A MILLION LITTLE THINGS Season 2 Finale Post-Mortem: DJ Nash Breaks Down the Big Twists

[Warning: This post contains major spoilers from the season 2 finale of A MILLION LITTLE THINGS.]

The season 2 finale of A MILLION LITTLE THINGS may have taken its “’til death do we part” episode title a little too seriously.

In the final moments of the ABC drama, Eddie (David Giuntoli), who had spent the episode consumed with trying to find out during his missing time from his younger years—and nearly relapsing—snapping out of his funk long enough to call his wife, Katherine (Grace Park), to apologize for his actions, vowing he wanted to remarry her that night no matter what. But before he could return home, he was violently hit by a car.

But did the show really kill off Eddie? Series creator DJ Nash teases what’s ahead in a potential season 3, plus the ramifications of Rome (Romany Malco) and Regina (Christina Moses)’s planned adoption falling through, the future of the Maggie (Allison Miller)/Gary (James Roday)/Darcy (Floriana Lima), and more…

David teased that one of the actors would be busy this pilot season. Is he still with the show going forward?
Here’s what I will say: Whether Eddie is alive or not, Jon died in the cold open. I used Ron Livingston a ton. David Giuntoli is not available for pilot season. Eddie’s character, dead or alive, remains part of this series in a big way in season 3.

Knowing he’ll be back might curb some speculation about the how and why, but how much do you actually want to keep the mystery of his condition an actual secret until that premiere airs?
Well, if I say a ton, then people will try to figure it out. [Laughs.] So not at all!

I think like with all of our stories, even when my mom asks, I’d say, “I think you’re gonna have more fun enjoying seeing it unfold on TV than hearing us tell the story.” So the only person who knows what happens to all of these characters outside of the writers’ room is my son; he said he’s open to bribes. But, for instance, the finale that you have seen, my wife will see [when it airs].

In the past, we’ve discussed that you really only tell the actors what they need to know about their history. Given this twist, how much does David actually know where his character is going?
David and his wife, Bitsie [Tulloch], who is awesome, took my wife and I…probably the last dinner we were allowed to have out, was with them. And he made a point of paying. [Laughs.] I love him. He has been so wonderful for two seasons. This season, particularly, he’s just just been so very strong and just rising to every occasion. I know with where we’re taking Eddie–in flashbacks or whatever—he will be amazing.

I just took the whole cast to Boston for a speaking tour. And it was just so fun to hang out with them. Because when I’m in Vancouver [where the show films], we’re always on set. And I’m there for two or three days at a time. But we just got to hang out in Boston, I showed them my home city, where the show takes place and it was just great. It was really fun bonding.

The actors only know what their characters would know at this time. He knows a couple hints. I had to talk to him. There were two times in the series [so far] that I’ve made an exception to the rule [about when to tell actors]. I did not want him to be at the table read of the finale and read [what happened]. I did talk to him, separately, before that, because he’s been such a wonderful part of the family. And I did talk to him in very broad strokes about how my plan for him in the next season would work with his family, because Bitsie will be up in Vancouver shooting the [SUPERMAN & LOIS] series, and he was just unbelievably game.

On somehow an even more depressing note, Regina and Rome had the adoption fall through. At what point did you know this would be where this story ended up?
Rome and Regina, their story pretty much through, if we were lucky enough to have a season 4, the writers and I laid out [their journey] halfway through season 1. Some of the stories are so closely personal to things that have happened to me or people I love. My wife and I got married saying no kids, and when we were buying an SUV, that’s how I learned that she wanted to have a kid. And we changed our minds at different times and then we changed our mind together. So a lot of the stories I just knew because Rome and Regina, it was just directly from our life.

I did know that it would be neither of them want to have kids, then Rome wanted a child, then because of Renee[‘s death] and because of the PJ storyline, that Regina would change her mind, I knew that they would go for adoption. And I knew that they would pair with a birth mother who changed her mind. So I knew that in the middle of season 1. I just laid out seasons 3 and 4 for them and it’s just really so wonderful to know ahead of time, because then these moves can be not as forced.

At the end of season 1, I realized that that kid who read Rome’s script could be Barbara Morgan’s son and we hopefully made that seem as believable and natural as possible. But when you know so far ahead, it’s really helpful. I’m new to serialized TV; I’m from the half-hour world. So now that I’m used to what that muscle means, there’s a very big part of next season, that halfway through this season, I said, “Wait, I want to stop the room. I want to tell you about season 3.” So I mapped out the Rome and Regina plan for next season, probably right around Thanksgiving for us this year.

How does this fundamentally shift their plans toward parenthood? Will they double down and work through their grief or will they be putting things on pause?
I’ve referred to my marriage a few times in this call; I think I have a good one. The one thing that would challenge our marriage is if we lost one of our kids. And so, in essence, really, Rome and Regina’s baby died. It’s the baby they held for a moment. They lost this child and then the grieving process is, I think, very similar: the anger, the denial, all those stages of grief. I think we’re going to see them experience it. We’re going to see Regina and Rome experience them and we’re going to see what happens to this couple.

And there’s this added element that Regina leaves with, where she says, “You made me want this.” She is so angry and hurt, obviously hurt by Eve and the loss of this baby and lots of her innocence. But as she’s looking to blame and as she’s trying to put her shields up, Rome made her want this. And that’s not necessarily fair, but it’s also not inaccurate. So I think you’re gonna see this really challenge them, for sure. I am very aware that this is a couple we all root for of the relationship we want for ourselves. So I’m going to be very protective of it. But I also know that the compliment the show gets that means the most to me is it’s authentic. And so I want their response to feel real.

Gary and Maggie ended the season split, with her leaving town and him actively pursuing Darcy. At this point, should viewers feel with certainty Gary and Maggie will reunite?
Is them getting back together a certainty for you at this point?

As a viewer, honestly, no, because I’m unexpectedly fascinated by Gary and Darcy. But with an ensemble this large on television, that makes things complicated.
Yeah, you know, I go back to that thing I just said a second ago about wanting to be authentic. And I think that life sneaks up on us. So art really imitates life here, because when we were coming up with Darcy, I loved the idea. The writers, we all love the idea that Maggie didn’t know what her life was. She’s trying to figure out what her life was; what if a woman came onto the scene, who knew what her life was and had a kid? Basically, Gary can be one suitcase away from being in a family. And so what would that be like if we present her? And then we came up with the cool idea that she was a friend of Katherine’s, which helped us sort of flesh out that world for Katherine.

There was a brilliant pitch by one of the writers in the room, to have Darcy hand him a phone number, but it wasn’t hers. That move there was, for me, the moment I was like, “Oh my god, I love Darcy.” So I think that if you imagine one of your readers has the love of their life who got away, they’re like, “No, but I’m gonna find him again or find her again.” And on your way to that, you find the thing you didn’t know. I think that’s kind of where Gary is right now. And as Gary will say to Danny next season, “Love is love. You don’t have to put a label on it.”

I asked people on Twitter a couple weeks ago who would you want to with Gary? The idea that it wasn’t just “Team Maggie, let’s go, shut up with your question” was incredible. It really speaks to what we’ve tried to do as a series. Just when you think it’s Rome who was going to take his life, it’s Jon. Just when you think that the person that Eddie’s having an affair with is the guitar student’s mom, it is Delilah. Just when you think you’re gonna hate Katherine, you love her. When you think, oh, there’s no reason why Eric would do this thing, no, he had a story, whether or not you can accept him for it. But I think in a similar way here like you go, of course this is leading towards Gary and Maggie getting back together. And then you make a pitstop, at least, with Darcy. So I was curious to see that.

If you’re asking me do I know how the story ends? I do. But I love the fact that—with a huge hats off to Floriana Lima—because she really becomes an eligible player. Like even the people who said, “I want to say Team Maggie, but I really hope Darcy stays, too.” I think that’s great. I love the fact that Darcy will stay, too. Either she stays as Gary’s girlfriend, and that’s wonderful and awkward when Maggie’s there or she doesn’t stay as Gary’s girlfriend and she’s Katherine’s friend, and it’s awkward when everyone’s there. I love how something between two of our characters affects all of our characters.

Looking to the guest stars this season, in what capacity do you expect Floriana, Parker Young, and Sprague Grayden to return?
It’s always a challenge. I think we have a very strong cast. I would say we have an equally strong guest cast. I’ve been so grateful and honored by the people who [have come in]—even my friend Betsy [Brandt], who came in and did this appearance in the finale for us. We just have been really blessed to have incredible people show up. Some of those people by midseason will go on to pilots and have stuff to make it either impossible for them to come back, and sometimes we have to recast like with Delilah’s dad. There’s other times where they work out a schedule and sometimes even graciously go into their own personal lives to to carve out time to make it happen like with Barbara Morgan or with Mitch this season. Rhys Coiro [who played Mitch] was doing a play and was just like would fly back and help us out. I’m hoping that we can have them all back and that their schedules will accommodate.

And quickly looking to the start of a potential season 3, would it pick up immediately where we left off or jump forward?
I am talking this over with my writers and with my network and I’m excited to tell you all about that when we when we present. I will say, as we’re talking about guest cast, it’s also my intention to have PJ back.

Is there anything else you want to say to the fans after the finale?
I just hope everyone’s taking care of themselves. In a tough time, maybe this show can give you a little bit of distraction from life. I hope and know that we’ll all come out of this. But similar to this group of friends, where they go, “We can get through anything as long as we have each other,” I think when we come out of this, we’ll all have a different perspective on the world. And we’ll see things very, very differently. And I think our group of friends, in next season when we pick up with them, because of the events that happened at the end of the finale, will see the world very differently.

A MILLION LITTLE THINGS, Thursdays, 10/9c, ABC

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