Rod Serling jumped out of the plane after The Twilight Zone was cancelled

No, don’t run 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 figure out whether Serling was suffering from depression surrounding the cancellation of the series that would become his lifelong legacy and beyond, the original 1959-64 “The Twilight Zone.” Sure enough, the series was Serling’s baby, a show It broke a lot of new ground in broadcast television It led to the creation of subsequent notable programs such as “Star Trek,” “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” and Serling’s own “Night Gallery.” And yes, Serling was passionate about The Twilight Zone, often fighting for the integrity of the show while the series was running, 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 finally canceled after its fifth and final season aired, the truth is that he was somewhat pragmatic about the situation. To be fair, hearing that Serling jumped out of a plane in midair so soon after the cancellation invites all sorts of assumptions, but there were none. “Stop at Willoughby’s.” Or “Passage to the Trumpet” about coincidence. The reason for Serling’s jump had more to do with the personal invitation he received, coupled with his own history with the US military.

During a 1964 interview with the Miami Herald (Via I TV), which took place shortly after the cancellation of “The Twilight Zone”, Rod Serling revealed that he would jump out of a plane at Fort Bragg in support of the 82nd Airborne Division. When asked about the timing of this event, Serling explained that it was all just a coincidence:

“No contact. I jumped out of the plane to join the 82nd Airborne Division. They sent me a message saying I had courage because they had the plane.”

Although Serling became a national celebrity at the time thanks to… He appears on screen in all 156 episodes of The Twilight Zone, It turns out that being tapped by the 82nd Airborne Division to perform a jump was in honor of his military service during World War II. In that war, Serling 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 losses and traumatic experiences that influenced much of his “war” work. The Twilight Zone.” In particular, his time with an infantry regiment was the inspiration for the 1960 episode “The Purple Reign.” His experiences with the 511th Demolition Squad in the Philippines led to the 1961 episode “The Quality of Mercy”.

During the interview, Serling revealed more of his thoughts on canceling “The Twilight Zone.” He was careful to point out that the decision to cancel the show wasn’t completely final (that is This wasn’t the first time the show faced cancellation), although it seemed unlikely:

“The other time, we were afraid we might come back an hour later. This time we have no guarantees we’ll ever come back, even if it’s a five-minute commercial.”

Despite the slim possibility of “The Twilight Zone” continuing, Serling was quick to say that he was not interested in moving the show to another network with more concessions, especially ABC, which was looking to make the show scarier than Serling did. He was comfortable with. He also explained why he felt the show that had a home at CBS had ended as well:

“I think ABC wanted a trip to the cemetery every week. We had differences of opinion. CBS wouldn’t even give me a chance to change the format. I think they’re getting caught up in comedy.”

Ultimately, the cancellation of “The Twilight Zone” had more to do with Serling’s declining opinion of the series than any other factor, believing that the show was beginning to wear out its favor:

“In a weird way, I don’t really blame them. To this point, we’ve been here for five years and I think the show has taken on a kind of dated look.”

It feels like an anthology series like “The Twilight Zone” could go on forever, since there’s no threaded story or characters to pull out and hold. However, the flip side of that involves the amount of effort and originality required for an anthology, with new stories, situations, sets, actors and the like to be found in every episode. Ironically, “The Twilight Zone” would find itself canceled and revived over the decades following its initial cancellation, as the series continued return for a feature film in 1983, as well as a series of reboots/revivals in 1985-89, 2002-03, and 2019-20. With all this, plus the popularity of the original series’ holiday marathons in syndication, “The Twilight Zone” ended up existing within the nominal liminal space it created: a show that’s never quite alive or dead, but is always out there, somewhere it can be Find it.