HBO acquired rights for series development with Perrotta attached as writer/executive producer and Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger as executive producers in August 2011, shortly before the book came out.
In June 2012, Damon Lindelof was announced to be developing the series alongside Perrotta, and serves as the series' showrunner.
The pilot was ordered in February 2013. On September 16, 2013, HBO announced that they were taking The Leftovers to series, ordering a 10-episode first season. The Leftovers is the first HBO series to be acquired from an outside studio, Warner Bros. Television, and not solely produced in-house by HBO (though parent company Time Warner owns both).
Second season promotional art
The first season covers the entirety of the book; the second season is completely original material. In April 2015, it was reported that the setting for the second season would shift from Mapleton, New York to a small town in Texas.The series shifted filming locations from New York to Austin, Texas, with nearby Lockhart serving as the mainstreet of fictional Jarden, Texas, when principal photography commenced in late April.[21][22] For the second season, which features several changes, including cast, location, and storylines; Lindelof cited The Wire and Friday Night Lights as influences.
Season one of The Leftovers received mostly positive reviews from critics. Metacritic scored season one 65 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rotten Tomatoes scored the season 70%, based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its dour tone and self-seriousness may make for somber viewing, but The Leftovers is an artfully crafted, thought-provoking drama that aims high and often hits its mark." IGN reviewer Matt Fowler gave consistently high scores to all the season one episodes, including two perfect 10 scores for "Two Boats and a Helicopter" and the season finale "The Prodigal Son Returns." He then gave the entire first season a review score of 9.4 out of 10, particularly praising the character-centric episodes.
