The following contains major spoilers for the finale of HBO's The Undoing.After watching the finale of The Undoing (opens in new tab), at what point did you find yourself quietly hoping that the 12-year-old boy was the killer? Or perhaps you were hoping that Fernando, a recently widowed father of two, had indeed killed his wife. At what point did he realize that he was upset that the person who actually killed Elena Alves was the most obvious choice?"(opens in new tab) Hugh Grant brilliantly and chillingly (opens in new tab) played by the wealthy, entitled, narcissistic At what point did I stop believing that Jonathan Fraser was a selfish, grotesque human being and start rooting for him unapologetically? [Fans of this HBO drama about a New York couple torn apart by adultery, murder, lies, and a twice-dishwashed hammer have found themselves throwing logic to the wind to solve the mystery, thanks to a season full of red lights and cliffhangers. And that, it seems, was the goal of the storytelling manipulated by showrunner David E. Kelley and director Susanne Bier.

By creating unlikely and irrational reasoning, we stepped into the trap set by Kelly and Bier and became a bunch of unaware Grace Fraser's of reality. Hours after the extreme finale aired, Marie Claire chatted with Bier, who directed all six episodes of this psycho-thriller, and she explained why beneath the surface this show was always about twisting the truth to fit its own conclusions, and if you apply logic to storytelling She explained that the answer was there from the beginning.

Bier also told me if there would be a second season of The Undoing. But what does it matter what she said?

Was there ever going to be another character who killed Marie Claire Elena (Matilda de Angelis), or was the plan always 100% Jonathan?

Susanne Via: It was always Jonathan who was supposed to kill Elena. The point of this program is to believe what you want to believe. Anything can point to a certain thing, but if you really want to believe in something, you can. And that applies not only to Grace, but also to the audience. In a sense, the audience is having exactly the same experience as Grace. He is so nice, even though all the evidence points directly to one side. He is so wonderful. He is so charming. He is so full of regret. We want to believe him.

MC: Grace (Nicole Kidman) defines the finale. Many critics on the Internet today are saying, 'It's too obvious that Jonathan is the killer. Were you afraid people would be upset by the conclusion?'

SB: Of course. I'm always afraid of any reaction, and I'm always concerned about a particular reaction. But I didn't feel that there was anyone else (who could pull it off) realistically. Because when you look at everyone's motives, ultimately, I don't think any of [them] have a motive. Grace may have. But Grace had a happy life until she found out what Jonathan did. And it doesn't seem to make sense.

MC: Was there any discussion between you and (co-executive producer and showrunner) David E. Kelley about making the finale as shocking and "gotcha" as viewers have come to expect from television? Or did you want to honor the storytelling that you had created? SB: I think there is a philosophical implication to this series, as pretentious as it may sound: do we want to believe in COVID or not? Do we not want to believe in COVID? How much can we twist the truth to our own ends? I think we all felt that (that is) the essential point and reason for the book (on which this program is based)" (opens in new tab) You Should Have Known (opens in new tab). The first two episodes in this series use the book (as inspiration), but as a kind of conceptual framework. The idea of "regulating the truth" and "manipulating the truth the way we want it" is a very important issue, and we all felt that we were doing some really fun, really interesting hoddanit, but at the core of it was that (book) philosophy.

MC: Yes. As an audience, we have come to not trust or believe what we are told. We held a mirror up to the audience and said, "Why don't you want to believe the truth? [SB: Exactly.

MC: Did you know all along that Grace would betray Jonathan? Did you not reveal to Nicole Kidman until the last minute that she was going to betray Jonathan to the prosecutor in order to play the devoted wife well? SB: I knew. [Grace] believed him. She wanted to believe him. But once Henry [Noah Jupe] found the hammer and Henry hid it to protect his father, she couldn't keep her trust in Jonathan. She realizes that it can't be anyone but Jonathan. But at that point, she is obsessed with it. She has given him the best lawyer in the world. She has to find a way to get out (of this situation) without harming Henry. All of that was there. Nicole plays it so precisely and so incredibly beautifully. It's a very precious balance, and she does it so precisely.

MC: What I felt throughout the show was a strong focus on the eyes. Like Nicole conveys so much with her facial expressions. Even in the courtroom, the lawyers are saying all the time who is looking at who. Was that all intentional? SB: I wanted the audience to feel what they were feeling. I wanted them to understand what they were feeling without words. In Jonathan's case, we are now acutely aware of his sociopathic truth. Who he really is and how dangerous and entitled he is. In his case, his eyes are more sinister. There is a vulnerability in the women, and I think in Jonathan, towards the end, there is a kind of coldness that was always there.

MC: There were a lot of critics who said that Elena's character was not fully developed. Was she intentionally shrouded in mystery?

SB: Yes, she was supposed to be a mystery. Whatever Grace knows about her, we know too. We are on this arc with Grace. We are with Grace in realizing that her husband is cheating on her and wishing that cheating was all that he did. Then (both she and we) gradually regain trust and then have it shattered. In order to depict this sequence of events, it was necessary to keep Elena a mystery. Grace meets her and that's it. [Then Elena died and she became a major influence in Grace's life. And we wanted the series to do the same for our viewers.

MC: Are there any scenes featuring Elena that were cut from the finale or the series?

SB: Almost none. But there were no important story threads that were cut or anything like that.

MC: There was a very popular theory that Grace's father, Franklin (Donald Sutherland (open in new tab)), hired someone to kill Elena. Did you ever consider looking at those theories and trying to plant more seeds to suggest that he did it? SB: If you take a step back and think rationally, it doesn't make much sense. If he wanted to save his daughter, why did he kill Elena? He never liked Jonathan, so why kill Elena to frame Jonathan? When I visited Jonathan in jail, he told me this. If you get out on bail, I will kill you. If he wanted to save his daughter from a man he didn't trust, didn't like, and somehow suspected of being insincere, why didn't he kill Jonathan? This is it. This is it. But when you step back and look at the evidence and look at the motive, it doesn't quite add up that Grace's father would kill Elena.

MC: So let's talk about season two. This is a limited series, and people say there won't be a Season 2, but that has never been the case with other limited series. But no other limited series has ever stopped a season 2. [SB: I would love for David to write a Season 2. But at the moment, we have nothing planned for Season 2. We may not have any plans. I think it would be great fun to do a season 2, but right now it's just wishful thinking.

This interview has been edited and abridged for clarity.