The Good Wife Creators on the "True and Complicated" Ending—What Came After the Slap?

Robert and Michelle King respond to the biggest questions about the series finale of the CBS drama

By Chris Harnick May 09, 2016 5:00 PMTags
The Good WifeCBS

The Good Wife began with a slap and ended with a slap, both of them rude awakenings in the life of Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies). That was an ending series creators Robert and Michelle King have had planned since the show lasted past its initial 13-episode order. The series ended without things wrapped up in a nice little package. Alicia realized what she had done, how far she had come from the beginning, and marched toward the future. There was no happy, neat, romantic ending and you can bet that was intentional.

"It's not a show that has been urging audiences that there would be a happy ending at the end," Robert told E! News, with a laugh, about the perception that fans are owed a happy ending the morning after the series finale aired. "We like comedy—in many ways the show is are a bit of a carnival of emotions. There's always been this sense of honesty, an honesty that goes back—whether happy or sad—it kind of goes towards, 'OK, this is what this character has been about.' The only thing I'd add for the happiness on top is, I view Alicia as someone who learns from her mistakes. I do think Julianna Margulies did an amazing job in her walk away from that last encounter to suggest that this is a woman who at least knows where she stands with what happened."

"The aim, if it wasn't to be happy, it was to be both true and complicated," Michelle said.

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True and complicated it was. Peep the ending moments in the video above and read on for more from the Kings.

When I watched it, I felt the need for closure, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought about Alicia's journey it just made complete sense to me.
RK: I'm glad you said that…We had a feeling—in fact it's kept us up a little bit at nights, this worry that within the most diehard fans it would really be a punch to the stomach. As much as we didn't really want that because we didn't want to sock anybody in the stomach, there was a sense that a happier ending or a chase to the airport ending might be pleasurable in the minute as you're watching the show and you'd go to bed good, but I don't think it would make sense for the series as a whole. You might think, "OK, that's a nice place to leave Alicia," but then how would that make any sense about what the first season, second season or third season was? What we'd love for is this to be bookended in a way where you'd want to go back to the first episode and see, "OK, that was Julianna Margulies now, what was Julianna Margulies like when she started this?" And Alicia, they're almost interchangeable in my mind.

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I was struck by how large a role Will Gardner played in the episode because it seemed like the last two seasons have been kind of getting around having his ghost lingering around. Was there any hesitation in having him featured so prominently?
MK: No.
RK: Not at all.
MK: It was never meant that Will Gardner came back as a ghost, he was always very much a fantasy or a memory, depending on the scene in the finale. Alicia has never had Will far away from her. The sense was she mourned him, she thought about him, and so to be able to dramatize that in the finale was just wonderful.
RK: We always kind of played with this idea that you jump into Alicia's head for minutes at a time…We were hopefully just playing along with that concept of …this a fleeting thought in Alicia's head. I thought what was cool about one of them here is it started as a flashback to something that really happened and in the midst of it she smiled at him and said, "I really missed you" and he's kind of like, "Where have I been?" I love these turns.

The Josh Charles secret: Were you upset it leaked? Because I know what great lengths you went to to keep his exit under wraps.
MK: It was disappointing that it became an issue of speculation.
RK: Yeah.
MK: I think it would've been more fun for fans to be completely surprised.
RK: It would've been really nice—and I think it probably was still this way for some people—when that third opening of the door and you don't know who to expect and there's Will Gardner. That is what we were hoping would be the real surprise.

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You both have spoken about how much you love the character and I read something that you've had to suppress her voice when writing BrainDead, so I know you have an idea of what happened after she left that hallway. Did you envision what happens after the slap?
MK: I think we're going to spend the rest of our lives thinking about what happened.
RK: [Laughs.]
MK: And it will be 10 years after the slap and 20 years after the slap. She's that much a part of our thinking.

In the pilot, I know Julianna Margulies really slapped Chris Noth. In the finale, did Christine Baranski really slap Julianna?
MK: Yes she did.
RK: More than once.

How many takes was that?
RK: We had a stunt coordinator there that kind of wanted it to be fake and kept showing them how to fake it. Julianna told Christine: "If you don't hit me, I will not get to an emotional place, so wow.

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One question I kept getting was the status of Diane and Kurt, especially after the testimony and betrayal. Can you elaborate for fans? Do they have a happily ever after?
RK: You want to leave things ambiguous, but can I say what I hope? I hope they do because that's one of my favorite relationships in the show. I think they've survived so much and they're so aware of each other's failings. I actually think so. There's this wonderful scene I think two episodes back where Diane says, "OK, I'm going to tell you my faults, which is I love people who know complicated words…" It felt like such a perfect picture of a marriage. My hope would be yes.

What is one thing you want fans to take away from the finale? From the education of Alicia Florrick?
RK: Life is complicated.
MK: Yeah, life is complicated and Alicia's complicated.
RK: One should stop blaming DC for doing bad things and look around you. I think what politicians just don't become evil devils and Lucifers, they're a version of everything e do in our office, everything we do with our lovers, everything we do in our families. I guess that's it.

Is there a final Good Wife comment? Takeway you want to share?
MK: If anything just thank you for watching.
RK: We didn't really have much hopes for this show to go past 13 episodes, so to go to 156 episodes and to have a fanbase that I don't think could be more intelligent, more interested, more invested is just really honoring. It's very flattering and we hope we can make as interesting characters in the next show.

Watch: What's Next for Julianna Margulies After "The Good Wife"?
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