Daniel Knauf, creator and executive producer of "Carnivale," has revealed quite a bit of information since it's cancellation about how the show's storyline and mythology would have developed had it continued. Among the more interesting points:
"Avataric Rules"
One Blood.
Two Houses- Light and Dark.
Two Avatars per generation- eldest males- one light, one dark.
The nature of Avatars is random- dark can beget light and light can beget dark.
One "Prophet" (dominant/eldest male) per House; one or more "Princes," depending on the number of generations alive at one time.
The Prince must kill the Prophet with his own hands in order to gain his full measure of power. (When the Prophet dies, the Prince shall rise).
The Alpha was the first Avatar, a female. The Omega- Sofie- is the last Avatar, also female. Her true function has yet to be revealed.
The Usher- in addition to his status as the current generation's Avatar of Darkness, Justin is also the Usher of Destruction- a harbinger of the End Times, foretold in a thousand books by a thousand names. Unlike most Avatars, who can heal faster than normal humans but are still mortal and can thus be killed in a variety of ways, Justin can ONLY be killed by an annointed blade (one infused with Avataric blood), and only if it's driven into his heart at the spot on his tatoo where the branches meet.
The Avataric mantle is passed from father to son; if an Avatar dies without producing a male heir, the line passes to the next male child, born anywhere in the world, with the most "avataric blood." A person with avataric blood (who is not himself an Avatar) is called a Vectorus. All the characters on the show who exhibit supernatural abilities (Ben, Justin, Scudder, Belyakov, Sofie, Lodz, Ruthie, etc.) are either Avatars, Vectori, or people who have been "touched" by Avatars (like Ruthie, who was resurrected by an Avatar; or Lodz, who lost his sight when Scudder tried to pass along a portion of his power to his friend).
A woman who carries an Avatar to term will afterwards be rendered insane and infertile.
Season 3
The show's third season would have opened in 1939 (four years after the end of Season 2). The Carnivale has disbanded; Ben would have been traveling (possibly with another carnival), trying to reunite the main characters in order to make a stand against Justin. Jonesy (who survived his gunshot wound) would still be married to Libby, and would be playing major league baseball. Justin, in the meantime, would have continued building his ministry in New Canaan, with both Sofie and Iris still at his side (as well as a small child being thrown into the mix, though we're not sure whose). The wound inflicted to his heart by Ben hasn't healed completely, thus posing a continuing threat to his life.
Knauf conceived the storyline for the show as being divided into 3 "books," each book comprising two seasons. Book I (seasons 1 and 2) was set between 1934 and 1935; Book II (seasons 3 and 4) would've taken place between 1939 and 1940; and Book III would've stretched from 1944 to 1945.
