the series finale exist on the same level of quality as other episodes of Barry, then the series finale will be an explosive one. As multiple plotlines converge, and as Barry struggles to finish off various loose ends, the series finale promises to be more than eventful.