The Killing: AMC Explains Why They Spoiled When Rosie Larsen's Killer Will Be Revealed

At the end of The Killing's first season, fans expected a resolution to the show's burning question: Who killed Rosie Larsen? But when the finale ended with a cliff-hanger — and the murderer wasn't revealed — the show faced significant backlash from disappointed fans.

The Killing boss reveals when audiences will really find out who killed Rosie Larsen

The Killing returns Sunday for a second 13-episode season, and this time around, AMC has made sure that fans know for certain that the killer will be revealed. In fact, the network has revealed when it will happen: the Season 2 finale.
"When the series was launching, we made a very conscious decision not to tell people when the mystery was going to resolve because that just seemed counterintuitive," Joel Stillerman, AMC's executive vice president original programming, production and digital content tells TVGuide.com. "I think if people had known, I'm not sure how they would have responded to the series in the first place. We underestimated the hunger for closure on that show, and the combination of how we chose to tell the story and how we chose to market it."

Stillerman believes the social media backlash against the Season 1 finale was from a small, vocal minority — not necessarily the audience at large. Even so, the network took the reaction into consideration when strategizing for the show's second season. "The first thing we did was say, 'Here's when you're going to find out. Hopefully that won't impact your ability to enjoy the show,'" Stillerman says.
Check out full episodes and clips of The Killing

But doesn't revealing exactly when the mystery will be solved take some of the dramatic stakes out of the season the precedes the big reveal? Not really, Stillerman says.
"If people had said, 'You're going to find out what happened to Lisbeth Salander at the end of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, would you not read the book? I think you would," Stillerman says. "This has always been a show that's been aimed at the people that really like the crime drama genre and for them, we tried to something different. I hope they'll be back and I hope they'll enjoy the ride."
The Killing premieres Sunday, April 1 at 8/7c on AMC.