Nancy Drew Director Teases What Didn't Make the Series Finale

Nancy Drew ended after four seasons on The CW last week, kicking off a night of finales as it aired right before Riverdale's series finale. For the Nancy Drew finale in particular, the episode took the "Drew Crew" on one last wild ride, particularly when it came to Nancy (Kennedy McMann) and Ace (Alex Saxon) as the two star-crossed lovers finally broke the death curse and ultimately choosing to spend their last life together. The moment in the finale was a powerful one, but it turns out that there was actually more to it that ended up being cut from the episode simply because of time constraints.

"The Ace and Nancy scene, which I made as long as I possibly could because I loved it, we couldn't fit it all into the episode," director Amanda Row told Entertainment Weekly. "Otherwise it would be an hour-and-a-half long."

Row went on to explain what didn't make the final cut.

"Lots of joy," Row said. "Ace dips Nancy in a little dance thing — not a full dance but it's very cute and cheeky and it was very much just about the two of them finally being able to enjoy each other without the stakes and the stress of the world ending around them. I just wanted to keep it simple and just be about the giddiness of being in love and having your love requited. In my cut, I definitely was like, 'Well, I'm just going to do the longest version possible because I love it.'"

How Did Nancy Drew End?

In the Nancy Drew finale, after defeating the curse over Horseshoe Bay, Nancy and the Drew Crew decided to move on with the next chapters of their lives. George Fan (Leah Lewis) is accepted into law school, because of the gumption she showcased running The Claw for years, Bess Marvin (Maddison Jaizani) decides to travel the world to help the Historical Society's artifacts, Ace (Alex Saxon) decides to go to pre-med school to become a medical examiner, and Ned Nickerson (Tunji Kasim) and his girlfriend are given jobs at Tom Swift's Atlanta company, tying back to the canceled Tom Swift spinoff show.

Why Was Nancy Drew Cancelled?

In a recent post on X, Nancy Drew producer Larry Teng opened up about the series' cancellation by The CW, and called the process behind that decision-making "f-cking sh-tty."

"Now imagine if you watched that finale without us knowing it would be the last episode of #NancyDrew ever," Teng's thread reads in part. "Because that's what almost happened. Kennedy was in line to shoot THE GOOD LAWYER. And like any good agent would do, Kennedy's rep asked our Studio what our future schedule for NANCY DREW was going to look like. Our Studio wanted to try and make it work for Kennedy so she could do both. And so CBS Studios made a call to The CW. Right around the time we were in prep on Episode 410. And asked the president of the new CW when we would find out about a pickup so we could make scheduling decisions. And it was then, he said to us "Oh, we're not picking you up… the show is too expensive." Had our Studio not made that call, who knows if we would've ever been told. At that point in the season there were only four episodes left to shoot and the writers were already breaking the finale."

"What a f-cking sh-tty way of telling us we were getting canceled," Teng continued. "Thank God the Studio called. Because you all deserved the most proper ending possible. That's why I praise the writers for pulling it together at the end. It was so glib. No consideration for letting Noga and Melinda give you a proper goodbye. No closure. No consideration for the fandom who support and watch this show. I've been pissed at the upper brass of this new CW since November. They suck. They have every right to turn a profit… Which means canceling shows. But to have clearly known in advance e and not tell us until a random call 3/4 into our season is just plain f-cking disrespect. I'm glad y'all enjoyed the finale. You deserved that. Long live our #Drewds and the #DrewCrew."

What did you think about the series finale of Nancy Drew? Let us know in the comment section.