Nancy Drew Series Finale May Have Confirmed a Long-Running Fan Theory

The fourth and final season of Nancy Drew wrapped up this week, capping off the story of Nancy Drew (Kennedy McMann) and the rest of the "Drew Crew." The finale provided audiences with some spooky lore, some heartfelt moments, and it may have even confirmed a long-held theory about one character. Spoilers for the series finale of Nancy Drew, "The Light Between Lives", below! Only look if you want to know! In the series' final scene, Nancy and her friends are shown exiting The Claw for the final time, before embarking on the next chapters of their lives. The camera pans up to show that the five friends have etched their initials onto a portion of the ceiling — and that Ace (Alex Saxon) has the initials "A.H."

After years of Ace being on the show, and his last name never canonically revealed, this may have been the best confirmation yet that Ace is a member of the Hardy Boys.

Is Nancy Drew's Ace a Hardy Boy?

That possibility has intrigued fans essentially ever since Nancy Drew began, and several context clues throughout the show's run have supported that theory. In particular, it was established that Ace has a long-lost older brother, who is now named "Grant" after a stint in witness protection. His father was apparently a police detective and his mother was a research librarian, like Frank and Joe Hardy's parents were in the books. All of this, combined with Ace's proclivity towards solving mysteries, seemed to suggest that Ace might really be Joe Hardy.

That being said, Nancy Drew's run might not have been able to ever actually confirm that Ace is a Hardy Boy, as the television rights to the brothers have been held up in an unrelated live-action The Hardy Boys show exclusively on Hulu. So for the time being, Ace's "A.H." initials might be the closest confirmation we get.

Why Did Nancy Drew Get Cancelled?

In a recent post on X, Nancy Drew producer Larry Teng shed more light on how the show was ended 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."

Do you think Nancy Drew's Ace is secretly a Hardy Boy? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!