'Timeless' Finale First Look Released

After a roller coaster two-season run, Timeless officially ran out of time when NBC cancelled the series earlier this year, but fans of the time-travel drama won't be left hanging. The series is getting a two-hour finale movie to wrap things up just before the Christmas holiday, but fans are getting the gift of a first look at that finale a little early.

TVLine shared a pair of images from the upcoming Timeless finale showing the Time Team in a very somber mood for the holiday, but still with much to celebrate -- Rufus (Malcom Barrett) appears to be alive and well in the photos, while a second image reveals a smiling Wyatt (Matt Lanter) so it seems that whatever happens in the series wrap up, there's at least a little holiday joy.

And that is a good thing. As fans of Timeless will recall, the season two finale "Chinatown" saw Rufus killed by Emma (Annie Wersching), though battle-hardened future versions of Wyatt and Lucy (Abigail Spencer) arrive in the present to invite the team to save their friend. The episode would have stood as a series finale had it not been for the efforts of fans whose support prompted NBC to give the series a wrap-up to deal with the Rufus matter as well as other mysteries of the series.

Of course, saving Rufus probably isn't going to be a straightforward mission. Series co-creator Shawn Ryan recently told EW that the finale event is built around saving Rufus but left open the possibility of other outcomes.

"The question is, has Rufus been saved?" Ryan said. "Is this a flashback? Is this a different timeline?"

What isn't a question is why the Timeless finale is set at Christmas time. Showrunner Arika Lisanne Mittman told TVLine that the holiday setting came at the request of the network.

"We knew even before we had our airdate that it was going to be a Christmas special," Mittman said. "And so we totally embraced it, and I think we found a really cool story that complements that really nicely."

The Timeless series finale airs Thursday, December 20th at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.