The finale of the Leftovers was emotional for everyone - especially Justin Theroux

Carrie Coon and Justin Theroux in The Leftovers.

Justin Theroux was very "emotional" when filming wrapped on The Leftovers.

The 45-year-old actor admitted he "shed a few tears" in his trailer after saying goodbye to his alter ego Kevin Garvey Jr when the HBO drama ended after three seasons.

He said: "It was emotional, yes. It's one of those things when you're at the end of any season, forgetting the final season, basically every piece of toothpaste has been pushed to the end of the tube and you're exhausted and tired.

Justin Theroux.

"It was emotional in that, I think it hit me later as I was packing up my trailer. I had to leave the very next day.

"I don't like to get emotional in front of people so I think I shed a few tears there.

"And also with some quiet goodbyes to Mimi (Leder, director) and Carrie (Coon, co-star) and everyone else."

The show, which followed the survivors of "the departure" in which 2 per cent of the world's population randomly disappeared, ended its three-season run on SoHo last night.

It got rave reviews, with many praising it as one of the finest shows in recent memory.

It's rare when one of the best series of the century ends with one of the finest finales of the century...but that's what #TheLeftovers did.

— Jason Martin (@JMartRadio) June 5, 2017

If you're not ready to get your mind blown & can't afford therapy, tonight's series finale episode of #TheLeftovers may not be for you.@HBO

— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) June 5, 2017

#theleftovers finale is probably the best episode of the best series ever, nothing else will come close #theleftoversfinale

— ROHAN (@rohansudan_) June 5, 2017

Many wanted the show to continue but Theroux - who is married to Jennifer Aniston - always knew the programme wouldn't run for years, as it was one of the reasons why he signed up for the drama.

While he's adored working on the show, he's not sure he'd want to continue playing Kevin any longer.

Asked if he'd have been up for a fourth season, he told Vulture: "It's hard to say. Damon (Lindel, co-creator) was always very upfront about, we're not doing eight seasons of this show. We're not even doing five seasons of this show.

"At the outset, before we even shot the pilot, in order to put my mind at ease, he said, 'Look' - because I was sort of reluctant about doing a television show, just because you can get locked up for enormous periods of time - he said, 'This will be three or four seasons max.'

"He's like, that's the amount of time I think it's going to need to tell this story without beating it to death or dragging it out."

And the actor thinks Damon and co-creator Tom Perrotta ended the show at the perfect time as it would have ruined its legacy if there'd been more episodes for no real reason.
He added: "As I've said before, I feel like he and Tom put that last stroke on the painting and went, 'You know what? This is the time to walk away and we're done. If we were to put more paint on it we'd just ruin the painting.'

"The mark of a good showrunner is to go, 'Let's not try and wring out these characters and let's not write ourselves into corners and let's not start adding colours that don't deserve a place on this thing.'

"I think it was the perfect little trilogy or triptych for our show."

- Bang! Showbiz