Will there be a 'Mare of Easttown' season 2? The director is open to continuing Mare's story 'if enough fans are excited about it'

• "Mare of Easttown" aired its twist-filled finale on HBO on Sunday night.
• The show had the perfect ending, answering most of the big questions.
• Director Craig Zobel previously said that it's meant to be a limited series but he's open to more.

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the finale of "Mare of Easttown."

Sunday's "Mare of Easttown" finale answered almost all of the big questions posed by the murder mystery, leaving little room for a second season - although the director previously told Insider he could be open to doing more with Mare's character.

For seven episodes, viewers have watched Kate Winslet play Mare Sheehan, a detective trying to solve the mystery of Erin's (played by Cailee Spaeny) murder and Katie's (played by Caitlin Houlahan) disappearance.

The finale revealed that Erin's uncle, John (played by Joe Tippett), fathered Erin's baby after having an affair with her and that John's teen son, Ryan (played by Cameron Mann), killed Erin while trying to scare the young mother into staying away from his father.

Even Katie, who'd gone missing for over a year until Mare rescued her from the attic of the local man, Wayne Potts (played by Jeb Kreager), who was holding her captive, moves into a new home in the finale and has a happy ending.

With the finale tying up virtually all of the loose ends, "Mare of Easttown" director Craig Zobel previously confirmed to Insider that the show was "truly designed as a mini-series" but said he isn't totally opposed to a second season.

"I think that if enough fans are excited about it, I certainly am fascinated by Mare Sheehan, and it would be good if we could see her more," Zobel told Insider over the phone on May 13, several weeks before the finale aired.

On the other hand, Zobel said he likes "there being kind of an end to a story," arguing that the show might work best if it stays a limited series as intended.

'Mare of Easttown' doesn't need a second season

The two big mysteries at the heart of the thriller - Katie's disappearance and Erin's murder - are solved by the time the credits starting rolling at the end of the series finale.

Creator and executive producer Brad Ingelsby told Town & Country Magazine in April that the show is not about a true crime story he was interested in.

Rather, he told the publication that it is meant to tell the story of "a crime that felt like it could generate the most conflict within a small community."

In addition to successfully answering the questions posed by the thriller, the finale also delivers on the promise Ingelsby made about telling the story of a community in crisis.

In one tender scene in Sunday's episode, even as Mare is seconds away from discovering the gun used to kill Erin, she's seen comforting an elderly man who's recently lost his wife.

Similarly, the final scene in the series isn't some breathless chase through the woods to catch the murderer. Instead, it shows Mare climbing into the attic where her son died by suicide and confronting the grief of losing a child.

The only somewhat-loose end from the "Mare of Easttown" finale is that viewers don't quite know where Dylan, Erin's ex-boyfriend, went the night she was murdered. It's mentioned in a few episodes of the series that he disappeared for a few hours that night, which made him a suspect in her killing at one point.

It's very likely that Dylan was away to make arrangements to pay for Erin's baby's ear surgery, but the show doesn't confirm anything, and while the subplot is certainly intriguing, it's not enough material for an entire new season.

While "Mare of Easttown" fans might want to see more of Winslet's critically-acclaimed performance as Mare, the show ends on the perfect note, and it's probably time to say goodbye to the detective and her iconic vape.