Minnette doesn’t think season three of ’13 Reasons Why’ will be an easy journey for Clay, and reveals whether or not he expects to have a new love interest on the Netflix drama moving forward.
*Spoilers ahead for 13 Reasons Why season two*
Season two of 13 Reasons Why is currently streaming on Netflix, but fans who have already watched the season are already wondering what’s in store for season three, which is slated for release in 2019.
ET exclusively sat down with the show’s star, Dylan Minnette, and he too has the next chapter of the show on his mind – and revealed some of his thoughts and hopes on what’s to come for his character, Clay.
1. What happens after that finale cliffhanger outside the school?
In the controversial season two finale, Clay prevents an attempted school shooting by fellow student Tyler. The actor opened up about the criticism of Clay’s decision in the scene, but also shared what he thinks happens next.
“I’d be surprised if the story isn’t, like, immediately picked up where it left off,” Minnette says. “I feel like the 13 Reasons Why fashion is there's a time jump and we just put together the pieces of what happened in between. I don’t know, I’m not confirming, but that's where I feel like it’s going. I don’t know what Clay does with that gun, I don’t know how he gets out of it,” he adds. “When we were filming it I did not realize that the sirens would sound that close!”
2. Clay’s own mental health.
Clearly, Clay is going through a lot following the loss of Hannah -- we saw a wide range of roller coaster emotions from him throughout the season. Not only is he haunted by Hannah in his mind, but at one point, he puts a gun to his own head outside of Bryce’s home. Minnette hopes his character’s mental health is addressed in the future.
“I think that there's a lot to be addressed with Clay. I mean, I think even seeing him in therapy at some point or something… having someone to talk to and having Clay be able to face these problems that he has,” he shares.
Minnette says he doesn’t know if this will happen, but realizes that despite the signs, Clay’s mental health wasn't addressed in season two. At all.
“I think that it's not fully recognized by himself or any of the characters surrounding him yet,” he explains. “And that's exactly something I would love to see explored.”
“Even back in episode two of season one, there was a scene where his parents refer to these meds that they want him to go back on… they were for depression,” he recalls. “Clearly, Clay was on a medication at some point in his life and he isn't on it anymore and I think there's a lot of issues that Clay has that he probably has to deal with and probably get addressed and he really needs help. I mean, season two, if anything, was proof of that.”
"To continue the conversation of, you know, mental illness and everything can really be explored through Clay. I think there's a lot to be discussed with him,” he adds.
3. Clay’s friendship with Justin.
Season two also saw the development of Clay’s friendship with Justin -- in the end, the Jensens even want to adopt him! Minnette says he is looking forward to seeing this relationship progress.
“What I think is really cool is that the first person you see Clay interact with on the show is Justin back in episode one [of season one]. Clay is staring at Hannah’s locker and Justin goes up and says, ‘What the hell are you doing? You’re not innocent, I don’t care what she says,’” he explains. “They hate each other, like they couldn’t hate each other more… one of the least expected things would be for Clay and Justin to become family and also, you know, I think that Justin and Clay both saved each other in season two.”
“Justin is the one who talked Clay down from either killing Bryce or killing himself and Clay is the one who went and got Justin off the street and tried to clean him up and be there for him, although we ultimately see that Justin is still reverting back to old habits, but they needed each other and who would of thought that those two people would end up needing each other in order to, I don’t know, like, even live," he adds. "So I’m excited to see. I’m sure they’ll be, like, roommates still in season three, that'd be cool.”
As for whether we’ll see Justin in recovery, Minnette isn’t as sure.
“I mean, I hope so… gosh I don’t know," he says.
4. Clay’s love life.
In season two, Clay let Hannah go and we saw the end of his romance with Skye. While it doesn’t seem likely that Clay will jump into a new relationship, Minnette acknowledges it could happen.
“I think if there is potentially [a love interest], I think Clay would definitely, probably try to avoid it at this point,” he says. “I think, I imagine the last thing Clay is gonna want right now, given his past record so far, is a love interest. But, I think maybe he won’t be able to avoid it… we’ll see."
5. The aftermath of male sexual assault.
The finale’s shocking bathroom scene, in which Tyler’s head is shoved down a toilet before he is sodomized with a mop handle, stirred a lot of controversy. Like Devin Druid, who plays Tyler, Minnette hopes season three will explore the aftermath of male sexual assault.
“Yeah, I think it's only natural that that would be addressed and discussed in season three, and it’s really interesting to me because that’s not something that’s addressed on television or in entertainment all the time,” he notes. "I think it’s something to absolutely discuss and talk about and that’s actually an exciting idea to me. I mean, it’s a sad story, but it’s exciting to me to be able to address that on the show.”
6. Clay without Hannah.
“I feel like with season two, Clay was really carrying the weight of Hannah still, obviously, more than before, more than ever before, and now that that's gone, I’m excited to see kind of Clay being a little wiser, a little more grown up, given everything that he’s gone through,” Minnette says. “Just seeing how he deals with this moving forward in his life and not having, not carrying the guilt and weight of Hannah anymore, and just seeing what new challenges await for him even that aren’t involving Hannah.”
And Minnette knows season three won’t be an "easy path" for Clay.
“I think if anyone expects Clay to have an easy path in any season, we know we're wrong. I think that season three is definitely not gonna be easy for Clay or any of these people and if it was, I don’t think we’d be the show anymore…yeah, man, I’m nervous to know what Clay is gonna go through in season three.”
Minnette also addressed and broke down the finale’s controversial school shooting scene. For more, watch the video below.
13 Reasons Why seasons one and two are streaming now on Netflix.
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