Sleepy Hollow ran for four seasons and 62 episodes on Fox, from September 16, 2013 to March 31, 2017. It began as a show about a man out of time and ended as a show about a show out of ideas. The published critical score is 6.4/10, and that number is fair: a strong premise, a charismatic lead, and a long, visible decline.
Trailer, via IGN.
Ichabod Crane Wakes Up in Sleepy Hollow
The setup is the show’s best asset. Ichabod Crane, played by Tom Mison, is a soldier of the American Revolutionary War who is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time. He lands in a fictionalized Sleepy Hollow, New York, a town the series portrays as much larger than it actually is. The mystery he has to unravel dates back to the founding fathers.
The series is loosely based on Washington Irving’s 1820 short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” with added concepts from “Rip Van Winkle,” also by Irving. Creators Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman built a genre hybrid: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy. For a while, it works.
Abbie Mills and the Two Witnesses
The early seasons belong to Mison and Nicole Beharie, who plays Abbie Mills, a Sheriff’s Lieutenant, FBI Agent and Biblical witness. Crane is also a Biblical witness, and the pairing gives the show its engine. He is a man of the eighteenth century; she is a cop with a modern caseload. The banter is the point, and the show knows it.
Orlando Jones plays Frank Irving, the Sheriff’s Captain, in seasons 1 and 2. Katia Winter plays Katrina Crane, a witch, also seasons 1 and 2. John Noble plays Henry Parish, also known as Jeremy Crane — the son of Ichabod and Katrina, and the Horseman of War — in season 2, with recurring work in season 1 and a guest turn in season 4.
Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers.
A Showrunner Leaves, and the Show Keeps Moving
The production history explains some of the drift. In October 2013, Sleepy Hollow was renewed for a second season with 13 episodes; that season was extended to 18 episodes in May 2014. Early in March 2015, after the second season, showrunner Mark Goffman left the series. On March 18, 2015, Fox renewed it for an 18-episode third season, with Clifton Campbell taking over as showrunner.
Then the cast turned over. Beharie appears in seasons 1 through 3. Season 3 adds Nikki Reed as Betsy Ross, Shannyn Sossamon as Pandora, Zach Appelman as Joseph Corbin, Lance Gross as Daniel Reynolds and Jessica Camacho as Sophie Foster. That is a lot of new furniture in one year, and not much of it sticks.
The Move to Washington, D.C.
On May 13, 2016, Fox renewed the show for a fourth season, which premiered on January 6, 2017. Albert Kim, previously an executive producer, was named co-showrunner. The setting moved from Sleepy Hollow to Washington, D.C., and the cast was rebuilt around Janina Gavankar as Diana Thomas, a Homeland Security Agent.
Jerry MacKinnon plays Jake Wells, a research analyst at Agency 355 and The Vault. Rachel Melvin plays Alex Norwood, an engineer at the same agency. Oona Yaffe plays Molly Thomas, Diana’s 11-year-old daughter and a Biblical witness. Jeremy Davies plays Malcolm Dreyfuss, a billionaire tech mogul seeking out mystical artifacts.
| Run | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seasons 1–2 | 13, then 18 | September 16, 2013 | — |
| Season 3 | 18 | — | — |
| Season 4 | — | January 6, 2017 | March 31, 2017 |
On May 9, 2017, the show was canceled after four seasons.
What Actually Matters Here
The first season is the reason anyone remembers Sleepy Hollow. Mison’s Crane is a genuine comic creation — a man who treats a twenty-first-century world as a personal insult — and the show’s best episodes are the ones that trust him to carry the hour. Beharie is his equal, and the two-witness structure gives the supernatural plotting a spine.
The problem is that the show never found a second gear. The second season balloons to 18 episodes and loses its shape. The third season replaces its best relationship and asks the audience to start over. The fourth season moves the whole thing to Washington, D.C. and hands the lead to a new ensemble. Each of those decisions is defensible on paper. Together they read as a show running from its own premise.
The 6.4/10 score lands where it should. This is a series with a great pilot, a good first season, and three years of diminishing returns. The Henry Parish reveal is a bold swing, and the show spends the rest of its run chasing that kind of turn.
The Verdict on Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow is worth watching for its first season and worth abandoning after its third. The premise is durable enough that a reboot could work; the execution here was not. Fox canceled it on May 9, 2017, and the cancellation was correct.
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