Kevin Williamson talks deleted 'The Following' scene & potential book tie-ins

Now that you've watched The Following and seen just how important Ryan Hardy's (Kevin Bacon) book is to the story, you want to read it, right?

(Please say yes, we need our own contingent of followers to push for a tie-in release!)

We had a chance to ask Kevin Williamson if the book was in the works, not unlike FOX and Warner Bros.' similar, recent deal with "September's Notebook" from Fringe.

"When would I do it? I'm a control freak, and I'd have to put that into the hands of somebody else [because] when would I have the time to do it? It's a first year show. Do you know how many times I've written an episode just to go, 'You know what, I'm glad we wrote this, but this is exactly what it shouldn't be.' I would rather read "The Gothic Sea" by Joe Carroll because it was a horrible novel. It was trashed by critics!" Williamson laughed when we sat down with him in Los Angeles.

In addition to Williamson being short on time, there is a lot of mythology and backstory to Carroll's crimes that would have to be revealed in a Hardy book release. The show would be better served to parcel out the information on-air and keep the audience on the edge of their seats with anticipation and tension. However, "The Gothic Sea" is a different story, and Williamson admitted some of it has already been written.

"We have a scene that got cut out in the second episode outside Claire Matthews' house where there are all these "Carroll-ers"-- they're these women dressed up in white robes, reading from "The Gothic Sea" and it's dreck. They're just groupies," Williamson said.

"One of my writers on my staff wrote, like, three or four pages of "The Gothic Sea" [for that scene], and it was just a lot of adjectives!"

Would you be interested in reading either book, either now or at the end of the series' run? And what are you thinking about The Following on FOX so far? Let us know in the comments below!

And not to editorialize but "A Carroll-er!?" We just found this year's Halloween costume!!

The Following airs on FOX on Monday nights at 9 p.m.

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