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Hulu Will Spare Veronica Mars Fans From a Fifth Season (For Now)

Creator Rob Thomas says there have been no further discussions with the streaming service

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Mekeisha Madden Toby

Veronica Marsis on an indefinite hiatus.

Series creator Rob Thomas told TVLine that he hasn't discussed bringing back the Kristen Bell-led mystery series with Hulu, which revived the show five years after a crowd-funded feature film, but that he and the streaming service haven't ruled out a possible Season 5 either. Hulu declined to comment on the matter, but TV Guide has learned there are currently no plans to make more episodes. The fourth season of Veronica Mars was always billed as a limited series.

A number of critics praised Season 4 of Veronica Mars, which consisted of eight episodes, for its ability to portray its leading lady as a flawed, self-sabotaging adult whose past traumas had calcified her over time. But fans took to Twitter to rage against Logan Echolls' (Jason Dohring) heartbreaking death in the final moments of the last installment. And TV Guide's Kelly Connolly noted that the fatality undermined and contradicted the message that Veronica had the ability to control her happiness.

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"Veronica is still in her wedding dress when Logan is killed," wrote Connolly, back in July. "Every element of his senseless death feels engineered to be as devastating as possible. Thematically, the twist hammers home a common element of Veronica Mars: the chaotic, unfair brutality of the world, which hits some people over and over while seemingly leaving others, sometimes the worst people, unscathed."

"But it leaves an aftertaste more bitter than I think the show intended," she added. "It sends the message that Veronica is right to be so cynical; she doesn't actually have any control over the hand she's dealt in life. If the end of the revival had doubled down on hard-bitten noir cynicism, the series might have been able to sell the cruel twist, plunging Veronica further into darkness. Instead, the final minutes of Season 4 try to spin Logan's death into a vehicle for positive change: Veronica, just once, visits Logan's therapist."

If Hulu does eventually pick up the show for a fifth season, Thomas, who is aware that Veronica Mars fans are peeved with his creative choices, has said any new episodes will be more mystery-driven. "The show started out as sort of a teen soap-noir detective show hybrid. And in order for us to keep doing these, I think it needs to become a detective show -- a noir, mystery, detective show -- and those elements of teenage soap need to be behind us," Thomas told TV Guide when the new season was released. "I sort of viewed these eight episodes as a bridge to what Veronica Mars might be moving forward."

All four seasons of Veronica Mars are currently streaming on Hulu.

Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring, Veronica Mars

Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring, Veronica Mars

Michael Desmond/Hulu