Fairlake

Fairlake is an American crime thriller mystery drama television series based on the short story series created by Josiah Stuart. Developed by Athena Purcell, the show will begin airing on January 3, 2023. Set in the fictional town of Fairlake, New York, the plot follows three best friends who are threatened by a mysterious and anonymous antagonist named "Z" stemming from events that occurred before the series began. Kendall Purcell, Olympia Coates, and Coulter Bennett lead the ensemble cast, alongside Lorenço Van Nuys, LaTonya, Diego Torske, Geena Stevenson, and Beckah Carlson.
==Premise==
Noemi Falton, Willa Kerby, and Dominic Raskin are three friends who are suddenly thrown in the deep end after their parents are murdered and their friend Em Wyckstrom goes missing. They start being threatened by a mysterious and anonymous antagonist named "Z" who knows about everything they've shared, lied about, kept secret, and everything that they share in common through their parents.
==Cast and characters==
*Kendall Purcell as Noemi Falton
*Olympia Coates as Willa Kerby
*Coulter Bennett as Dominic Raskin
*Lorenço Van Nuys as Jonah Parsons
*LaTonya Polen as Anna Hoboken
*Diego Torske as Max Tulum
*Geena Stevenson as Jennifer Holsted
*Beckah Carlson as Em Wyckstrom
==Production==
===Development===
After it was announced that Ghosted was getting a spin-off in 2021, with Josiah Stuart once again writing the mini-novel, fans were skeptical as to how the spin-off would deal with the zombie apocalypse. However, in early 2022, Stuart revealed that the new stories would not be a spin-off of Ghosted, but rather a new series itself. Josiah began writing the first book in the summer of 2022, with the announcement that Athena Purcell would help develop the new book series into a television show. The show was greenlit in late-August 2022 for a full first season.
===Casting===
Casting for Fairlake began in September 2022. Kendall Purcell and Coulter Bennett were respectively cast as Noemi Falton and Dominic Raskin on September 25, 2022. Later in the month, the cast added Olympia Coates as Willa Kerby, Lorenço Van Nuys as Jonah Parsons, Geena Stevenson as Jennifer Holsted, and Beckah Carlson as Em Wyckstrom. On October 14, 2022, LaTonya Polen and Diego Torske were respectively cast as Anna Hoboken and Max Tulum.
===Filming===
Filming for the first season began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 31, 2022, and ended on March 3, 2023. Filming for the second season began on April 10, 2023, and ended on June 30, 2023. Filming for the third and fourth seasons began on January 1, 2024, and ended on June 16, 2024. Filming for the fifth season will begin on December 29, 2024, and will end in the spring of 2025.
===Music===
Josiah Stuart worked as composer for the show. Swedish singer Loreen's 2017 song "'71 Charger" was used as the series' opening theme for its first two seasons. From the third season onward, due to the show's darker tone, the opening theme was changed to "Burned Vinyl" by Jason Ondé.
==Release==
===Broadcast===
Fairlake premiered on January 2, 2023, becoming TiBB1's highest rated drama since the original premiere of Ghosted: Awakening in 2015. The first episode became the first of any TiBB Networks show to receive a 10.00 TBAR rank. The following episodes would gain traction amongst viewers, with subsequent episodes having viewers around 3 million viewers and receiving TBAR ranks of around 9.00 to 9.50. Due to these ratings and rankings, the show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 25, 2023. The first season ended on May 22, 2023, with the second half of the finale having 6.47 millions viewers and the second episode to receive a 10.00 TBAR rank. On the day of the second season's premiere, the show was renewed for 2 more seasons. Season 3, as a result of the 2023 writer's strike in the US, was filmed along with season 4, and was released in blocks of 4 episodes over a 6 week period starting from April 15, 2024. On the day of the fourth season's finale, the show was renewed for a fifth season.
Starting with the show's fourth season, the show moved to TiBB+, with the show moving from Mondays to Wednesdays with the winter block of episodes.
==Reception==
===Ratings===
Season	 	Episodes	First aired 	First aired 	Last aired 	Last aired 	(millions)
Season	 	Episodes	Date 	Viewers(millions) 	Date 	Viewers(millions)	(millions)
 	Monday 8:00pm 	22 	January 2, 2023 	2.97 	May 29, 2023 	6.47 	3.43
 	Monday 8:00pm 	24 	 	6.98 	 	11.00 	8.14
 	Monday 8:00pm 	24 	April 15, 2024 	8.69 	May 20, 2024 	11.70 	9.42
Season	 	Episodes	First aired 	First aired 	Last aired 	Last aired 	rank
 	Monday 8:00pm (Ep. 1-10)	30 	September 23, 2024	September 23, 2024	June 25, 2025	June 25, 2025 	
 	Wednesday 8:00pm 	 	2025 	2025 	2026 	2026 	
==References==
===Notes===
==External links==