ABCSchool is back in session across the country—and on How to Get Away With Murder. E! News recently chatted with HTGAWM creator Pete Nowalk, and he revealed one of the biggest changes for the Keating 5 in season three: they're actually going to class this year.
"Obviously these are kids who came to law school. Things happened. We are going to find them in their second year of law school now and they have to basically pick up the pieces and get their s--t together and move on with their lives," he teased." So being a student is going to be a struggle for them, but they need to do it and it's sort of fake it 'til you make it and maybe things will go back to normal."
Spoiler alert: "They're not going to go back to normal. I think they have to try!"
Despite how little we've seen the kids go to class, they're all moving on to their second year of law school. "What's cool about that is that they do get to take a more prominent role in the court cases in a way that has been really fun to watch and to write so far," Nowalk said. "And it's also really fun to see how much the characters have really grown up. They've been through hell, so they handle things [in a different way]. I think they're basically becoming mini Annalises and that's been pretty fun to watch."
Another change? There's no new over-arching case this season. "I always like to change up the formula within the formula. We're still going to have flash forwards and those are going to rock everyone's world. I'm just going out on a limb! I'm going to say that because they rock mine and they terrify me. But they're really big and they're big for the show. So we have those, but we're not really going to do a trial of the season. We have a mystery of the season, but there's no Hapstalls this year. They've got enough s--t to deal with!"
In the premiere, we'll catch up with the gang almost immediately after the events of the season two finale before skipping ahead a few months.
"Wes' alleged father was just shot in front of him, so we're going to give you some good answers, in a way. You've been waiting a few months, we're going to give you those answers," Nowalk revealed. "And then we're going to move forward. We're going to skip over the summer so they get to take a breath and we start again. It won't be all easy breezy but what I'm excited about is to have their lives be a little bit calmer so we get to explore more the everyday-ness of their relationships, their love lives, their inter-group dynamics. Hopefully it's a little bit more character driven."
How to Get Away With Murder season three premieres Thursday, Sept. 22 at 10 p.m. on ABC.