Quinn (Anthony Zerbe) shot the sheriff, but he did not shoot the deputy.
With apologies to Bob Marley, thus begins an unconventional finale to an equally unconventional Western. A Western featuring a motorcycle riding cowboy in 1901 that disdained guns was perhaps more than the viewing public in 1971 could deal with, even given the "nod nod wink wink" charisma of Garner. With the show tanking in the ratings, the decision was made by the producers to kill off the lead character. However, there are two separate explanations for this decision. One was that by replacing the character with Nichols' twin brother (the only difference here is the twin had a porn stache), the series might become just conventional enough to get renewed. But that didn't happen and the series was canceled by NBC just before the episode aired. The other explanation, one given by Garner himself, was that by killing off the lead character, there would be no chance of reviving the series. So the twin comes riding into town, deals out justice to the killers, then rides into the sunset on his late brother's bike, saying that maybe he'd come back. Ironically, due to the preemption of an earlier episode, the finale turned out to be the second-to-last one aired. Thus, the original Nichols came back from the dead for a week.
With apologies to Bob Marley, thus begins an unconventional finale to an equally unconventional Western. A Western featuring a motorcycle riding cowboy in 1901 that disdained guns was perhaps more than the viewing public in 1971 could deal with, even given the "nod nod wink wink" charisma of Garner. With the show tanking in the ratings, the decision was made by the producers to kill off the lead character. However, there are two separate explanations for this decision. One was that by replacing the character with Nichols' twin brother (the only difference here is the twin had a porn stache), the series might become just conventional enough to get renewed. But that didn't happen and the series was canceled by NBC just before the episode aired. The other explanation, one given by Garner himself, was that by killing off the lead character, there would be no chance of reviving the series. So the twin comes riding into town, deals out justice to the killers, then rides into the sunset on his late brother's bike, saying that maybe he'd come back. Ironically, due to the preemption of an earlier episode, the finale turned out to be the second-to-last one aired. Thus, the original Nichols came back from the dead for a week.