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Major spoilers forThe Affairseries finaleahead.
What did you think of the way the story ended?I thought it was a really interesting choice.
I hope it came out as good as it felt.
It was likeWhos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
It was the first time they talked about it.
Did it feel that way to you as you were making it?It did.
And I dont think thats necessarily a bad thing.
What I really liked about the pilot is that [Noah] was in an ostensibly happy marriage.
My character wasnt this sort of nagging shrew.
They didnt have a sexless marriage.
And Alison and Cole were in love.
I also thought it was a bold choice about deciding to make yourself happy over everyone else.
Thats not a choice a lot of people can make.
Im not sure exactly how or why, but it ended up being about Noah and Helen.
And that didnt feel weird to me because they started off happy.
It was just that they were keeping things from each other.
At the beginning of the season, Sarah hadnt decided.
At one point, Noah declares his love but she says she doesnt feel the same.
But when theyre at the motel in the finale, she admits she does love him.
I dont care what anybody thinks.
This is who I want to be with.And its also tentative, right?
You dont really know until the end when hes sitting at her grave, right?
Did you get to see him in his old-age makeup?No, I just saw pictures.
He made cards for everybody at the wrap party and that was the picture on the front.
Im not in the future, right?
They were like, Helens not in the future.
And I was like, No, I dont think so.
And then a third one asked.
I was like,Wait a minute, this is for my fucking tombstone!
I am not giving you a middle name for my tombstone!
It seems like they reconciled and stayed together until she died.
Her name on the tombstone is Helen Kathleen Solloway.
Its not Butler.Yes, I think thats the implication.
Isnt he reading or something?
Hes reading Staceys book to Helen because Stacey became a writer.
Well never see Helen again.
But yes, Im pretty sure they wanted you to know they were together.
Her mother lived to be 100.Of course she did.
Margaret will never die!
I want to know what happened to Helen.
And what happened to Margaret?I dont know.
I have no clue.
And I said to Sarah, I dont want to know.
Thats great, though.
I dont think it was in the script that they died in the same year.
So Helen was in her 80s?
She was 79 by my math.Wow.
Well, thats great.
In thesecond-to-last episode, you and Dominic had that long scene where youhiketo safety from the wildfires.
Tell me about filming that.It was really challenging.
Youre on cables, but it was scary as shit to look down.
The stuntwoman even said to me, I wouldnt look straight down or youre going to get vertigo.
There were actual rattlesnakes not stunt rattlesnakes!
And the dialogue was pretty heavy.
Theyre both laying it on each other, their thoughts, their mistakes.
Hopefully, it was a bit funny, too.
That was really fucking funny.
Even though were doing all of this heavy work, both of us luckily dont take ourselves too seriously.
When the work is demanding, we joke.
Or hell take a minute and go sit on the grass somewhere.
We just know when to stay out of each others faces and also when to help each other.
I mean, no one will give that character a break!
And I think thats because of Doms commitment to acting what Sarah writes.
Dom doesnt shy away, even though everyone keeps calling Noah an asshole.
He doesnt let his ego get in the process.
Do you feel like Noah was redeemed in the end?
But then in the last couple of episodes, he seemed different.
There was personal growth.I dont think he has to be redeemed as much as everybody else does.
The characters also done lots of decent things.
If the roles were flipped, it would bereallyuncool.
But he respects that.
But I dont think the character needed saving as much as some people.
The way the show films from different points of view meant you played Helen in different ways.
Can you talk about that process?
And then it was four different characters.
I believe, by the end, we did six iterations of Helen.
I have to say, this season, getting to see Whitneys POV of Helen was my favorite one.
At first when I read it, I thought Helen had her shit together.
Also, we never addressed how much Helen drinks.
Helen drinks all the time!
We improvd that on the day.
Julia [Goldani Telles] and I worked it out.
I grabbed the wine and she says, Mom, its 10 a.m. And Im like, So?
In Whitneys eyes, Helen is an uber martyr.
It seemed like the writers had fun with the finale.
Eating a cake while their parents fuck!That is pure, 100 percent vintage Treem.
I mean, only that mind.
She just came in one day and shes like, I know the last shot of the whole show.
The kids are sitting outside the Memory Moteland Helen and Noah are having sex inside.
AndFiona Applecovered [The Whole of the Moon].
Im dying to hear that and Im dying to see that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
