It’s a leap of faith doing any serialised storytelling.

Abrams is pointing to the inherent uncertainty in long-form, episodic narrative: creators commit to a premise and tone before they can fully know how characters, audience expectations, production realities, or network demands will evolve over time. In serialized storytelling, each installment must satisfy in the moment while also sustaining momentum and coherence across a larger arc—often without the luxury of having every future beat locked. The “leap of faith” is both artistic and practical: trusting that mysteries will pay off, that viewers will stay invested between chapters, and that the team can adapt without breaking the story’s internal logic.