No, don’t go rushing to Wikipedia to double-check how Rod Serling died — it wasn’t from jumping out of a plane. By the same token, don’t bother trying to find if Serling suffered from depression surrounding the cancellation of the series that would become his lifelong legacy and beyond, the original 1959-64 version of “The Twilight Zone.” Sure, the series was Serling’s baby, a program that broke a lot of new ground on broadcast television and led to the creation of subsequent milestone programs like “Star Trek,” “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” and Serling’s own “Night Gallery.” And yes, Serling was passionate about “The Twilight Zone,” as he was often fighting for the integrity of the show during the series’ run, as well as for the integrity of television itself as a creative medium.
So while one wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Serling was distraught upon receiving the news that “The TwilightZone” was to finally be canceled after the airing of its fifth and final season, the truth is that he was fairly pragmatic about the situation. To be fair, hearing that Serling jumped out of a plane mid-air shortly following the cancellation invites all manner of assumptions, but there was nothing “A Stop at Willoughby” or “A Passage for Trumpet” about the coincidence. The reason for Serling’s jump had more to do with a personal invitation he received, along with his own history with the United States military.
Serling jumped from a plane to honor his WWII experiences
During a 1964 interview with The Miami Herald (via Me TV), conducted shortly after the cancellation of “The Twilight Zone,” Rod Serling revealed that he would be jumping out of an airplane at Fort Bragg to support the 82nd Airborne Division. When asked about the timing of this event, Serling clarified that it was all just a coincidence:
“There is no connection. I’m jumping out of an airplane for the 82nd Airborne Division. They sent me a note and said I had the guts they had the plane.”
Although Serling had become a national celebrity at the time thanks to his on-screen appearance in all 156 episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” it turns out that his being tapped by the 82nd Airborne to perform a jump was in honor of his military service during World War II. In that war, Serling had served as a paratrooper in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division.
While Serling ended up receiving numerous decorations during his military career — the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Philippine Liberation Medal — his time in the war was fraught with loss and traumatic experiences that went on to influence much of his work on “The Twilight Zone.” In particular, his time with the Infantry Regiment inspired the 1960 episode “The Purple Testament,” and his experiences with the 511th’s demolitions squad in the Philippines led to the 1961 episode “A Quality of Mercy.”
‘The Twilight Zone’ ended when it needed to, according to Rod Serling
During the interview, Serling revealed more of his thoughts surrounding the cancellation of “The Twilight Zone.” He made sure to point out that the decision to cancel the show wasn’t entirely final (and that it wasn’t the first time the show faced cancellation), even though it looked unlikely:
“The other time we were tossed off with the knowledge that we might come back in hour form. This time we have no assurances that we’ll ever come back, even as a five-minute commercial.”
Despite the slight chance that “The Twilight Zone” could have continued, Serling was quick to say that he wasn’t interested in moving the show to another network with more compromises, especially ABC, which was looking to make the show more macabre than Serling was comfortable with. He also explained why he felt the show having a home at CBS had run its course, too:
“I think ABC wanted a trip to the graveyard every week. We had differences of opinion. CBS didn’t even give me a chance to change the format. I think they’re preoccupying themselves with comedy fare.”
Ultimately, the cancellation of “The Twilight Zone” had more to do with Serling’s waning opinion of the series than any other factor, believing that the show was beginning to wear out its welcome:
“In a strange way, I don’t really blame them. To this extent, we’ve been on five years and I think the show took on kind of an aged look.”
It does seem like an anthology series such as “The Twilight Zone” could conceivably have run forever, given that there’s no serialized storyline or characters to drag out and keep around. Yet the flip side of that involves how much effort and originality is required for an anthology, with new stories, situations, sets, actors, and the like having to be found for each episode. Ironically, “The Twilight Zone” would find itself both canceled and revived throughout the decades following its first cancellation, with the series returning for a feature film in 1983, as well as a series of reboot/revival shows in 1985-89, 2002-03, and 2019-20. With all of this, plus the popularity of the holiday marathons of the original series in syndication, “The Twilight Zone” ended up existing within the titular liminal space that it created: it’s a show that’s never fully alive or dead, but always out there, somewhere to be found.