Paxton didn't love 'Big Love' finale

LOS ANGELES, March 21 (UPI) -- The producers of "Big Love" say Hollywood actor Bill Paxton didn't initially love the plans for the polygamy-themed show's series finale.

Paxton's character, Bill Henrickson, was shot and killed in Sunday night's episode but his multiple wives kept their family together after his death, The Hollywood Reporter said.

"We were in the room when Bill read the script. … Bill wasn't happy," producer Will Scheffer told NPR's "Fresh Air Monday."

"Initially, Bill had trouble that his character was going to die," producer Mark Olsen said. "It's not how he envisioned the end of his character's journey nor the end of the series. ... It hurt him to know that that character was going to die. We explained what we were going for, and he got it. But it took about a week or two for Bill to come around and see it differently."

The Hollywood Reported quoted Olsen as saying in the NPR interview that the "Big Love" team didn't want Bill Henrickson "to go out a loser or a failure or an unrepentant fundamentalist."

"And we wanted to find that thing that would render his life's existence the most successful," Olsen said. "We felt the greatest testimony to Bill would be that he had created a family that endured."

The show ran for five seasons on HBO.