While HBO entertainment president Carolyn Strauss felt Carnivàle had come to a natural end with its second season and gave this as the network's explanation for not renewing Carnivàle,[93] it was reported HBO president Chris Albrecht had originally wanted to conclude the second season of Carnivàle with a satisfying and close-ended confrontation between Brother Justin and Ben. Albrecht allegedly preferred a definite demise of Brother Justin to a cliffhanger,[94][95] but show creator Daniel Knauf stated Albrecht might have been misquoted. According to Knauf, Albrecht had wished in preproduction discussions to conclude season 2 with a fight between Brother Justin and Ben, which had always been Knauf's intention.