Seth Rogen’s The Studio Has The Perfect Ending Already Set Up (If He’s Brave Enough To Do It)

Apple TV+'s The Studio was one of the best shows of 2025 for a number of reasons, but it resonated in part because it's so plugged into the world it satirizes. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg had years of Hollywood experience to draw on, and they used it to locate the comedy in the insider's perspective of what is in part a very public enterprise. The Studio's multitude of cameos certainly help achieve this, but more crucial is the way the series zeroes in on small, revealing details (like a studio head's desire to be thanked at an awards show, for example) that underlie decisions as big as greenlighting a movie.

With The Studio season 2 already filming, there's more corporate chaos ahead for Rogen's Matt Remick and Continental Studios, and there is plenty of industry ground yet to cover. I certainly hope the show keeps running for years. But when the time comes to make The Studio's final season, the perfect way to wrap up Matt's studio chief tenure has already been seeded – if Rogen and Goldberg are willing to dive into a difficult part of their own experience.

The Studio Should End With The "Continental Hack"

In the latest episode of The Town podcast (which amusingly features in The Studio itself), host Matt Belloni interviews Michael Lynton, the former CEO of Sony Pictures, about his new book, From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn’t Own You. In it, Lynton revisits the infamous Sony hack, which saw the studio targeted by a group allegedly sponsored by North Korea in retaliation for making The Interview, Rogen and Goldberg's 2014 comedy about assassinating Kim Jong Un. Amid further threats of terrorist attacks and a struggle to secure theaters to play the film, Sony's internal emails were leaked online, resulting in significant press coverage and fallout.

Lynton now traces this all back to his mistake of greenlighting The Interview, despite concerns about its content, because of a desire to "hang, as an equal, with the actors." He explains he had grown tired of being the one constantly saying no, and in the pressure of the moment, gave into his own emotional need to be part of what was happening:

"There was something at the back of my mind at the time, that I was a little bit nervous about it. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And so, [co-studio head Amy Pascal and I] both decided to get me comfortable with the whole thing, we would have a table read. Now, because we were in a competitive situation, we had to make the decision very quickly. I walk into a room filled with actors and executives. I was the only guy there in a suit, which was typically my role, the guy sitting there in the dark suit. And the whole thing started, and it was hilarious, everybody was laughing. And when it was over, people were high-fiving and saying, 'Let's do this.'

And for the first time - at that point I'd been in the job for about... 10 years - we had a very strict process in place as to how we greenlit this thing, it just went out the window. And I said, 'Let's do this.'"

During the conversation, it's noted how similar this story is to what occurs regularly on The Studio. Matt's overwhelming need to be accepted by the filmmakers and stars he idolizes is a running joke, and practically the primary source of most of his problems. That speaks to how well the show has understood the nature of being a studio head – but also underscores just how well-suited this would be as a storyline on the show.

Rogen and Goldberg have been asked about potentially revisiting the Sony hack on The Studio, and in an August 2025 interview with Deadline, Rogen acknowledges that they've strongly considered it. Ultimately, though, that event was so singular that it moves too far away from the show's intended scope:

“Honestly, the Sony hack is a thing that we’ve talked a lot about. But we want the show to be about regular things in the industry. There’s obviously been a temptation. It’s like, ‘Do we do a hack or something like that?’ But it’s so exceptional and out of the ordinary. It’s something that literally only happened to us and nobody else. That’s not the right idea. It’s more like, ‘Hmm test screenings, they’re a pain in the ass, that’d be a good episode.’”

When it comes to episodic storylines, Rogen makes a great point. Drift too far from the "regular" too often, and The Studio risks becoming a Hollywood analog of what The Morning Show has turned into. But as a way to end the series, when there's greater permission to go big, it could be Matt's perfect sendoff.

There plenty of material there for a multi-episode arc. It could be winkingly building up in the background of the final season's first few episodes, as Matt grows nervous about a potentially explosive comedy he's greenlit. When it kicks into gear, all the characters would have to deal with their internal communications being leaked. Matt's obsession with how he's perceived would spin wildly out of his control – even President Obama chimed in on the real-life situation. Even the idea that Matt created the conditions for this to happen again, after Sony, could make for a great running gag.

But beyond that, Lynton's real-life experience proves it ties directly into the central focus of The Studio. In categorizing this moment as a mistake, he traces it back to an emotional need rooted in his own childhood, which unexpectedly resurfaced in the heat of the moment and which he then gave into. A Continental hack could give the show one last, definitive chance to explore Matt's psychology as everything falls apart around him, and as his entire legacy as a studio head is engulfed by this one moment he'll be associated with forever.

What better way could there be to end this show when it's finally time?

Release Date March 25, 2025

Network Apple TV+

Writers Peter Huck