Doug Hyun/TNTDid you cry? Because there were definitely tears here at WWK HQ during last night's devastating Southland episode. We lost one of our favorites—an actor we've loved for years on a series of TV shows—and his character's death was terribly painful and drawn-out. We just talked to the actor in question about why he's leaving the show, and got some exclusive spoilers about how the big death changes the life of the surviving partner.
Goodbye, Santos Nate. Once again, Kevin Alejandro is leaving a TV show in tragic fashion. He was killed off Ugly Betty back in the day, devastating Hilda and Justin, and last night was his final hour on Southland. So why the departure this time? "I'm a regular on True Blood so you'll see me there," says Alejandro. "I wish I could have done both shows. If it had worked out that way, I would have been the happiest man in the world, but it works out the way it's supposed to work out. Southland's been an amazing experience, and [this storyline] just fit into the way things were going. It was good for the show, it was good for me, and it's going to be positive on both sides.."
As for the circumstances of his character's demise, Alejandro tells us that what happened to Nate is based on a true story so all parties involved worked to make it a genuine and honest depiction of the events in question. He says, "It's a storyline that's true—it really happened. Most all the stories on the Southland comes from the mouths of police officers or detectives. This is something that has happened before. So when Christopher Chulack called me with the information and let me know how the information was going to go, he was explaining it to me exactly the way they wrote the episode—it was so touching on how they try to keep it as true as they possibly could."
Alejandro says that even though he's gone from Southland, the effects of his death will linger for the remainder of the season. He says, "You get to mourn with Shawn and my family and you'll see what the death causes within them and it effects other part of the department as well, with Ben McKenzie and Michael Cudlitz, and it sort of mildly effects everybody in the department because it's like a fraternity. All the brothers and sisters are effected on one level or another."
Sniff.
Now, are you ready for a couple of spoilers? In coming weeks, Sammy (Shawn Hatosy) is still stationed at Nate's house, where he helps Nate's family come to terms with the tragedy. But he won't be living with that family forever, because we've heard that the baby in Tammi's (Emily Bergl) belly is, in fact, his. Gah! Is that good news or bad news, do you think? What do you think of Southland's TNT episodes compared to their NBC comments?
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