SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Season 2, Episode 8 of “Bad Sisters,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Trust “Bad Sisters” showrunner and actress Sharon Horgan to end the second season of the hit Apple TV+ series with a literal cliffhanger (which also happens to be called “Cliff Hanger”).

In the eighth and final episode of the season, the surviving Garvey sisters – Eva (Horgan), Bibi (Sarah Greene), Ursula (Eva Birthistle) and Becka (Eve Hewson) – must once again deal with a corpse after Angelica (Fiona Shaw). hits con artist Ian (Owen McDonnell) over the head, leaving him to seemingly die in a pool of blood.

The sisters decide to dispose of Ian’s body, loading him into the trunk of their car and planning to throw him off the cliff – but when they reach their destination, it turns out he’s not as dead as they thought. Bleeding and disoriented, Ian escapes the trunk and accidentally manages to throw it yourself from the side of the cliff, although even that doesn’t finish him off. Which leaves the Garvey girls with a dilemma: let Ian die on a cliff or call an ambulance?

After some argument, they ultimately choose the latter and end the season with a mirror image of the first season (where Grace survived while her abusive first husband JP, aka The Prick, played by Claes Bang, was murdered).

Ahead of the Season 2 finale on Apple TV+, cast and lead director Dearbhla Walsh caught up with her diversity to talk about filming on a cliff, why the sisters decide to grant Ian clemency – and whether plans are already underway for Season 3.

Sharon, how did you come up with Ian’s story?

Sharon Horgan: The idea of ​​”Can lightning strike twice?” was the first idea because women who have been in that situation – in an abusive relationship – don’t necessarily go into healthy relationships. They can also be used specifically. I was nervous in case it was a bold idea to just jump into it right away, but then everything else that built up to that, like what happens to Grace, came out of the writers’ room and, again, felt a little bold. We wanted to show the collateral damage of having a man like (JP) in your life, and just because he’s dead doesn’t mean the pain goes away and her guilt and conscience goes away. She’s a very good person caught in a terrible situation – and would she ever just move on with life?

Dear Bhla Walsh: That was such a shock, the success of The Prick on TV and how much people loved to hate it. And in that (second season) I didn’t want to just say, “Here’s Idiot, Generation 2.”

Anne-Marie, what do you think about Grace’s relationship and how she ended up with an abuser twice?

Anne Marie Duff: I think that unfortunately, many women and men who find themselves in unhealthy romantic relationships are repeat offenders until they figure out why they are doing it. There’s a terrible inevitability in it, and that’s what makes it so tragic, because he seems like the ideal man. I mean, Owen is so handsome and so charming, it’s perfect casting, you feel devastated, the audience. And the fact that Eva then gets a little involved with him and her in order to make the discovery is so complex and clever. But unfortunately I think there’s a sad inevitability, isn’t there?

Have you been working on a backstory for Grace and why she is prone to abusive relationships?

Duff: I think we’ve all talked about the fact that we (the Garvey sisters) lost our parents very young. Trauma develops differently for everyone. Some people wear it like a fedora hat. Some people will do anything to heal themselves. Some people are collapsers. And I think she was trying to find security in someone else’s spine and that never worked.

The final scene at the edge of the cliff was filmed on location in the middle of winter. How close to the rim did you actually shoot?

Horgan: We were at the top (on the edge), but we all had harnesses. Frightening. We all had security buddies with us too. But it was right there. You get this weird confidence when you have the harness and you’re not actually allowed to lean into it because otherwise the fear goes away and we look way too comfortable.

Walsh: I remember giving you the message, “Okay, can we do this again, and this time can you make it look like it’s actually dangerous?”

Sarah Greene: Dearbhla had to remind us that something like this is actually quite scary. But the weather that evening was absolutely chaotic. It rained every time we were on set, so we spent most of the night in our trailer together, napping in bed. It was a really nice time. The crew was soaked. But yeah, it was a real cliff, it’s not CGI, it’s not a studio somewhere. Dearbhla was keen to take us to the edge of the cliff.

Eve Hewson: There were several, several, several evenings and several cliffs. And then there were two or three nights where they literally roped us in and we climbed down a cliff and had to shoot the scenes hanging on a cliff. These scenes were hilarious and sad at the same time because it rained every time. They said, “Okay, we’re going to dry here for 20 minutes. Let’s get the girls out, put them in their harnesses and get going.” As soon as they put the harnesses on us, which took about 10 minutes, it started raining again. So all you could do was laugh and freak out, but those nights were the nights we really bonded. In the end it’s really fun, but at the end you’re really cold and exhausted.

Eva Birthistle: Yes, the weather was terrible. We were hanging with harnesses on the mountainside in the middle of the night. The floor was really slippery because it was so wet. It happened every time they left us and we were about to leave, it would just pour down again. And health and safety is like, “Cut! No. Get back up.” And all night we just try to grab something. Meanwhile, poor Owen is literally lying on a rock in the ocean with the waves actually crashing over him.

Horgan: Poor Owen’s condition. When he came in between times when we had a bit of time, like 10 minutes or whatever, to relax, he would just sit there and not even take off the dishes.

Birth thistle: (At some point) he just made the decision: “I’m not going to keep going up and down.” Because he actually – in the truest sense of the word – climbed the mountain. So he just said, “Actually, I’m great, I’m great.” And he laid on this sea-spattered rock for, I would say, a good six hours.

Walsh: But everyone wanted to do their own stunts. There was no one who said, “I won’t do that.”

Ultimately, the sisters decide to save Ian. Sharon, why do you think Eva is calling like that?

Horgan: Because of everything that happened, and they’re not murderers. They react a lot, the sisters – I mean, obviously not in the first season, it’s all a choice – but for me it was almost more like, “How can I make it believable that they’re going to own up to the mess?” according to Ian Angelica?” But I really believe there is survival in that. They already have the feeling that they are being watched very closely. Even at this point, there is a protectiveness for Angelica, but the decision to save him – I think it’s just because they’re not bad people. All of these things happened to them, and this is one thing they can reclaim. And it’s a big risk, and they’re taking a risk, and God knows what’s going to happen, but in her gut, Eve knew it was the right choice, and it was.

Walsh: And I also think Blanaid is a big part of this series.

Horgan: Yes, (Eva) wanted to make the right decisions for her.

Walsh: And I think it’s very hard for normal people to kill someone in real life. We remained very grounded.

Horgan: There’s a big difference between putting someone in the trunk of a car and actually pushing them off a cliff and watching them die. There was nothing in it that felt like a natural or right decision. And once you cross that line, there is no turning back.

Becka is one of the most vocal about keeping Ian alive. Eve, did you think it was the right decision?

Hewson: I thought it was really clever. And it also showed the reality of who they were. It’s very clever. In Season 2 no one actually gets murdered, and in Season 1 no one actually gets murdered, it’s Grace who does it. And they end up in these places where you think, “Oh, they’re murderers.” “They’re trying to murder people,” but they never succeed, either because of their poor attempts or because they’re morally dissuaded from doing so. I suspect Mina was an accidental murder. But I just think about that moment (on the cliff) – Becka is the youngest and she’s supposed to be the most innocent. And I think it got them to get to the heart of the problem. They all realize that no matter how much they hate this guy, they actually won’t murder him.

Sarah, what does Bebe think about keeping Ian alive?

Greene: Becka is right: We are not murderers. And I think it’s brilliant, just really clever of Sharon writing that they never actually kill anyone. People have died, but it’s not really their fault. I think yes, she would want him to live.

Birth thistle: I love it when things aren’t fixed. It simply offers you opportunities.

Speaking of which, Sharon, have you thought about a story arc for season three yet?

Horgan: I mean, you know, we always talk about it.

These interviews have been edited and condensed.