'Rectify' creator previews 'emotionally unencumbering' final season

When Daniel (Aden Young) first got off death row after 19 years, he went home to his Georgia hometown, where he was surrounded by people from his past — people with expectations of him, people with ideas of who he was. But in Rectify‘s fourth season, Daniel is all alone in Nashville, trying to figure out how to start over. And judging by an exclusive clip from the new season’s premiere, a new character played by Masters of Sex star Caitlin FitzGerald is going to help him out with that.

FitzGerald plays Chloe, someone show creator Ray McKinnon describes as a “free spirit.” “What she does for Daniel is she tells it like she sees it, and it may not always be what he wants to hear,” he tells EW. “She reflects back to him with less baggage — and maybe the truth will set him free or maybe the truth will spin him back into the hole.”

In the clip above, Daniel awkwardly discloses to Chloe that he spent some time in prison, a piece of information she responds to with blunt humor. “Well, I was in a sorority once, and I don’t feel too good about that,” she deadpans, “but here we are.”

Even though Chloe might seem like a bright spot in Daniel’s future, McKinnon stresses that his problems are far from over in what he describes as an “emotionally unencumbering” last run of episodes. “It’s really difficult for him to learn how to interact with the human race and not get stunned by those interactions,” he says.

There’s also the still-lingering question of his innocence: Just because he got out on a plea deal doesn’t mean Hanna Dean’s murder, the crime he spent nearly two decades away for, is on the back burner. “As he goes on to live his life, the machine around him is still chugging forward, and, perhaps ironically, when he’s getting to the point where it doesn’t matter so much, things will come back to him,” McKinnon teases.

In other words? There’s still plenty to rectify in this slow-burning drama’s final season.

See the season 4 premiere when it airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on Sundance. The first three seasons are currently streaming on Netflix.

A version of this story was originally published in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly. Pick it up on stands now, or buy it here now – and subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.