Creator Martin Gero talks to ET about the shocking twists from Friday's season three closer.
Warning: Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you have not watched Friday's season finale of Blindspot.
Blindspot turned back the clock in its finale -- literally.
On Friday's season three finale, Jane's (Jaimie Alexander) intuition that she may be pregnant with Weller's baby turned out to be wrong. The fatigue, the fainting spells? Those were all side effects due to the heavy doses of the ZIP (Zeta Interacting Protein) drug she was given that wiped away her memory the first time around. When Jane awoke in the hospital, she wasn't Jane at all; instead, identifying herself to be Remi and believing it to be years in the recent past -- her memory lapse an ominous sign that one of the brutal side effects of the ZIP drug was in full effect.
"We had been driving toward the side effects of this [drug] being a big deal," creator Martin Gero tells ET. "We had been playing that with Roman, where it hit Roman a little faster than it hit Jane. That's been something he was dealing with all year. We knew he wasn't going to live long enough to have those side effects be a big deal [for him]. But we all knew this would be a problem for Jane."
"Having her revert back to Remi was something we had been talking about since the first year. We figured this was the right moment in time to do it," he says of the haunting final scene, which featured Jane, believing herself to be Remi, by Weller's (Sullivan Stapleton) hospital bed as he lay unconscious following complications from his gunshot wound. A devilish smile curls up on her lips as one of the team members promises that they'll "get through this together."
To get the scoop on what this new wrinkle -- and the other finale bombshells (R.I.P. Roman!) -- means for the real Jane, Weller and the rest of the team moving forward, ET jumped on the phone with Gero to get answers on the biggest burning questions ahead of season four.
ET: Jane believes it's several years in the past when she wakes up and that she's Remi. Just from the few scenes in the finale, it's clear just how formidable Remi can be. Though we got a small glimpse into who she was over the past three seasons, what can we expect now that it appears Remi is here to stay for a significant amount of time?
Martin Gero: This version isn't Jane at all, it's Remi. The character that we've come to know and love as Jane is this person who we've evolved organically when she came out of the bag in Times Square . She's made connections and friendships and morality choices based on her experience. Part of why she's been able to become this person because she's really not in touch with who Remi was and is. This is a chance for us and Jane to really spend some time with Remi and show the audience just how dangerous she was.
The smirk that she gives at the end of the finale really encapsulates the roller-coaster ride that Remi is about to wreak. With the team currently unaware that Jane isn't Jane, how does this blow up their internal dynamic?
It's hard to talk about without getting too spoilery, but we're really excited about season four. It kind of returns to the storytelling that we did in season one, where Jane was working with the team, but was also working with Oscar and Sandstorm, and trying to figure out where her allegiance was. This will be similar, except that Remi is in town for a while. She's going to figure out that she's on her own. She doesn't realize that Sandstorm has been totally destroyed, her mother is in prison and her brother is dead. She's going to have to lay in wait and figure out what kind of moves she can make and go from there. That's what the beginning of the fourth season will be.
You're also effectively pitting Jane/Remi against the team. How quickly does the team figure out that what's going on with her?
Well, she's got a great cover because they all know she's suffering from some memory problems so any time she doesn't quite know what they're talking about, they're like, "Oh, poor Jane. She can't remember everything." She's got a great cover story. But again, it's kind of a spoiler but it won't just be one episode, it'll be the early part of next season. I'll give you this: It's safe to assume that Weller will be one of the first to slowly figure it out.
Roman left several drives around the world containing answers to tattoo mysteries and clues to a potential cure for Jane's ZIP poisoning. How big of a priority is this for the team with Jane's health in limbo?
There's great urgency to try and find these drives. These tattoo clues are still incredibly useful for them for a bunch of reasons: 1) Even though Crawford is dead, they want to take down HCI Global, and 2) There seems to be some research [regarding] Jane's health problems and you need the drives for them, so they're going to want to find these pretty fast. Unfortunately, they're stored in secure places so that they won't fall into the wrong hands, but also, getting them to the right hands is going to be pretty difficult.
Last we see Weller, he's in very bad shape dealing with complications from the gunshot wound. I imagine he'll come out of it eventually, but when he does, how crippled will he be and does it affect his work in the field moving forward?
He's not back to normal anytime soon. There's going to be a time jump between seasons -- it'll probably be a couple of months -- and [at the start of season four], he's starting to come back from it. He's not out in the field right away. It'll be interesting for him, because Weller is so Type A and likes to be in control and suddenly, he won't physically be able to get right back in there. It really adds a great dynamic to the start of the new season.
We have to talk about the Zapata twist. She's now working for the enemy, teaming up with Blake, and making an ominous declaration that she's ready to "take back the world." Can you talk about having her come into her own -- maybe not in the way we'd expected -- and having her go on this ride?
Zapata has been figuring out where to go, where she belongs for the past couple of years. The FBI hasn't felt right, the CIA hasn't felt exactly right. She's been looking for a place where she feels like she can make a difference in the world, and Zapata's morality is a little more flexible than everybody else's. She sees in Blake a huge opportunity to influence someone who's now one of the most powerful people in the world and to be at their side. It's going to be a fun plotline for her.
Should we consider Zapata to be a villain for season four?
You'll just have to see! There are a lot of bad guys in season four.
Zapata and Reade finally took the plunge in the romance department, only for Zapata to break things off quickly thereafter. What is their romantic outlook?
I would love it if those two got together. There are some challenges because Zapata has gone rogue. I hope we'll get them there eventually, but it won't happen at the beginning of the season.
Let's talk about Roman. I'm bummed that he's no longer with us! Were you set on his story ending with his death by Blake's hand? Did you have any conversations or thoughts about having him survive and maybe joining the FBI?
That was the ending that we had come up with for the character before we had even cast Luke [Mitchell], but then we cast Luke, who is just the best human and actor. For us, we were like, "Oh god, how do we stop this? How do we save Roman?" (Laughs.) The reality is, as a character, he's the key to a lot of things -- he created these new tattoos -- so whoever's side he chose, he becomes way too powerful an ally. If he teamed up with Blake, he'd be able to freeze out the FBI team and the tattoos wouldn't work. Or if he came on the FBI side, when it comes to the tattoos, he'd be like, "OK, here's everything," and the tattoos wouldn't work. No matter how you sliced it, if he was alive, it would kind of wreck the show in a way. It was heartbreaking, but we had to do it.
Roman and Jane shared one last moment together as he was dying, where he confessed that he was "not ready" for death. Since you directed the finale, take us through filming that moment.
I was the most vocal about how do we keep [Roman] from dying. Luke is truly -- he's in the top three actors I've ever worked with -- he's so incredible. That was a very difficult scene to shoot, not only because it was so emotional, but we played it as a sunset [even though] it was actually a sunrise. We got there when it was still dark, we rehearsed the scene and that light was beautiful, but we had to do it very, very fast. Both [Luke and Jaimie] were so incredible. They really have such an amazing chemistry. It was insanely beautiful. We were in Cape Town. We were looking over the city and the Cable Mountains. It was a very emotional moment for all of us.
Roman leaves a very cryptic phone message to someone, where he suggests there's a bigger plan in play when he tells the mystery person, "I kept my end of the deal. Now it's your turn." Who did Roman leave the message for?
You will definitely find out next season.
Is it someone we already know or someone we're about to meet?
That is one of our biggest spoilers, so we gotta keep that one quiet for now.
Roman says in his message that he left all his money to them and that they have to "keep working" or "this would have all been for nothing." What is he referring to? Is it related to anything we are aware of?
We'll just have to wait and see. (Laughs.)
Still really, really sad about Roman's demise.
I don't think this will be the last time you'll see Luke Mitchell on the show. There will be ample opportunity for flashbacks.
Before we learned what's really going on with Jane's health, she believes the fatigue and the passing out are signs that she's pregnant, and Weller seems excited about the prospect of a baby. (Watch ET's exclusive sneak peek of the scene.) Was that a road you were comfortable heading on for real at the end of this season?
No, not yet. For us, it was important to have a roundness to the season as we always do. In the premiere, it started with a two-hour joy bomb with how happy these two were. And just as they were starting to talk about maybe having a kid of their own, it was interrupted and they haven't had a moment to breathe since then. It was nice to get back to a point where, at the end of a chapter, they had gotten through all of the stuff they needed to get through and having a conversation about maybe having a kid again. But, as is our way, it got interrupted and they have to deal with some stuff now.
Is that a destination that you want them to get to for a final season or series finale?
Yeah, I think in having a free and clear life where they could actually feel safe enough to start a family would be nice for them. I hope that we can get them there.
Blindspot returns Fridays this fall on NBC.
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