UPDATED: Veronica Mars to Ditch Neptune for the FBI Academy in Quantico?

Will Veronica be saying goodbye to Neptune?

If Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas has his way, that might be just what happens next year, if the struggling mystery series is picked up for a fourth season of noir-tinged intrigue.

Despite reports yesterday that Veronica Mars had been cancelled, The Hollywood Reporter has indicated that Thomas has devised a plan to "fast-forward a couple of years and have [Veronica] studying at the FBI Academy."

While the series' current season has layed the groundwork for this to occur at some point in the future (criminology professor/murderer Hank Landry has pushed Veronica to apply for an internship), the change would in fact significantly alter the series, propelling the timeline several years in the future and shifting the series' locale from sunny California to Quantico, Virginia.

Thomas is said to be filming a trailer for an "alternative" fourth season and will be submitting it to the CW for consideration. Network executives will then be able to choose with the following options: (A) ordering a fourth season of Veronica Mars with new FBI academy direction, (B) ordering a fourth season with the current Hearst College-based timeline in place, or (C) not ordering a fourth season at all.

Personally, I find myself extremely torn by this information.

On the one hand, I want the show's producers to anything that will keep Veronica Mars on the air for as long as possible (without sacrificing the quality, natch). However, I'm also a little concerned what impact a radically different direction would have on the struggling series. After all, it's hardly likely that much beloved supporting characters Mac, Logan, or Wallace (not to mention Papa Mars) would somehow follow Veronica from Neptune to the FBI Academy in Quantico.

The shift from a college-set VM to a possibly darker adult setting could possibly change the perception of the show in the public's fickle mind (which could still perceive the brilliantly written and acted drama as a "teen" series) and might pull in a wider audience than another season of Hearst College-based young adult angst. But I'm definitely concerned what longtime viewers will think of the change. (I'm thinking here of the massive--and misguided--changes over at Alias, which preceded that series' cancellation.)

So what does this mean for our favorite intrepid sleuth? I'm not sure yet. But it does point favorably to the fact that Dawn Ostroff and the CW execs are at least open to the idea of a fourth season of Veronica Mars, whether that's set in Neptune or Quantico.

Fingers crossed that it's the fourth season that makes the most sense for the show long-term.

UPDATED: I've received an official comment from Rob Thomas, creator/executive producer of Veronica Mars, via Warner Bros. Television publicity:

"Each year we pitch to the network what the show will look like in an upcoming season," said Thomas. "This "FBI Version" of Veronica Mars will be one option that we present to the network. We're entirely prepared to proceed with Veronica Mars: The College Years as well. Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces the show, certainly wouldn't be investing time, money and effort into a presentation if they didn't believe wholeheartedly in the show."

Stay tuned.