Mr Robot season 2 hid digs at its network in the dialogue

'Characters like you aren’t welcome here'

Mr. Robot has revelled in being disruptive in its first two seasons, screwing with narrative traditions and intentionally leaking episodes.

As with The Girlfriend Experience on Starz, it’s always been a little odd that the show has been on USA, a network not generally known for quality drama.

Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail actually started poking fun of this, referencing the network’s shows and slogans in the dialogue.

The series title “Burn Notice” was slipped in, as was tagline “blue skies”, but the best was the corruption of the “Characters Welcome” slogan in the line “characters like you aren’t welcome here”.

Asked how USA responded, Esmail told Variety: “Can I just say that was done with pure love and USA knows that. When they read it, they thought it was hilarious.”

He also teased the third season, saying of the finale’s coda: “We wanted to resolve all of the mysteries we’d been setting up all season, Trenton and Mobley their whereabouts being one of them. We find out they have gotten away, or so they think. And here comes Leon, who’s definitely an agent of the Dark Army.

“His intentions remain to be seen. We’ll definitely get into it in the third season.”

Season 3 will arrive on USA sometime in 2017.