Reign Boss Reveals [Spoiler]’s Tragic Finale Fate: ‘He Did Not Survive’
Heads (teehee) up: This article contains major spoilers from the Reign series finale. Consider yourself warned.
Friday’s Reign series finale reunited Mary Queen of Scots with her first husband — albeit in a “we’re in heaven together now” sort of way — but what of her other first love, the man who nearly stopped her from marrying Francis in the first place?
“If you were a careful viewer, rather than a hopeful Bash lover, it was pretty clear that he had met an end,” executive producer Laurie McCarthy told TVLine when asked how Bash has fared since his departure. “Rizzio had kind of been touched by [Bash’s] spirit. I don’t know how he went, but he did not survive.”
That’s right, Torrance Coombs‘ character — who left to take up the life of a druid in the third season finale — is off enjoying his own version of Francis and Mary’s heaven-in-bed, perhaps with Kenna. (Remember Kenna? She was great.)
So much for Bash promising Mary, “I will come to you when you need me the most. Of this, I am sure.” At least we can take solace in knowing that Coombs is still very much alive on ABC’s Still Star-Crossed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Reign fans, are you surprised to hear that Bash is no more? Grade the finale below, then drop a comment with your thoughts.
I liked the last season but the finale could have been with a bit more closure for some characters. Not sure why they need to tell us what happened to Bash now when they can’t even come up with a theory what happened to him.
Bash was a fictional character. Hard to find room within the allotted scripting to write him in to the final episodes.
But…agree, when Rizzio was introduced, you could see Bash in him, but, a little more detail about the magic would have been nice.
I don’t watch Reign, but why does this EP need to crush the hopes of the character’s fans when she and her colleagues seemingly didn’t bother to explain his fate on the show itself? It’s kind of a d*ck move.
Well I’m surprised by this tbh. Too many characters were left swinging in the wind, Bash included. Alone about his death would’ve been more satisfying. Catherine, Bash, Claude, Greer, and Narcisse deserved better closure. I didn’t need James, Charles, or Henry closure. I figured Kenna was still out there living life. I always thought she was the survivor out of Mary’s ladies. Aylee and Lola died, Greer deserved an end.
^A line
Rushed ending. We could of had another season.
Totally, we saw a lot of things about to happen in france, I’m really sad about the series end.
I agree….I kinda know the whole history of Elizabeth and Mary; so I knew that Mary was going to be executed in the end, but I really wish they would have given Catherine and the entire French court more closer. I mean what about Claude, and this introduction of princess Margo….do I spell spin-off? But I guess another type of reign-like show wouldn’t be as great without Mary. Also what exactly happened with James and Greer. Yeah in retrospect I feel like the producers and writers ran out of time. Perhaps the final episode should have been a 2-hour episode so all loose ends could be tied. On a positive note I really enjoyed that at the end she was reunited with her first and true love Francis in their heaven-like scene. It was beautiful and touching.
Totally agree! The hole episode was a bit confusing and rushed… I was disapointed :( I loved the end with the “we’re together again” thing with Francis and everything but I was really disapointed with not having a closure for the other important characters like Greer (hoping she helped raise Prince James with James) and all the french court, specially after that creepy thing with Narcise and Catherine.
I think the writers had to come up with a shorter episode than first planned and it kinda sucked :(
totally agree!!!
Yeah. I couldn’t believe I found myself so engaged with a soap opera version of such an important part of Christian History and Western Europe, but they stayed true enough to history, and made me fall in love all over again with my gggggggggg cousins.
agreed. I wanted to know more about Catherine. Had to look up her real life, but it just wasn’t as satisfying. I loved Bash and secretly kept hoping he would return to save the day, but the other dark haired body guard did that in a small way.
Here’s hoping Laurie McCarthy never gets another showrunner gig. She can’t even properly show a storyline or give fans closure when she’s literally ripping it off from history. I’d hate to see her in charge of a show where she would actually have to make ALL of it up herself.
She did amazing though, it wasn’t her. The CW cancelled the show mid season, they had already had a season 5 planned. She was left trying to tie up ends quicker than she had wanted.
I loved the first season, but the way quality precipitously dropped in season two was shocking. It seems as if the writers fundamentally misunderstood the show they had created, what with Mary’s rape, Lola’s beheading and Catherine’s isolation. I missed most of this season, but came back for the finale and was not shocked to see that the writers still didn’t get it. Elizabeth says she is as strong as any man, any king, which seems directly at odds with the entire point of the show… which is that women are stronger, braver and survivors. Mary’s declaration that the only reason the men are beating up on her is because she’s a woman makes less sense since the show had become about the rivalry of Elizabeth and Mary. Catherine got no closure. Greer got no closure. Two of the major romantic pairings were chucked to the side, even though Laurie McCarthy stated she had HALF A SEASON to prepare for the end. And now she offhandedly says Bash died, even though she has no idea how or why etc. Just because.
Ugh.
who kills off a character off screen? how lame. she should have just left it alone. or just never said anything. all she’s doing is making bash fans feel sad. and why would bash be in heaven with kenna? they ended things a long time ago and she’s not even dead.
Lots of characters die off screen. See the Supernatural season finale for a recent example.
Ntm…she was a harlot, and he was messing with the occult. LMBO
I’m very disappointed in the ending.To many characters left in the unknown.What about Catherine,narsees,Greer,queen Elizabeth.so many unanswered.I love the series reign.I love Mary.But There were many others that deserved an ending in your finally.ENLESS there is gonna be a spin off which would be great news.cause I not only loved Mary,but I love Catherine,narsees,Greer,and what of Mary’s son.and Mary’s brother.Thought he was to take care of the son.it was a bit confusing in the finally.cause she writes queen Elizabeth asking her to take care of her son in the event of her death.and her last words were of her to her brother take care of my son make sure he knows how much I love him.why did he chose to let his mother die?????And you moved 21 yrs to the future like wow.never found out what became of France and Spain and England or Scots.Ending didn’t bring full closure to me.I say bring it back as after Mary’s death.however I did love that you put Mary and Frances back together in her afterlife.It was beautiful.You kind of ruined reign by removing king Frances.I think you fumbled the ball big time on that.after that you didn’t know what to write in the series.I agree with others.your a poor written and producer whatever it is.you plain out ruined reign.
A quick wikipedia search will answer questions about some of that.
You do realise that Reign was the re-enactment (with a lot of poetic license) of Scottish/English and French history? The basic story itself is actually true.
Please Google it.
The ending should of been so much more. Dont know what happen to queen Elizabeth, the new daughter was to rerurn home and nothing more said about that. What about narcese?? And the new king i feel their should be more seasons and their can be especially with queen catherine. The 2 sons get killed and shes back in action Mary’s son reigns now it could be great
The last moments of the very last episode would look better if were done in at least two episodes, not one. It was rushed so badly to be finished, that it looked like “I don’t care, want to shut it down NOW!” sort of thing… Suddenly everything ended. Would be great to know, that Henry became the king of Poland, portray the meeting of the two queens, etc…
3+/5
“The last moments of the very last episode would look better if were done in at least two episodes, not one. It was rushed so badly to be finished, that it looked like “I don’t care, want to shut it down NOW!””
My feelings in a comment ;_;
Clearly they smashed a whole season into the last 15 minutes of a season finale. Complete failure to a great series. Some definite network politics involved on this so called closure.
The network gave the show warning (they were told part-through the season), and they didn’t take it to heart. Not the CW’s fault.
That is still definitely the CWs fault lol. They dropped them mid season for shows that have long been played out, and mid season is not enough time to completely rewrite refilm etc.
They were on ep 6 of 18. No, they couldn’t rewrite everything but no one made them continue to introduce new characters and new plot elements either. Plus, a lot of shows never get the courtesy of a warning either. Also, Reign was the lowest rated show on CW until Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex Girlfriend came along to challenge it. Reign hung around .2. Supernatural was between .7 and .9 this year. So maybe played out, but compararively way more eyes too. If it Reign had been a WB show (not CBS) it wouldn’t have even gotten a 4th season.
I will miss this show very much. I always looked forward to seeing it each week. The cast were fantastic. Wish it didn’t have to end.
Why set up Mary and Bothwell for her to forget about him in death? I know this show wasn’t completely historically accurate, but the ending with her and Francis in heaven knowing the facts disappointed me. Bothwell gave his life for her and suffered greatly for her. Then there is Greer, Narcisse and others who got no closure even though they were characters who aren’t real and can’t be researched. A real shame. I loved this show and was underwhelmed with the finale. Yes, I caught the brief line about Bash’s spirit and knew he died. A real reveal would tell us how or why.
I caught the Bash reference hinting at his death too. That was like 10 episodes ago. Why bring it up now? Frankly I think they should’ve ditched the whole French court storyline this season & focused even more on Mary in Scotland and her rivalry with Elizabeth. That could’ve offered more time to explain what happened to Bash (who would’ve fit nicely into the Scotland storyline IMO), Greer, James, Bothwell, and baby James.
I loved Bash he was always close enough to come to Mary’s rescue however I am very sad that he is gone.
The finale was dumb bit although from beginning was awesome to watch can’t believe I did a count down on my calendar just to watch the finale and then it was like BOOOOOOOO
I felt the finale was rushed! They didn’t take the time to give all the main characters a spotlight for their ending.
I personally didn’t like the end of Reign. Looking back another flashbacks of Mary’s life she was always so sad she went through so much she had a really hard life and I don’t think she was ever happy. Yes she loved Francis but she was never happy I was hoping for a different ending I was hoping that she would reunite somehow become friends with Queen Elizabeth I know the story and I know that’s not the way it it was but sometimes you want a different ending it would have been awesome to have two powerful Queens ruling together.
Read My Lady Jane for some great revisionist UK history with a happy ending. Mary Stewart and Elizabeth I aren’t the main characters but they do make appearances.
I like the whole ssries. There are so many good parts to it, I just pick one. I will say that because it implied that Mary was with her love doesn’t mean she has to die.I would much rather watch this show than all of the other shows they have on tv with nothing to say but a bun h of trash. So please take it to Netflix it’s a good show and it shows some history, not all true, but some history about the past.I love the show and wish for it to continue on!!!
I didnt like how Margot was brought into the story line at the very end. It left too many questions. It would be nice to see a spin off based on her
I cannot believe the show ended so suddenly, there was so much more they could have done!!! So sad…was an amazing series with some great actors…
I enjoyed the entire series. The costumes and scenery were superb. Places I will never see. I believe the writers tried to stay as close to history and still make it entertaining for tv. These were all real people for the most part and to deviate from that would make history buffs mad too. The show did it’s job, sometimes we laughed, cried, said WTF but overall I did enjoy it. I do hope the Catherine/Margo characters will launch a new series. Catherine was a pivotal Queen in France and had 10 kids in real life so there is a big story with her and French Court. Hopefully it might come to TV.
So dissappointed! Once I saw tge 4th episode was on Netflix I was reluctant to watch it, especially after an amazing 3rd season. I was not wrong. Finished watching the finale at midnight and couldn’t sleep because I was so angry. The 4th season felt rushed, and all over the place. Plus deep in my heart I was truly hoping Mart would end up with Bash. So many questions unanswered but I guess once the show was cancelled they simply wanted to get it over with.
I love the show but the ending felt rushed and poorly planned out unfortunately. I really wish there had been closure for some of the other characters their roles were an important part of the series. Sad to see it end and the worst ending of a loved show 😔
If Bash had died why wasn’t he in the last episode reminiscing about all the older characters?
Great show, even with some of the soap opera side stories.
They used excellent creative license, while being objectively on task from a historical perspective.
just saw the finally of Reign. so upset I can’t believe that they just left everyone hanging. what the HELL. I loved this show from the very start they should have closed the story lines. Jerks!!!! and the way Mary went out was horrifying. I thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown.😭😭😭😭 god can no one be happy.
you jerks you should have given the fans a closing.