How to Get Away with Murder is making its mid-season return to ABC tonight, and you can expect an episode full of so many twists that you'll pretty much be incapacitated on the floor, surrounded by a pile of popcorn and emotions. Not only will we be finding out about the fate of Laurel's baby (reminder: Laurel gave birth in Annalise Keating's elevator), we'll hopefully discover what Dominic has up his nefarious sleeves, and how Bonnie fits into all of this—because you know she does.
Being a not-at-all nerdy HTGAWM fan who definitely didn't spend an entire weekend bingeing the series on Netflix and definitely isn't desperate for answers (this is a lie), I hopped on the phone with Liza Weil, AKA Bonnie herself. The result was a half-hour conversation filled with theories, predictions, speculation, and—yes, of course—information of that rumored new season of Gilmore Girls.
On the HTGAWM x Scandal crossover episode:
"That is still super-duper under wraps. Basically, I can confirm that it's happening and that we're still currently filming it. People will be very pleased—it's very exciting stuff, and certainly moves both of our stories forward in a really interesting way."
On how Season 4 will end:
"We are so in the dark. We, as a cast, are learning where the season is going to go episode-by-episode. We don't really have too much of an idea of how Season 4 is going to end still, and we're about to start shooting Episode 14. We're two away from the end, and honestly I'm not sure how we're going to wrap this up."
On whether we'll learn more about Bonnie's baby:
"I hope so, I think that's a really informative piece of information that we all learned this season—just how dark Bonnie's past is, and what she's overcome as a person. What we learned story-wise in Season 4 goes so much further than Season 3, and it really changed how I play Bonnie—so I do hope that's something that could come up again in the future. I'm not sure if we'll touch on it in this season, but if we go again, I hope we will."
On the nature of Bonnie's declaration of love for Annalise:
"I had a really interesting conversation with our new supervising director this season Jet Wilkinson—she called me right before the script came out for Episode 5 as a kind of warning. A kind gesture, to say 'This is coming your way, and there's a lot of great stuff in there, and I just hope that you are rested and feeling good because it's going to be a lot.' As we had more conversations about it, it was really lovely to remember all the themes in Bonnie and Annalise's relationship—this deep connection and love. There's not a rule book. A big theme for Bonnie this season has been reinvention, stripping down, rebuilding, and figuring out who she is without Annalise. You can only learn your capacity for loving somebody when you have to be without them."
We're two away from the end, and honestly I'm not sure how we're going to wrap this up.
On whether Bonnie will ever find love (or even just a friend):
"I struggle with what I hope and wish for Bonnie. It's tricky, because she is very self sufficient and independent, but I don't think she's been very well taken care of, or looked after. I don't think that she even has a friend right now. In order for Bonnie to find a connection with somebody, my hope is that she no longer feels like her past diminishes who she is. Usually a few weeks before the writers room has been opened, [showrunner] Pete Nowalk calls each of us in and talks about what he's thinking. He's extremely open to our input, which is an amazing asset to have. He had mentioned to me that a relationship is something they would like for Bonnie, as well. They're not really sure what that looks like either, but they do have a longing to see her with someone who's nice to her. It makes me happy that it's on their radar."
On her real-life relationship with Charlie Weber (AKA Frank) and whether fan-obsession with them is hard to deal with:
"That development was not something I think either of us saw coming, and I think a lot of the reason that it did shift from a friendship into something else has to do with us both being people that are able to separate those things very well. I think that we are old enough, and sort of know enough, to not go down that spiral of darkness. So we try to avoid that as much as we can, and I think we're also grateful that our stories didn't overlap in that way. It was comforting to be able to continue on and have it be separate."
On filming HTGAWM with #MeToo top of mind:
"We have a very close-knit set, and in terms of our work environment that's not something we've ever had to deal with on the job. Behind the scenes, everybody is exceedingly respectful. That's the way it should be in every work environment and we've been lucky that's the case where we work. I'm an actor and I don't necessarily feel that comfortable being a voice for things—I support everything that's happening, and I feel like it's a necessary movement forward, but for me it's been interesting to be able to express myself through a character I'm currently playing, and kind of put it out in the world that way."
On the cast losing their minds during courtroom scenes:
"Those days, we all lose our minds. They're notoriously very long, and a lot of us—depending on what's going on in court—are just sort of there and watching. It can be very thrilling being able to witness Viola Davis do her thing for hours and hours, but there are also no windows, and you're just in a room for fourteen hours trying to keep it together. We all get a little demented on those days, which is part of the reason we've become so close. You get to look across the gallery in the courtroom and stare at each other vacantly and see into each other's souls....It can feel like a reality show about who is not going to have a psychotic episode."
On how she wants Bonnie's story to end:
"Bare-bones, my hope is that she's not hanging in the attic. I hope she's alive. Because of the nature of our show, at this point, that's really all I can hope for. I hope it doesn't get so dark that it's over in a complete bloodbath."
On HTGAWM being Melania Trump's favorite show:
"I will reveal that there is a group text thread that the cast has, and that was a dark day for all of us."
On doing another season of Gilmore Girls—and maybe appearing in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:
"I will always say this: If Amy Sherman-Palladino is down, I'm down, yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah. It's a lovely thing to have something you were a part of still be in the world and have people feel the way they feel about it. I'm really happy for them about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it's so well deserved. That show is really special. I hope I can show up on it one day, maybe.
Photography by Tina Turnbow · Makeup by Tina Turnbow for Shiseido