Alisha Boe, Justin Prentice and more discuss those major '13 Reasons Why' finale shockers.
Warning: Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you have not watched season 3 of Netflix's 13 Reasons Why. If you have, it is safe to continue...
13 Reasons Why is back and in a lot of ways it feels like a completely new show, centered on the murder of antagonist Bryce Walker. The season picks up eight months after season two ends -- when Clay (Dylan Minnette) thwarts an attempted school shooting by fellow student Tyler (Devin Druid).
No stranger to controversy, the show is asking for it again, showing the students of Liberty High banning together to hide that Tyler brought guns to school. But this time, we also get Bryce's murder mystery as Clay (who becomes suspect number one), Justin (Brandon Flynn) and the group -- including new addition, Ani (Grace Saif) -- try to figure out what really happened.
It's not until the final episode when viewers get their answer. Zach (Ross Butler) is the first to take a swing at Bryce on the dock following the Homecoming game, where a massive fight on the football field breaks out. He isn't the murderer though, he just leaves Bryce beaten, bruised and unable to walk.
Alex (Miles Heizer) and Jessica (Alisha Boe) show up shortly after, seemingly because Bryce asked to apologize to Jessica. He hands her a cassette tape with his confession on it, admitting he raped her.
"Sorry, it's got -- there's some blood on the case," Bryce says to Jess before handing her this tape.
"It owns up to everything I did," he continues. "You can play it for whoever you want or nobody -- if you can, maybe play it for Mrs. Baker though, she didn't want to talk to me.... I'm trying to set things right, I'm trying to be better but this [expletive] world won't let me."
It's that last part that Jess clearly can't compute. "This world won't let you?" she asks before she starts to walk away.
Then Alex hesitantly decides to help Bryce out, his own injured leg and all. It's in that moment though that Bryce's evil resurfaces, it doesn't seem like he's worked on himself or wanted to 'set things right' at all -- a storyline we watched play out all season.
"F**king Zach, I'm gonna wreck his life," he screams out in pain as Alex genuinely does seem to want to help him. Bryce then shifts his anger towards Jess, screaming that she set him up. That's when he goes too far in Alex's mind, and Alex, with all his might, pushes an injured and weak Bryce into the freezing water below.
"What surprised me most for sure was that she was part of killing Bryce," Boe told ET. "I was surprised she did not do it herself! I wanted to be the one that did the last push... yeah, it was interesting, that was definitely the most shocking part for me."
"I think that is still even in character for Bryce," Prentice told ET about what transpired in those final moments of Bryce's life. "I don't think it means that he has not learned anything on his journey.... I don't think, his response to Alex nullifies what he had learned up until that point, emotionally, how much he had grown, I just think that Bryce is pushed to default back on his own behavior in certain circumstances and you see that with different characters."
"So, even though he can be loving and empathetic towards one character, perhaps, you know, that does not mean that he won't default back to his years of being the alpha aggressor and provoked," Prentice added. "I think this is a moment where he is provoked and he just got his ass handed to him, and this is kind of his last kind of knife to the cut. There is not much he can do there, lying. It was really interesting and I thought it was done really well, I think it was an interesting way to end it."
Of course, Bryce's death wasn't the only one we saw this season. Montgomery 'Monty' de la Cruz (Timothy Granaderos) also died in the finale while serving a prison sentence after being falsely charged with Bryce's murder.
His sexuality struggles following season two's incredibly graphic bathroom scene were a big topic this season.
"You know, it's a couple of different things, It's definitely the jock, toxic, masculine culture," Granaderos told ET when asked about why it was so difficult for him to come to terms with his sexuality. "I don't think it's easy for them and they feel like they can not come out under the circumstances, and then his home life, you can see right away his father... I mean very closed minded, he uses very inappropriate language and I don't think he ever felt comfortable at home, even entertaining the idea that he might be attracted to men."
In the final episode, you see Monty's dad spit on him after the dad questions his son's sexuality in prison.
"His dad kind of comes down on him and I think you see right then and there, there is so much more to Monty's story than what meets the eye," he added.
Another major story line fans will see play out this season involves Tony's (Christian Navarro) family getting deported, which feels insanely real given it's a politically charged issue playing a big role in America today. It's something Navarro hopes fans will see more of next season, too.
"I think there's always more to explore in regards to race, until it is not an issue anymore," Navarro explained. "With this show particularly, yeah I think we will explore a little bit more in the fourth season, the implications and what it means in 2019 to be black or brown, but it is also wrapped up into a bigger story, we'll touch on it, but we aren't going to harp on it, I don't think anyway."
The cast has other hopes for season four, too.
"I just hope that she is able to graduate high school as a strong independent woman who is able to move through the world and not defined by her trauma," said Boe.
"I would hope through season four that whatever Monte's relationship is in that season, that he would be able to resolve some of the issues or come to peace with who he is as a human being... and maybe rest peacefully, I guess," Granaderos shared.
"I want to see something good happen to Tony," Navarro said. "There has been a lot of bad for everybody but he kind of bears the weight of this thing with the secret keeper and he was been there for Clay and Tyler through some rough times, so I am just hoping he gets a sliver of light in the darkness."
But don't plan to see much more of Bryce in the final season, though it's likely he will appear in some flashbacks.
"I feel like we have told a good bit of Bryce's story," Prentice revealed. "I feel like there is a nice bow on his story line and the audience doesn't probably want to see much more of it. We've seen enough of Brice. I think we laid it all out there. We got to see the a**hole side of him the first few seasons, and now we get to see the other facet of Bryce or at least him trying to at least hone another facet. I think he was been pretty well explored and as an actor I feel relief in moving forward with my life, and put everything out there with the character."
Season three of Thirteen Reasons Why is now streaming on Netflix.
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