'From' EPs Talk Season 4's Man in Yellow and Murderous Dolls

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Season 4 of From on MGM Plus. Between giant, deadly dolls and scheming, yellow-suited villains, Season 4 of MGM Plus' horror-mystery series From has introduced more obstacles and nightmare fuel for those still trapped in the show's relentlessly scary town. As Season 4 of From nears its finale, I spoke with creator and executive producer John Griffin, showrunner Jeff Pinkner (Lost, Fringe) and director Jack Bender (Lost, Game of Thrones) about the show's scary dolls, the infiltrating Man in Yellow and "always" keeping fans in mind. The fifth and final season of From is expected to premiere in 2027. "At the end of the day, our goal was never to tell a bleak story," Griffin said. "And that doesn't mean that it can't be a hard story to watch or a story full of sacrifice and sadness. Whatever it ends up being, our goal is to reward the audience for taking this journey with us." The second-to-last episode of From Season 4 debuts Sunday in the MGM Plus app and on the MGM Plus linear channel at 9 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. PT. Q: This season of From has felt a bit different for me as a viewer because I know a big secret the From residents do not: the Man in Yellow is walking among them as Sophia. What was the thought process behind letting the audience in on that secret from the very start of Season 4? Griffin: A big part of it was, you know, looking at our villain, and the type of villain that we have and the role that he's played behind the scenes in this world and in the lives of these people. It felt like, 'How would he most enjoy this next phase of the game?' And how would the audience most enjoy sort of like watching him operate, so that he wasn't so much like an indistinct presence on the periphery of the show. It felt like, 'Ooh, well, the last thing the people in town would expect is to have this thing living among them.' Huge dolls terrorize Fromville residents in Season 4. Q: From the original monsters that come out at night, to Season 4's giant killer dolls, horrific creatures and visuals are a big part of From. Can you tell me more about bringing these scary dolls to life this season and how you come up with new ways to terrify viewers? Jack Bender: I will say that the dolls, when I first read them, I went, 'Oh my god, OK.' Because so often Jeff and John and the writers come up with stuff, and I go, 'OK, how do we pull this off in a unique way that isn't going to be goofy and is going to be terrifying?' We looked at a lot of pictures of period dolls and other things. It was also our designer and production designer, actually, Matt Likely and Rachael Grant, who collaborated. Eventually, Rachael came up with the overstuffed look of the dolls. In the process of seeing the dolls alive as standing, full figures, I realized that seeing them run around might look a little goofy. Just because they're lumbering and they're big and they're soft. And so the whole idea of having them waterlogged from the lake, and the seaweed dripping, and all that stuff really helped. And the material sagging and a little ripped helped keep it ragged and more frightening. And then, of course, our vis[ual] effects people with the creation, which Jeff and John, and we were all involved in -- the creation of those teeth and everything hit a home run. So, like most things on our show, it's a great collaboration inspired by what the crazy [stuff] Jeff and John and our other writers come up with. Q: Boyd faces a dilemma this season of protecting people in town or putting them in danger for a theory that could get them closer to going home. What was the thinking behind depicting Boyd's fear for his townspeople this season and the choice he eventually makes? Jeff Pinkner: I think for Boyd, the bind he is constantly in, and the bind that is going to become more acute for him as we go forward, is protecting his family versus protecting the town. And there's a debate to be had. When the show started, Donna's attitude was, 'Tomorrow's not guaranteed, we enjoy today.' That was sort of the philosophy of Colony House. And Boyd's attitude, which was very [much] in opposition to that, was, 'We stay safe today so that one day we may go home.' Donna was like, 'Well, going home isn't guaranteed, so let's enjoy today.' And over the course of these four seasons, that's sort of been the ping-pong debate. 'Do we try to go home, risk it? This place clearly wants us to suffer. Maybe the hope of going home is our suffering.' We try to always relate this to what would you do if you were in this position? What do you value? Sort of the premise of the show from the beginning is.Your life, the world falls apart -- who are you in that vacuum? And for Boyd, that's always the question at the front of his mind, 'What's the right move here?' And it's an impossible choice, and the more impossible it is, the more alive Harold [Perrineau] becomes, which is our great weapon, you know? One of the incredible joys of this

'From' EPs Talk Season 4's Man in Yellow and Murderous Dolls

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