[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 1, Episode 6 of The Time Traveler’s Wife.]
The first season of HBO‘s The Time Traveler’s Wife has come to an end, and it’s leaving us wondering, will there be more to Clare (Rose Leslie) and Henry’s (Theo James) onscreen love story?
Based on Audrey Niffenegger’s best-selling book, this adaptation only delivers part of the couple’s epic story as Season 1 concluded with a bit of a cliffhanger. Instead of the story carrying on beyond Clare and Henry’s wedding, the season concluded with the big event which didn’t play out quite the same as it had in the book.
In this version, Henry struggles to keep from traveling through time as wedding planning dials up his stress levels. As he attempts to get the issue under control, he turns to a friend for possible medicinal remedies which backfire as they put Henry in a near-constant state of transit between the past, present, and future.
(Credit: HBO)
Throughout his trips, he’s sent to one evening in the future where he witnesses a fight between his older self and Clare. While at first he only catches glimpses, it’s a hint of dark things to come, a series of events that would surely give anyone cold feet before their wedding.
Unfortunately for 28-year-old Henry, he doesn’t make it to the wedding as his older self ends up in that time and he’s stuck in the future on the night of that big fight. Henry learns that it was because his older self got a vasectomy without informing Clare following several miscarriages.
When Clare encounters this younger Henry in her home, she invites him to sit and watch their wedding video to witness the event in “happening right now.” Before the episode wraps up, Clare notes that this young Henry hasn’t had a vasectomy yet, hinting that she might take advantage of the opportunity to try and get pregnant behind older Henry’s back.
(Credit: HBO)
This is where the season leaves off, hinting at a big future ahead, but will there be a second season? The stars seem to hope so.
“I would love to be given the opportunity to tell more of the story and to see this arc fulfilled for the both of them,” Leslie muses. There’s certainly a lot of ground to cover should the story continue into a second season as Clare and Henry’s wedding serves as the midway point through the novel. “We’d be dis-servicing the book if we weren’t to complete it,” Leslie acknowledges.
Her onscreen husband feels similarly as James concurs, “I second that. Obviously, you love to finish the story. It’s always going to be of a limited nature because of what the IP is. It’s not going to be something that goes on season after season, but there’s definitely more to the story and I would love to finish the arc.”
Their costars Desmin Borges and Natasha Lopez who plays Henry and Clare’s besties Gomez and Charisse are also on board with the idea of continuing this story. “I hope we just get to explore the messiness of Charisse and Gomez, what it’s like for them to really fight for each other because that relationship is going to last,” Borges notes. “I’m interested to see what time travel is like over the years for the foursome as a whole and how they just maneuver in and around it.”
“I want to get into the nitty-gritty of everybody’s relationship and the aftermath that happens,” Lopez adds. Ultimately, the decision isn’t up to them, but the group is hopeful to tell more of this fascinating tale of love strained by an unusual circumstance.
“It leaves it kind of open-ended,” Leslie admits of Season 1, “but the powers that be have to decide on whether that’s actually going to be followed through.” Here’s to hoping Henry and Clare’s complicated story can come to a satisfying conclusion in future episodes, until then, stay tuned for updates on the show’s fate.
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Streaming now, HBO Max