The murder club is back, but this time, all bets are off! Asher’s (Matt McGorry) death hung heavily over the midseason premiere of How to Get Away with Murder, and as it turns out, his murder was the one that finally broke Annalise’s (Viola Davis) little coalition of killers apart.
Picking up right where we left off, the FBI raked Connor (Jack Falahee) and Michaela (Aja Naomi King) across the coals, and after ensuring that both of them would get favorable plea deals in exchange for giving up Annalise, they both agreed to switch sides. Meanwhile, Annalise found herself down in Mexico, but at the last minute she decided not to disappear after all, and the FBI swarmed in to arrest her.
Now, we’re left wondering if anyone is actually going to get away with murder after all. Connor and Michaela know where all the bodies are buried, but even if they give Annalise, Bonnie (Liza Weil), and Frank (Charlie Weber) up on everything, they’ll still serve five years in prison for their hand in all of it. Even worse, they’ll both have to lie about Sam’s (Tom Verica) death and say Annalise ordered them to kill her husband. It sure sounds like that plea deal is going to fall apart when and if the truth of Annalise’s innocence in Sam’s murder comes to light.
TV Guide caught up with showrunner Pete Nowalk to dig for answers about the FBI’s crusade against Annalise, the truth about Asher’s murder, and what in the hell Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch) was doing alive and well at Annalise’s funeral!
Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder
How many answers do we have coming our way in this final batch of episodes?
Pete Nowalk: First of all, we have to find out who killed Asher, and we will find that out very shortly and if that’s part of the bigger storyline or conspiracy — and I’m going to say yes. Probably one of my favorite twists is one you’re not even looking for and that will be revealed soon as well. And it ties back to why the FBI and the governor and why everyone is coming so hard for Annalise and who was part of that mob of people coming after her. We do a really, I think, interesting twist that sort of explains a lot of the show and the connections in the shows. I can’t be more specific than that because I don’t want you to see it coming. But I’m hoping it’s really satisfying. It was satisfying for me when we came up with it.
Where does Annalise go next now that Connor and Michaela have seemingly turned against her?
Nowalk: They have definitely turned against her. I think the team, the fake family that they were, has been obliterated. So there’s going to be different sides. I think Annalise is really the one that the FBI wants for whatever reason, so she’s going to have to now play offense and to make choices to sacrifice certain people just like Connor and Michaela have sacrificed Annalise for them to get away with it. What I love about these last six episodes is really, when push comes to shove, I think all of the characters are going to look out for themselves and really have to make the choices they’ve been avoiding making for six seasons. “How do I survive this, and what horrible choices do I have to make in order for me to feel free?
Discover Your New Favorite Show: Watch This Now!
And how messy is that going to get considering they all know where everyone’s respective bodies are buried.
Nowalk: It’s going to get very messy because as we saw, the FBI is asking them to lie about certain details — they’re asking Michaela and Connor to — and that’s so they get their verdict that they want. So nothing’s easy. It’s not like, just tell the truth and you’ll get away with it. It’s like, tell the truth and then fudge this little part. They all have a conscience, so they’re going to feel really guilty and torn up about that. And also, they can all kind of play each other against each other, so I think any pacts they make can be blown up at any point. It’s a little Game of Thrones except the throne here is who doesn’t get to wind up in jail.
Matt McGorry, How to Get Away with Murder
How much more are we going to learn about how Asher spent his final hours? Because it does seem like there’s more to that story.
Nowalk: There’s one more episode where we’ll see really what happens to him… We’ll find out what happened to Asher and who killed him and what decisions was he making in that moment.
What, if anything, can you tell us about that Wes reveal?
Nowalk: We will be answering that question shortly — there’s only six episodes… That has been the plan since the beginning of the season. It’s really why I was so excited about having an ending for the show, and it really involved in that reveal and the instinct to want to go back to the beginning and all the madness that started us on this journey. Having Wes and Alfie [Allen] come back was just like, perfect. Obviously we’ve been asking how did Annalise die? And now we want to know how did Wes factor into that?”
How much more will we be seeing Laurel (Karla Souza) in these final episodes?
Nowalk: We will see Laurel, I’ll say for more than one episode in ways that will surprise you. Obviously, she’s a point of mystery, so she’s going to be coming up a lot. They have to answer where she has been and what does she want at this point? Who is she working for? Is she on our side? Is she on Annalise’s side? Is she on Michaela and Connor’s side? But it’s really fun… Obviously her family, they’re very involved in this takedown of Annalise and all our people, so the Castillos will factor very heavily into our last six episodes.
Alfred Enoch, How to Get Away with Murder
Frank and Bonnie and Nate (Billy Brown) seem to exist outside of this investigation right now, but will they inevitably be pulled in?
Nowalk: Yeah, I think very soon we’ll see whose side they’re on. I think Frank and Barney are very indebted to each other right now, and they can see, “OK, if the FBI is coming for Annalise, we’re going to be part of that as well, so do we want to go and protect ourselves and run away and do Annalise did, or do we want to say on Team Annalise?” That’s kind of the decision they’re gonna have to make. Same with Nate. Everyone is going to be kind of forced to make a decision of who they want to align with or do they just want to align for themselves and sacrifice everyone else they love.
You sort of have to be asking yourself who is going to get away with murder when this all comes to an end, but do you think any of them deserve to get away with murder at this point?
Nowalk: I can’t answer “deserve” because I have morals as a person. I don’t think anyone should get away with murder. So no, I don’t think any of them should get away with their crimes, but I will say I do have feelings about which ones deserve it more than others and I could rank them, but I’m not going to do that. What was hard for me as the creator is to decide against my wants sometimes. So some people will get away with it that I don’t care about, and then other people won’t get away with it that I wish they would have, if that makes sense. It’s not going to be an ending where everyone gets a happy ending. Everyone is going to make choices that either free them or screw them.
How to Get Away with Murder airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.
Karla Souza, How to Get Away with Murder