From Season 4 is currently streaming on MGM+, and after just a few episodes into it (at the time of writing this), the fan theories are gaining more traction than they ever have before. Now that we know this is the penultimate season of From (which will end with Season 5), the timetable to deliver big answers has gotten so much shorter – and fans know it. The theories are getting bolder and more confident, as viewers begin to realize that a lot of the biggest clues must already be on the table, just waiting to be connected together into some twisted answers.
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We’ve put together the Top 5 theories on what From Season 4 will reveal by the time the finale arrives, and maybe a little speculation about what will come in Season 5. We’ve ranked the theories in order from least likely to pan out, to most likely to be true, based on compelling evidence.
5. The Man In Yellow Is A Character We Already Know
The Season 3 finale of From introduced the “Man in Yellow,” an evil figure who finally appeared, after lurking in the shadows of the show’s lore since Season 1. The Man In Yellow seems to be the main antagonist of the show, with an awareness of “the story” and how it plays out each cycle, and possibly control various aspects of the town and the people trapped inside (like making Jim’s house collapse, or making the Preacher pass out until awakening him). We’ve also seen that the Man in Yellow can change his form at will and is currently impersonating the Preacher’s “daughter,” Sophia (Julia Doyle).
THEORY: Since the Man In Yellow made his official debut during the Season 3 Finale of From, many fans have speculated that The Man In Yellow is actually a resident of the town, who eventually becomes the evil entity. There are competing theories about who it might be: some think it’s the persona young Ethan Matthews (Simon Webster) takes on, once he masters his powers as “The Storyteller.” Other fan theories say it’s Randall (A.J. Simmons) who becomes the Man in Yellow, after eventually succumbing to the Music Box Monster’s evil infection. Others think that Victor (Scott McCord) has been on an arc to becoming the Man In Yellow this entire time (and will once he witnesses the entire town die again). Some wilder theories suggest that the villain’s first appearance and opening lines show a clear connection to Jade (David Alpay), and like Future Julie’s (Hannah Cheramy) appearance, Jade could’ve summoned his future self to the Bottle Tree.
Likelihood? LOW. The Man In Yellow has been introduced into From as his own character, with the Season 4 Premiere donating a lot of screen time to establishing the villain, and subsequent episodes making him part of the main cast of characters (albeit in his disguise as “Sophia.” That’s a lot of character building just to eventually pull the rug out and reveal we’d already been building this character the entire time. What seems more likely are the theories that the Man In Yellow is either a direct adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft monster (Hauster, the King In Yellow) or From‘s ode to classic evil entities, and a metaphor for the show’s deeper themes of hope and civility vs. despair and savagery.
4. The Powers of “Reincarnation” & “Storywalking” Are Cruel Tricks
From‘s main characters have experienced two main types of powers: visions of past events of the town they never should’ve known about (Tabitha, Jade, Ethan), or actual journeys to the past (Julie), or access to realms like “The Lighthouse” (Tabitha), or “The Dungeon (Boyd, Julie) which play pivotal roles in the maintenance of the town. Each of these characters has a burning drive to solve the mystery of these strange “gifts” they have, assuming the answers will bring revelation, if not salvation. But what if they’re wrong?
THEORY: From has made a point of showing us, repeatedly, how the brightest souls can be twisted into the worst kind of monsters: Sara (Avery Konrad), Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons), and Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori) were all “good people” who fell under the sway of evil influence, and each of them ended up doing something either violent, unhinged, or both to their fellow townspeople. As From goes on, it seems the Man in Yellow (and any other evil force behind the town) is interested in the sadistic goal of breaking the townspeople, spiritually and emotionally, in addition to slaughtering them. Dangling hope and then snatching it away seems to be the favorite game, and letting people falsely believe that they can change the past, or break the cycle, is as cruel as it gets.
Likelihood? Not great. From has dropped some surprises on viewers, but cruel fakeouts aren’t one of them. The show has invested heavily in showing Tabitha, Jade, and other characters having connections to past events of the town and the residents who were once there. The lore about the circular pattern of events in the town hopefully has more purpose than setting us up for a twist that none of it really mattered.
3. Future Boyd (or Julie) Created the Talismans And Left Them to Be Found in the Past
One of the biggest questions looming over From is how time travel works in the show. There is an element of temporal awareness in all the lore about reincarnated lives, “storywalking” to earlier parts (or cycles) in the town’s history, or the theory that there is a way to “save’ the forgotten children and prevent the cycles of people being trapped in the town from ever happening.
From hasn’t clarified how any of this works… at least not yet. But a lot of fans theorize that one of the big reveals about it all will be finding a pivotal way to influence the past by using future knowledge, via the Talismans. From has cleverly let the plot thread of Boyd first finding the Talismans in the woods fall by the wayside – possibly so that it can be brought back up later at a key moment.
THEORY: A lot of fans have speculated that as Boyd, Tabitha, Ethan, Julie (and other characters who “see” or “travel to” different periods of the past) come together and pool their knowledge, they’ll master the “storywalking” ability and use it to their advantage, eventually discovering an opposing power to the Man In Yellow (maybe centered around the Boy in White). Either way, the theory goes that even though Boyd, Julie, and Co. will gain key knowledge too late, they will hatch a plan to bring knowledge back to the past to help them defeat the evil and escape the town. Creating the Talismans in the future and delivering them to the past will be a major stepping stone to that goal.
Likelihood? Moderate. There is obviously a lot of temporal loop lore From is playing with, but that subject matter can get really confusing, really fast. The Talismans loop would be one of the easier examples for audiences to understand, and open a whole new lane of theory about where the show will go with that plot thread.
2. More Major Characters Are Reincarnated Versions of Former Townspeople
From Season 3 came to the climactic reveal that Tabitha and Jade were actually reincarnations of Miranda and Christopher, two former townspeople who tried to stop the unholy pact that saw other townspeople sacrifice their own children, in exchange for immortality in the form of becoming inhuman monsters. Season 4 hasn’t dug too deeply into that concept yet (at the time of writing this), but fans have been theorizing about it between Seasons 3 and 4; the rabbit holes run deep, but some of the theories are pretty juicy.
THEORY: You may have your own ideas, or you can fall down one of the many rabbit holes for individual characters, but the long and short of it is this: a lot of viewers believe that From will eventually reveal that many if not all of the main characters in the show are reincarnations of former townspeople, and those connections will create all kinds of new conflicts amongts the characters. Jade and Tabitha being reincarnations of a husband and wife is awkward enough, and it’s bound to only get more complicated with each new reveal.
Likelihood? Strong. From needs some kind of overarching big twist in its story, and revealing how the main characters of the show connect with characters and events in the past is a great way to do it. As stated, changing the nature of the characters and their dynamics with each other is so difficult for a show to do this late into its run, but From could make its back half very exciting if it pulls this twist off.
1. The Town Is Circular Purgatory Powered By The Trauma & Fear of the Residents
THEORY: This is pretty straightforward: the biggest theory about From is what the town even is. And the longest-standing theory is that it is a purgatory pocket reality parallel to our own, where the residents are brought in to be fed on, literally and figuratively. Their fears, doubts, and paranoia are fed on by the Lovecraftian entities controlling this reality, with others being murdered or sacrificed as a means of keeping the negative emotions running high. The reason for this is connected to the original story of the townspeople and the deal they made with the devil (sacrificing their children), as well as the perpetual “curse” of reincarnation and inevitable return to the dark dimension for the other residents, who were trying to save the children, punish the evil ones, and achieve whatever end goal needs to be reached, to finally end the cycle.
Likelihood? Very Strong. From has been creating an intricate thematic subtext about the need for hope and perseverance even in the darkest of times and circumstances. More to the point, as the show has gone on, it’s become equally clear that looking at the mistakes of past generations and how they’ve cursed the future is part of the show’s messaging. So, the idea, metaphorically, that we’re stuck in the same cycles of suffering until we somehow level up emotionally and as a community, is a thematic angle that makes the town a perfect tool to convey it.
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