The Good Fight producers on that shocking finale

This post contains spoilers from the season 1 finale of The Good Fight.

It’s only a ta-ta for now, Diane Lockhart: Though Sunday’s episode marked the season finale of The Good Fight on CBS All Access, there is good news from creators Robert and Michelle King. More episodes are on the way!

EW asked the Kings to reflect on that shocking final episode and where the action will pick up when the second season of The Good Wife spinoff returns to All Access sometime next year.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What kind of feedback have you received from CBS All Access about how well the show has done? Have they shared subscription numbers with you?
ROBERT KING: No. We get generalities of things are looking good, but nothing more specific than that. We just take that with a smile and write the next episode.

How long do we have to wait until we see the new season?
MICHELLE KING: Well, what we know is that the writers’ room will start back again at the end of August.
ROBERT KING: I think the intent is to have it come out around the same time it did this year.

Will they make you do more episodes for season 2?
ROBERT KING: We’re being told not to say yet!

Can you say if everyone will be back?
ROBERT KING: I will tell you that Delroy Lindo will be back, Justin Bartha, and, obviously, Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo.

Where will the action pick up in the new season?
ROBERT KING: The next minute. We often did that on The Good Wife. It’s always fun to dive right into them, and so we’ll pick up five seconds later.

So let’s talk about the finale. Did you want Henry Rindell (Paul Guilfoyle) to remain morally ambiguous throughout the season?
ROBERT KING: Yes. First of all, Paul Guilfoyle was doing such a good job, and [he was] someone I sympathized with — pretend innocent man who was corrupted. He kind of understood his corruption more from ego than from money. And so we wanted to do something where you thought he was making a heroic action at the end, something that was very much built for TV, that he would fall on his sword for his daughter to be free, and then you realize, no, this guy is an opportunist. The last thing he wants to do is spend his life in prison, so he runs and leaves his daughter holding the bag. It’s our theme of family sometimes being a corrosive influence.
MICHELLE KING: The sense we have as a character is that he genuinely loves his daughter and wife, but he’ll never love them as much as he loves himself. He’ll be able to justify anything to protect himself in the same way he could justify bilking his investors of millions.

At one point, you had him say that everyone knew about his scheme. Does that mean Diane knew too?
ROBERT KING: No.
MICHELLE KING: Maia, in her heart of hearts, didn’t know there was something wrong. The same thing goes with everybody involved with this scandal.

I was surprised by Maia lying to Madeline who, by the way, was played perfectly by Jane Lynch. Is that because we’re dealing with this young, naïve woman who wants to protect her parents?
ROBERT KING: Yes, that, and also she’s someone who was convinced by Lucca that she is blaming herself, and that now is not the time for that. I think what we wanted to do was show that her guilt was kind of damning herself to a point where she was getting in trouble with the feds.

I liked when you referenced Trump indirectly with Adrian (Lindo) making a comment like, “It feels like something has come detached.” Was that you reflecting on how you’re feeling politically these days?
ROBERT KING: Oh, yes. It feels like a lot of institutions are falling apart, and I think people are feeling really untethered.

Is Barbara threatened professionally by Diane or is it more than just professional?MICHELLE KING: It’s everything. It’s where we started the season with her concerns that Diane is the sort of person who doesn’t sit quiet, that she rose to the top, and now she’s worried that her position is threatened.

Will we see Mr. Staples again?
ROBERT KING: Yes. We had to make sure that he would come back and have Diane represent him. So I hope that works out next year. We loved him.

Where did that great moment with the birds flying into the window come from?
ROBERT KING: We’ve heard from someone on our crew about the Statue of Liberty and how many birds fly into it because of the light hitting it, and so the image of the groundskeeper every night having to go and clean up all these dead birds at the base of the Statue of Liberty stuck with us. So we stuck that in there as just this quirk about Jane Lynch. She’s just used to it.

And the scene of the judge in the wheelchair who couldn’t wheel himself up the ramp!
ROBERT KING: That gag was in season 3 of The Good Wife. We haven’t used him since, and we were shocked because he was so wonderful. We actually had him coming down the ramp and ramming into the wall, but then we thought we’re not that silly. We have some self-respect.

Will Marissa (Sarah Steele) get her wish in season 2 and become an investigator?
MICHELLE KING: She will definitely be there in season 2, and she’s gonna be able to put on her gumshoes.

Speaking of investigators, any chance you could find a place for Kalinda (Archie Panjabi)?
ROBERT KING: We love Archie. I think she’s on another show this year. I think it would be lovely if she and Alan Cumming returned.

Was there one character or one plotline that surprised you this season and made you proud?
ROBERT KING: I really liked the second-to-last episode. I really like when we use people’s stream of consciousness and visualize it. Not in a way that are flashbacks, because I don’t think flashbacks reflect the way our minds work. That is just kind of a literary device used in filmmaking, but more — the thoughts are not linear in how they interrupt each other and how you don’t remember everything about circumstances and how you change what you remember. So I guess I’m most proud or most excited about using this mental device that we used in Good Wife, but I think we’re doing it better now.

The Good Fight is streaming on CBS All Access.