Exclusive postmortem: How to Get Away with Murder boss on that killer finale and what's next
BY NATALIE ABRAMS
Posted February 26 2015 11:00 PM EST
WARNING: This story contains major spoilers from the season finale of How to Get Away with Murder. If you have not watched yet, turn back now!
How to Get Away with Murder delivered a killer season finale on Thursday night as one of the shows central characters met her demiseand viewers will now have to wait roughly seven months to figure out who killed her!
During the two-hour season-ender, Wes (Alfred Enoch) was determined to figure out whether Rebecca (Katie Findlay) was responsible for Lila Stangards (Megan West) murder after mental patient Rudy all but pointed the finger at her. Through flashbacks to that Murder Night, we learned that Rudy witnessed Rebecca and Lila fighting as the sorority girl blamed Rebecca for all her horrible recent decisionslike sleeping with Mr. Darcy, aka Sam Keating (Tom Verica). Because Lila vowed to get back with Griffin (Lenny Platt), Rebecca hooked up with him to prove he was a bad guy. Little did she know, Rebecca had inadvertently ruined Lilas plan to sleep with her old boyfriend so she could say Sams baby was actually Griffins. Running out of options, Lila planned to tell Annalise (Viola Davis) the truth about her husband, but was thwarted by Bonnie (Liza Weil).
When Sam later met Lila on the roof of the sorority house, he promised that he was finally leaving Annalise and ran off to tell herbut, of course, that was all a lie. Instead, he called Frank (Charlie Weber), pointing out that Annalises bulldog owed him a favor, after which you see that it was not Rebecca or Sam who killed Lila, but Frank, who choked her to death before dumping her body in the water tower. Dun. Dun. Dunnn.
Meanwhile, in the present, Annalise and the Keating Five held a mock trial to prove Rebecca was guilty of Lilas murdersadly, she was only guilty of drugging Rudy with PCP and bath salts so he couldnt talk to the cops about her fight with Lila and finding her wet after she hid in the water tower when she discovered her friends already-dead body. Forced to tie her up in the basement after she sent a cryptic text to a mysterious numberwhat the heck is Eggs 911?Rebecca suddenly seemingly escaped the Keating residence to everyones dismay. In truth, someone killed Rebecca and hid her body under the staircase. Who did the deed? And whats next for the Keating Five? EW sat down with series creator Pete Nowalk to press him for info in the exclusive postmortem below:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you always know Frank would be Lilas killer?
PETE NOWALK: No. It was a possibility, but I was more like, the audience watching it in terms of the way we wrote it: which one of these two people, Rebecca or Sam, killed Lila? Thats always how it was in my head, and I was like, Thats going be cool. Which one? Its like in Serial: Did Adnan do it? But then that was in the midst of rewriting and feeling things out and being really excited about that idea when it was being pitched, because, for me, it raises so many more questions about Frank and Sam and who Frank is. Im really excited to delve into all of that.
You actually had two different endings. Do you want to say what the other one was?
I dont want to say what the other ending is, because it might be incorporated into the next season.
Who else did you consider besides Frank? There was a moment I thought it could be Bonnie or even Asher (Matt McGorry).
If you could figure out how Asher would have done it, then you would have deserved a medal. The world cant be tiny town in terms of, how would Asher have known? We only had a few options, to me, that felt real, unless it was someone completely random. One of the other writers pitched it to me in our mad lets just think outside the box of everything that could happen. Again, it just felt like this weird thing weve had set up the whole season of who Frank is and what his deal is. The only real scene that Sam and Frank were in together was in the pilot, when Sam comes home and Bonnies watching the news about dead Lila, and Frank is there, but they dont exchange any words. Its just really fascinating to me now that that scene, where we watch Sam and Annalise come home from the cocktail party in the pilot, and Bonnies all there and she kisses Sam on the cheekFrank and Sam are ignoring each other, but they have this whole, huge knowledge of something that just went on between the two of them. Its probably the first time theyve seen each other since the phone call. All of that just felt so rich and like wed planted it from the beginning. Or maybe we had subconsciously.
There was a question of how the characters would feel if Sam didnt kill Lila, which helped them justify his death. Technically, Sam gave the order to kill Lila. Do you feel that still justifies it?
Yes. When Annalise said Sam killed Lila, its true. What she doesnt know, and what nobody else knows besides Frank, is that its much more twisted and messed up, and its going to cause a lot more problems for them than she even realizes. Along the same lines of that, Rebecca is dead, but that is not justified in any weird morality, eye for an eye type of way. So yes, whether they were ever justified in killing Sam, thats just something theyre telling themselves so they can move on in their life, but the house of cards is still falling down, and mistakenly, bad things are happening to other people who maybe dont deserve it.
Will we find out what Frank owed Sam?
Yes, for sure. That is a very big favor, and we would be mistaken not to answer that question for the audience.
Deep down, do you think Annalise knows Frank killed Lila? Or is she as unaware as anyone else?
That is a question I want to leave hanging for people, because some people could assume Annalise knows that. Theres also the possibility that she knows nothing. Another man has betrayed her in her life, someone she thought was loyal and she could trust. Thats something I want people to wonder about before we answer it.
So, the audience knows that Frank is the killer, but will the Keating Five ever know the truth?
When we end this episode, Annalise truly believes theyll never know for real, and she started the season saying that: You just dont know people, and youll never know. There can be all the evidence in the world that says one thing, but unless you see it with your own eyes, I dont think you can believe it. Theres a way that they can find out the truthin fact, someones still living that knows the truth. That will be the fun mystery for next season is if theyre going to figure that out and how that then affects them.
During the episode when Bonnie and Asher are in bed, Bonnie makes mention that she knows things about Frank that could bury him. Is she alluding to him helping cover up Sams murder or does she know he killed Lila?
It could definitely run deeper. There are questions of like, What did Bonnie mean by that? and How much does she know? The question, of course, is, Does she know that he killed Lila? With Frank and Bonne, we havent even touched upon what their backstories are, when they first met, and how they know each other, and what they know about each other. Theres a lot of ground to be investigated there.
Lets turn to Rebeccas shocking death. When did Katie Findlay find out that Rebecca was going to die? And will we see her back next season?
I hope so. Obviously, we do a lot of flashbacks on the show. As a person who loves Katie and [she] has become my friend, that made it a little bit easier for me to have to tell her, Look, your characters going to end up dead at the end of the finale. Just knowing that Sams dead, but we still see him a lot, and not wanting to lose a wonderful actor on the show and a character I really find fascinating. So, I hope so. Thats all to be determined right now. Theres the questions of whos Eggs 911? Theres the question of how did she end up dead in the basement? I feel like theres things were going need to hopefully see her for.
What came with the decision to kill off Rebecca? And how far back did you know she would ultimately die?
Not far back. Part of me wanted to not do another death, so it was really just following the story. Once we got back from the holiday for the New Year, and we were breaking the final hour of the finale, we were just following the story and it just felt right, especially after learning that Sam is really the one responsible for Lilas deathand Frank. It just made it much more sad to me that she died. Emotionally, it felt very interesting to play for next season. Theres also the interest in that Annalise is lying to Wes when she says, Well find Rebecca. There are more secrets that come from it and a lot of Annalise wanting to protect Wes from this knowledge, because she knows that he really does love Rebecca.
And yet, part of me thinks: What if Wes killed her? Is that a fair question?
Thats a very fair statement. The last person we saw with her alive was Wes. Time has passed since that, but everythings fair game in the show.
He was really emotional in that final scene with Annalise. Some might say thats because he worries he wasnt justified in killing Sam, but it could be because he just killed Rebecca.
The puppy is a mystery to us, too. Rebecca says that thing about his mother being dead, and whether it was really a suicide. Obviously, I like the idea that people wonder about the characters and what theyre capable of, because theyre all human people, but, Who knows what were all capable of? has been a central theme, for me, just in writing the show. Its fun.
Rebecca seemed to be trying to turn the Keating Five against each other when she said that about Wes mother, but could it actually be true?
I want people to wonder about all the characters, so thats all Ill say.
Lets go back to Eggs 911. Is this something that we could figure out if we go back and rewatch the episodes? Or do we not have enough information yet?
Ill just relate it to the fingernail scratches: If you could figure out that, then you could figure out Eggs 911. If you feel like you could not figure out that, then you probably will not figure out Eggs 911. Im just trying to give credit. Some people spin really interesting theories, and sometimes Im afraid that theyre going to get it right; thats our challenge is to make sure that theyre not obvious enough, but they also feel real.
Is the recipient of the Eggs 911 text a new character or a character we already know?
I wont say.
Before she died, Rebecca went to the police. Was that just to find out who the rent-a-cop was?
She went to the campus police. It might not be clear, but I want to be clear that she did go to the campus police. Whether that was just to find out where the rent-a-cop went or was she leaving a breadcrumb there for someone is up in the air. We didnt see her in the police station. Thats a fair question.
Im sure many will suspect Frank killed Rebecca, even though he told Annalise he didnt. But is it too obvious that it would be him? Should we widen our scope to even some of the Keating Five?
I dont want to steer people in any direction in how they should think of the show. Sometimes well give them the most obvious answer, and sometimes we dont. I feel like as long as people are wondering and questioning and trying to figure out who did it, then weve done our job for the season, and well answer those questions when we start again.
You said you were hesitant to do another murder night. This technically wasnt at night, but do you feel the show needs to be marked by these big murder events?
The show needs mystery more than murder events. The first season has been a few murder mysteries, so whether those are murders or other types of mysteries, thats really, for me, the fun in writing the show is solving these questions. But again, literally our rules, we just follow the stories. We try not to think of it in terms of, What is our hook this season? but more, just write what feels like the natural next step that would happen in these circumstances.
Do you think Wes still really cared for and loved Rebecca?
Hes definitely heartbroken over the idea that she lied to him, because she did never tell the whole story of that night. Part of him wonders if he still does know the whole story. Hes confused. The pure side of him wants to believe that shes telling the truth, and shes a wounded bird, and he needs to love her in order to heal her. The others scared. Hes caught in the middle still.
Can he come back from this? Or has he cracked completely?
He can come back from it. How that looks and who he turns intoto me, the conflict is: Can he stay the puppy? Can he want to see good in the world anymore, or is he just now totally scarred and cynical and turning more into Annalise? Has he seen too much?
Annalise yelled at him, Be a man! How does their relationship change moving forward?
Its always going to be a rollercoaster ride. Theyre tethered to each other in a very screwed up way, but they really need each other. Annalise is figuring it out whether she should be maternal to him or whether she should be a teacher or what that looks like. Theyre both reacting to everything in the moment. When shes yelling at him, she honestly means that, like Be a man! Then when she sees that Rebeccas dead and realizes Wes is so broken, she feels like she needs to comfort him. Shes just like a parent figuring it out as she goes, how to handle him. But theres still a lot of secrets between them that will rock them a lot more.
Annalise has been staying strong, likely because shes determined to help these kids, but will she be able to take a breath again soon and realize how messed up her life has become?
When does she get to take a breath and be like, Okay, everything in my life is going to be okay? I dont think soon. There are a lot of problems to be fixed, and she deals in the darkness. She chose a job where shes representing the darkest parts of life, so that is life to her. She went to therapy, as someone pointed out, Why do you dip your toe in the dark waters versus choosing a simple and happier life? Thats just an interesting character flaw for her. She ultimately wants to make things OK, and shes going work very hard to do that, and struggle with what that looks like.
After Annalise told ADA Emily Sinclair (Sarah Burns) a new story about Sam and Nate (Billy Brown) having a physical altercationall so she could get Nate out of jail, surprisinglythe prosecutor showed up at Ashers house to ask questions about Annalise. Why did she go to Asher in particular?
Thats a good question. Where did this prosecutor come from, and what does she know, and how did she end up at Ashers? Annalise is really smart, but theres a lot of other smart people that work on the other side of the courtroom. To me, whats appealing about that character is that she seems kind of daffy on the outside, but clearly is maybe using that as a cover. To me, what I want people to think about her going to Asher is like, Oh, they know. Theyve been watching these people and know things at a much deeper level than weve come to suspect at this point.
When Nate called Annalise to meet, I was worried that he was recording her. Not true, right?
I wont say either way.
Nate did call the phone number that Annalise had given him, so will whoever is on the other line play a big role next season?
I wont say a big role, because I dont know yet, but I hope it plays a very important role. Who is this person that Annalise knows that can help him? Thats really exciting to think about who that person is and how they know Annalise and if theres any backstory there.
Do you have any dream casting?
I do, but I dont want to say, because I dont want it to be like one sex or the other. I just wont want people to read into it. And its still such in its preliminary stages that it could change completely.
Could Annalise live with herself if Nate died because of her?
It would be very hard for her to keep going and also question what the hell shes doing with her life and how did she end up here. But it would be very difficult for her to keep going.
I like your theory about him being the product of Annalise' rape. 
They actually had me wondering if Nate had killed Lila and framed Sam to be with Analise, only to end up ironically framed for killing Sam.
