[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Night Court Season 3 finale.]

Melissa Rauch and John Larroquette‘s Night Court revival concluded its third season on May 6 with a cliffhanger ending featuring Rauch’s former TV husband from The Big Bang Theory, Simon Helberg. Sadly, the Night Court Season 3 finale is now its series finale. NBC canceled the multi-cam sitcom on Friday, May 9, just days after its finale aired. It the first NBC cancellation of the 2024-2025 season, quickly followed by the cancellation of Lopez vs. Lopez on the same day.

According to Deadline, there was reportedly a late push for Night Court to get a shortened fourth and final season, but it didn’t pan out. It’s possible that Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces Night Court, will shop the series around following the NBC cancellation.

The Night Court Season 3 finale set up a major twist that was going to be addressed in a potential Season 4. TV Insider connected with creator and star Melissa Rauch about the episode and their hopes for the future ahead of the May 6 two-part finale. Here’s all there is to know about Night Court‘s twist and what could’ve happened in Season 4.

What was the Night Court Season 3 finale twist?

The two-part finale consisted of two standalone episodes that aired back to back on Tuesday, May 6, on NBC. The first episode saw Night Court OG alum Marsha Warfield return as Roz. (Warfield and John Larroquette are the only surviving cast members of the original series from the 1980s.) In the episode, which also featured Shrinking‘s Michael Urie as a funny rival judge for Rauch’s Abby Stone, Roz helped night court bailiff Gurgs (Lacretta) make a new welcome video for the workplace.

The finale Part 2 featured Raegan Revord of the Big Bang Theory spinoff, Young Sheldon. She played a teen runaway hoping to marry her boyfriend in an homage to the famous Michael J. Fox episode of the original series. Helberg appeared in the finale’s final seconds. Right as Abby and Jake (Ryan Hansen) were going to get engaged, Helberg’s Spencer waltzed into Abby’s office, leaving her shocked and annoyed. Spencer kissed her and revealed to Ryan and Dan (Larroquette) that he was her husband. He had a ring on and everything. The episode, now the series finale unless it’s saved by another network or streamer, ended on a “To Be Continued” title card.

What would’ve happened in Night Court Season 4?

Rauch told TV Insider that the Spencer twist was a huge part of their plans for a Season 4.

“There will be some questions that we desperately want to answer in a Season 4 [after this finale], and we have a really spectacular game plan in place if that should happen,” Rauch told TV Insider of the Helberg twist. “We really want it to because I feel like there’s so many more stories to tell, and especially the story that you’re going to be seeing in this season finale. There’s a major story there that we want to continue to tell.”

Rauch said that “in the vein of Night Court ensemble comedy and the workplace family that has been built, everyone will be impacted to some extent, to varying degrees by the twist.” Given that, the whole cast of characters likely would have had something to say about Abby’s secret marriage, and Abby certainly would’ve had a lot of explaining to do to Jake, to Dan, to Spencer, to everyone. Jake wouldn’t have been her first fiancé since she came to the Manhattan night court to do the job her father, Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson), once had in the original iteration.

Abby was engaged to Rand (Pete Holmes) in Season 1 and has been on-again, off-again with Jake since they started dating in Season 2 post-Rand split. It turns out that Abby had been married all along, but her reaction to Spencer’s arrival was clearly a sign that their relationship was not on good terms. But now fans are left with questions that may never be answered.

“Since the show started, I’ve wanted to bring him onto the show, but I wanted to make sure that it was the perfect role for him,” Rauch shared. “And then once we cracked what we wanted to do for the season finale, it was just the dream to have Simon in this. I called him and he was so wonderful and was like, ‘I’m totally there.’” Helberg likely would’ve been around for a noteworthy arc in Season 4.

Rauch also felt that Night Court finally found its comedic stride in Season 3.

“There’s this really interesting element about the first incarnation of Night Court and our incarnation of Night Court and how we’ve sort of unintentionally followed in those footsteps,” Rauch told us. “I feel like in the first incarnation of Night Court, they really started to go full steam ahead in Season 3. And I feel like that’s exactly what has happened with our show. It feels like everything has jelled in this really special way and our storylines, I feel like we’re getting to dive deeper into the characters. And then of course, this amazing revolving door of guest stars that we’ve been able to have in this season. It’s become this amazing playground for extraordinary actors to come and get to have fun with us in front of live audience. And each week I’m just enamored with whoever is sitting there at our table read. I can’t get over the people that have come to play with us.”

Season 3 revealed more of the personal lives of Gurgs and court clerk Wyatt (Nyambi Nyambi), including Wyatt’s life as a divorced father. Ahead of the Season 3 premiere, Larroquette told TV Insider that he wanted another character to be highlighted more: Gary Anthony Williams‘ Flobert, who Larroquette told us “has become such a mainstay of the workplace family as well and is very much involved in so much of the stories this season.”

“If there is going to be a fourth season, I really want to make [Williams] a [series] regular,” Larroquette said.

Wendie Malick also joined the courtroom as a series regular in Season 3 after being a guest in Season 2. Her Julianne became the court prosecutor opposite of Larroquette’s defense attorney, Dan Fielding. The former lovers had comedic relationship squabbles that hinted at a clear remaining attraction. In the Season 3 finale, Dan was showing signs of jealousy over Julianne’s new romance. The series seemed to have a romantic endgame between these two “friends” in the future.

Rauch said that getting Helberg onto the show was always the goal since they got started (other Big Bang alums have guest-starred throughout the three seasons, one of them — Kunal Nayyar — also playing a romantic fling for Abby).

Nicole Weingart / NBC

Who is in the Night Court Season 3 cast?

Night Court stars Rauch and Larroquette alongside Lacretta, Malick, Nyambi, and Williams as the main ensemble. Hansen and Julia Duffy have been recurring guest stars this season, and Night Court original guest stars Brent Spiner and Annie O’Donnell returned as the Wheelers. They likely would have returned in a fourth season, given that a revolving door of guest stars was Night Court‘s whole MO in both iterations.

Richard Kind also reprised his guest star role from Season 2 this season. Additional guest stars have been Kate Micucci, Laura Spencer, Andy Ridings, Mayim Bialik, Mo Collins, Eden Sher, Jessica St. Clair, Nico Santos, Andrew Rannells, and more. Faith Ford guest-starred in Season 1 as Abby’s mom.

Night Court, Seasons 1-3 Available Now, Peacock