Mr. Robot is a drama-thriller TV series that premiered in May 2015. Created by Sam Esmail, it stars Rami Malek in the lead role of Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker. As brilliant as Elliot is, he struggles with several mental issues, such as social anxiety disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and clinical depression.
A mysterious hacktivist man named Mr. Robot hires Elliot to bring down the powerful multinational conglomerate E Corp and erase all consumer debt. The show has four seasons, and the last one aired in late 2019. It was praised for Malek's performance as well as the story and Esmail's direction.
Sam Esmail on why Mr. Robot ended after four seasons
Sam Esmail had a slow start in Hollywood even after graduating from the AFI Conservatory in 2004. For ten years, he worked as a writer in the industry before writing his directorial debut feature film, Comet, which had a limited theatrical release.
Esmail earned greater acclaim when he developed Mr. Robot with USA Network in 2015. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published in October 2019 ahead of the release of the final season of the show, the Golden Globe-winning director opened up about the decision to end Elliot Alderson's story after four seasons.
"I don’t know we ever thought it was going to be longer. In fact, my answer has always been between four and five seasons, and I never quite knew what the exact number was," Esmail said.
He also revealed that right after season 3 wrapped, he mapped out the final two episodes of the series. He then asked the writers how much story they had to tell between the end of season 3 and the planned conclusion.
It was then that they realized that it would only take one more season to complete Mr. Robot's story. The Homecoming director stated:
"It’s a little bit longer than our usual 10-episode season. To us, it was very fascinating to do it this way, because it was really the story letting us know when it was time to end it."
Rami Malek believes Mr. Robot ended at the right time
Rami Malek is an Egyptian-American actor who was typecast in antagonistic roles early on in his career. Portraying Elliot Alderson in Mr. Robot allowed him to showcase his acting skills like never before.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in April 2025, while promoting The Amateur, Rami Malek addressed how the thriller drama series ended.
"I was incredibly sad to see that character and series end, and while some might say [the ending] was premature, you want to go out on a high note, especially with a TV series. And I think we pulled that off," Malek said.
As for whether or not there will be a fifth season of the show, the Emmy winner stated that they would have to talk to Esmail about it. He believed that the show was incredibly unique and may have reshaped what kinds of characters and stories are considered possible on screen.
Mr. Robot is available for streaming on Prime Video and Netflix.