‘Prodigal Son’s Tom Payne Teases a ‘Shocking’ Finale, But Will It Tie Up All Loose Ends?
Finale
There’s only one episode left of Prodigal Son, but there are quite a few loose ends to tie up. For example, did the Whitlys really get away with Nicholas Endicott’s (Dermot Mulroney) murder?
“More pressing things are on everyone’s mind [in the finale],” Tom Payne, who plays profiler Malcolm Bright (he chooses not to use his serial killer father’s last name), told TV Insider. “But also after Alan Cumming‘s episode, they feel like it was all wrapped up and everyone accepted what he deduced. So actually I think the Endicott thing, for now, has gone away.”
As you’ll recall, Ainsley Whitly (Halston Sage) followed in her father Martin’s (Michael Sheen) footsteps and killed the villainous Endicott at the end of Season 1. Malcolm then covered up his sister’s crime and disposed of the body (parts). Europol agent Simon Hoxley (Cumming) came to town to investigate and subsequently deduced that the same person killing off the rest of Endicott’s courier network took his life. It sounds like that will now be all there is to it.
“They’re all bonded by blood and in the covering up of the murder at this point because they all know about it,” Payne says of the Whitlys. “They’ve all got blood on their hands, which they did before, but in a very different way and now it’s much more direct that Martin’s not the only person to have killed someone. They’re all wrestling with that the whole time. It’s sad really because it really looks like they’ll never be able to escape it.”
Speaking of escape, Malcolm’s going to be looking to do just that in the May 18 series finale. In the penultimate episode, Malcolm tracked down his father, who was Dr. Vivian Capshaw’s (Catherine Zeta-Jones) captive. (Martin had been escaping from Claremont Psychiatric when she kidnapped him.) When the NYPD arrived on scene, Vivian played the victim and Malcolm told his dad to run, knowing no one would believe she was really the perpetrator. Martin did, but he took his unconscious son with him.
“You will see an entirely different side to Martin, which will be quite amusing because who is Martin Whitly out in the world? He will be giving you a very definite depiction of himself,” Payne previewed. “Malcolm’s struggling with all of that: ‘This is not right, I need to take you in, you shouldn’t be out in the world like this.’ But they will be working on something together. Martin has a plan in the final episode and he will be putting Malcolm into this plan and we’ll see how it pans out by the end of the episode.”
Phil Caruso/FOX
As for how it will end, “it’s a shocking finale definitely,” the star promised. (He was “so happy” that they were able to surprise everyone with the Season 1 finale cliffhanger.) “The last scene in this finale, something happens is that is shocking and will make you question how the characters are going to come out of it.”
While Fox has canceled the thriller, Payne is “proud” of what they accomplished with the second season, especially filming during COVID. As he said before the cancellation was announced, he thought that what they did would make for “an amazing Season 3.”
Prodigal Son, Series Finale, Tuesday, May 18, 9/8c, Fox
