ABCWarning: The following contains spoilers about the winter finale of How to Get Away With Murder. Proceed at your own risk.
It was the question that had been on our minds all fall: Who shot Annalise Keating? And now we know.
In the winter finale of How to Get Away With Murder, the deliciously twisted thriller revealed that it was none other than Wes (Alfred Enoch) who pulled the trigger on his manipulative mother figure (played to perfection by Viola Davis). Why? It was part of a larger plan to protect Asher (Matt McGorry) after he murdered that nasty D.A. Sinclair (Sarah Burns). It was a plan that none of Annalise's students wanted to go through with (you know, they've already gotten their fill of murdering and didn't want to add shooting to the list), but once she dropped the bomb that his beloved Rebecca was dead, Wes wasted no time firing one off right into her gut.
It was a stunning moment (not only because Annalise really only wanted to be shot in the leg) that left us speechless. But once we collected our thoughts and realized this action really created many more questions, there was only one thing to do: Get the shooter on the phone. What follows is E! News' conversation with Alfred Enoch about the big moment, that shocking flashback, and so much more.
We're still recovering from that massive reveal! How long have you known that you were the shooter?
Oh, when we got the script for that episode. You kind of find out week-to-week what's going on, that's one of the challenges with it. It's a cool scene, I think. I haven't seen it. Sometimes, with something like that, you're like, 'Oh, how did that happen?' But it felt like it made sense to me, which is good. That was cool.
Wes was trying everything he could to deescalate the situation, including calling Nate for help, but the second Annalise drops the Rebecca bomb, he shoots her even more intensely than she'd expected. What's going on in Wes' head at that moment? Is there a moment where he thinks she could just be goading him into shooting her or is it all animal instinct?
I'm always keen to protect the autonomy of the viewer to make their own decisions, but, it's something which is vital to him. [Rebecca's] the most important person in his life and she disappeared and he wants answers and spent time pursuing that, you know, all of the first half of this season. That's a huge reveal, coupled with the fact that he's been suspicious of [Annalise] and she's managed to keep him at bay, I think he's very much prepared to believe it. And the implications of that are huge, as evidenced by his reaction. That seems proportionate to me, if I can say that about him trying to kill her. I get it. It's this huge betrayal for her to do it and continually lie about it to him and be as nefarious as she has been, so I don't judge him. If I can say that without sounding like a homicidal, scary person.
Let's talk about the flashback. It seems as though we're meant to infer that little Christophe in the FBI interrogation room is Wes. Would we be correct in inferring that?
That's what I inferred. [Laughs.] But I would never put my neck on the line…in the hope of keeping my job!
There have been so many theories about what the connection between Annalise and Wes may be, all of which will likely be blown wide open after tonight. Do you now the true extent of their connection?
I really don't know. Honestly, I can never shed any light on anything for anyone because, currently, I'm one episode ahead of everybody else. I've got nothing. I barely know more than you do at this stage. It's very much like we find out as it goes, which is one of the challenges, you know? You want to try and square what you find out with what you've done as far as that's possible, but that's I'm sure a challenge for the writers because they've got to try and get it all in and make it coherent…That's kind of the miracle of it, I guess, to stick that together.
How does Wes rebound from this? Where does he go from here?
It's pretty tricky. Obviously, this takes its toll on him. It was enough shooting that scene, so to actually go through all that, that's a difficult place to be, especially with how enmeshed the lives of the characters become. No one's really safe, in that context, at least…That doesn't make it any easier. They're very much bound together, especially in the context of Wes and Annalise. That's problematic, certainly.
There really isn't a person on this show who isn't a murderer, now that Asher's joined the club. With everyone being forced to protect one another, who do you see as the biggest threat in terms of cracking and giving away just how guilty all these people are? Who's the weakest link?
It's funny you said that. Did you have the TV show The Weakest Link? In the UK, there was a lady called Anne Robinson. [Laughs.] In my head that's a surreal scene we'd have to shoot. 'Michaela, you are the weakest link!' It depends on the circumstances for the characters. It's sort of hard to say in a vacuum because that's always the way it goes. Something occurs which makes the characters behave in a way you wouldn't expect. I think that's the fun of it.
With the show not returning until Feb. 11, that's going to be one long, cold winter without any Murder. What words of support do you have for the fans to get them through the long wait?
Good night and good luck? [Laughs.] Hopefully that's enough time for them to sleep off the stress of tonight. Maybe that's what it's for, the midseason break, to allow a people a chance to get their breath back.
How to Get Away With Murder returns Feb. 11 at 10 p.m. on ABC.