Season 5: Question for those who watched it as it aired, in 2013-14

It was a very well-guarded secret, which the network was able to carry off completely, so it came as a huge (and horrible) surprise to all of us, I think.

I had looked at my cable company's listing, which usually gave a summary of next week's episode, but it was very vague and evasive for that one.

Then, even when they started to show promos, it was still impossible to know what was going to happen. There were warnings that it would be a shocker, and there was a glimpse of Diane coming out into the hall at the courthouse, but we didn't know what had happened -- but we could tell it was going to be bad news, just by the expression on her face.

One of the show's German viewers wrote here that, after it happened, she had spent a long time crying on her balcony, trying to recover from it. I think it hit all of us in a similar way.

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[Disclaimer: It's hard for me to reply and use spoiler tags - so, dear interested (binge) viewer or reader: If you don't want to get spoiled about episode 5.15, don't read any further! ]

Helena727,

About ep 5-15: Was Will's death a total surprise to all viewers?

No, it wasn't a total surprise to all viewers - some of us speculated about it and eventually came very close; it was among several other ideas about what could happen. That said, of course it was still riveting to watch, at least for me.

That is, was Josh Charles's departure truly kept secret ahead of time, or was there a bit of a leak such that people knew that Will was being written out in some way but just didn't know exactly how?

Well, I certainly will give huge credit to all the people who worked on the episode/show and who kept Will's death a secret until the episode aired. They made a real effort to keep it a secret and it worked for the vast majority of fans and critics. And by efforts I mean, for example: There were no press releases, photos or hints for episodes that followed 5.15, so no one could guess because of a cast list without Josh Charles. The critics didn't get a chance to watch the episode beforehand to write their reviews - so no critic was able to spill anything, not even accidentally. And there were no (obvious) hints in articles and interviews by the cast or the crew - none. So, from the official side, they tried to keep it a secret and it worked almost entirely for all of us fans.

Nevertheless, a lot of people speculated about what might happen, especially assuming the departure of Josh Charles! For several reasons - let me try to write this down as short as possible:

1. All the promo for episode 5.15 was screaming that you can't miss it and that something huge will happen. The first and the extended promo were all dramatics, and the sneak peek felt somehow distracting:

http://www.spoilertv.com/2014/03/the-good-wife-episode-515-dramatics_17.html

http://www.spoilertv.com/2014/03/the-good-wife-episode-515-dramatics_3831.html

http://www.spoilertv.com/2014/03/the-good-wife-episode-515-dramatics_22.html

Also, the Kings talked in interviews right before the episode about Will and Josh Charles - but they didn't really tell anything (meaning, the episode is all about him). For example, here is one of the interviews from the day the episode aired:

http://www.ew.com/article/2014/03/23/the-good-wife-robert-michelle-king-interview

So, everybody knew something big will happen, and everybody could assume it will be about Will.

2. Some fans of the show were always uncertain about the span of time Josh Charles was contracted to the show. Most of the main cast members started with a 6-year contract, but it was often mentioned that Josh Charles did only sign up for a shorter term, most likely only 4 years. So when season 4 ended and season 5 was about to begin, there were some people who were seriously questioning his participation in the future of the show. I remember several posts/threads here on this IMDb board about his contract; or look at this spoiler from tv|line:

http://tvline.com/2013/08/20/once-upon-a-time-spoilers-season-3-episode-6-ariel-ask-ausiello/

So, at the time episode 5.15 aired on March 23rd, 2014, it wasn't unlikely that Josh Charles might leave the show pretty soon.

3. Julianna Margulies mentioned several times in interviews - months before it aired - that something big will happen around episode 5.15 that will change the course of the show dramatically. For example, here's a spoiler with an excerpt from one of her interviews from October 2013:

http://www.tvguide.com/news/mega-buzz-nashville-castle-spoilers-1071832/

I also remember that there was a very short tv interview with Julianna Margulies, maybe a week or several days before the episode aired, in which she almost spilled everything, accidentally. She was asked to answer several fan questions and one of those was about Josh Charles. She was almost about to spoil something, but at the last moment, she didn't say anything that could have been interpreted as to what will happen to Will concretely. I wish I could give you a link to this interview - but I wasn't able to find it, yet.

4. On the Saturday before the episode aired, it was announced that Josh Charles will be a guest on Late Show with David Letterman (1993) the following Monday. Of course, this announcement raised more speculations among fans about his departure from the show and that the "big thing" within the episode will be about him. Many fans were more certain about him leaving the show and scenarios of how it will happen; I remember that I read those opinions especially discussed on twitter on the Sunday the episode aired.

5. The biggest hint that kind of qualifies as being called a leak was something an anonymous "R7" (which stands for "reply 7") wrote on the TGW Thread at Datalounge. This person warned readers that something huge will happen on the show, but she/he didn't want to spoil anything concrete about Will's death. But - in hindsight - "R7" knew that Josh Charles will leave TGW and that his character will die - from a friend behind the show (source: http://www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html?t=13801046#page:showThread,13801046,1):

Just a reminder that I warned you on the other thread (weeks before the 3 episode event promo) about something HUGE happening on Sunday's show. Don't worry, I won't spoil it for you. This will, without a doubt, change the show forever. It will make some people pretty angry. It's no wonder CBS decided to take a break of a few weeks after it to let the viewers simmer down. The show's got a lot of balls to do what they're doing on Sunday night but it will most likely pay off down the road. And yeah, I'm talking Emmy Awards. (reply 7)

[...]

Alright, here's a last-minute bone.

One of these characters will be dead by the end of the episode: Kalinda, Will, Cary, Peter, Zach or Elspeth.

Don't say I never did anything for you. (reply 17)

If you have time and it's of any more interest to you: You can go back and read her/his posts about this matter beginning from end of February 2014 - almost a month before Will actually died (http://www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html#page:showThread,13220994,26):

A friend of mine works on the show and she said something HUGE is going to happen in an episode late next month. She couldn't say any more about it and told me not to ask any questions. (reply 509)

That's the only place on the Internet I know of where Will's death was kind of leaked before. But, here's the thing: If you're familiar with Datalounge and/or with the TGW thread on this website, you might instantly say that's a troll who tells vicious lies to mock other fans about the show - and that's why almost no one took this person seriously and believed him before episode 5.15. And, not many people followed this TGW thread on Datalounge and talked about it elsewhere, I guess the average TGW fan probably never heard of Datalounge at all. However - in hindsight - this person was completely right about it and obviously had inside knowledge.

Those 5 points are the one's regarding your question that I can remember right now. And, in case you have a looooot of time, you might want to read the old speculation-threads over at the Fanforum - this might give you a good overview of what people speculated about back then. You can start here:

http://www.fanforum.com/f15/good-wife-spoilers-speculation-thread-25-because-we-hoping-renewal-63110679/index15.html

and follow up here:

http://www.fanforum.com/f15/good-wife-spoilers-speculation-thread-26-because-all-secrecy-killing-us-63118978/

It's really interesting - on the day the episode aired, one of the fans with the name "Jaundice" wrote (http://www.fanforum.com/75102961-post16.html):

I was taking another careful look at the press release for tonight, and I noticed that we have a few guest stars playing medical staff [...] The case of the week involves the return of Hunter Parrish, who was accused of murder when we last saw him; there would be no reason for anyone to consult two doctors and a nurse for that case. There's also no reason for two doctors and a nurse for the A plot of the deposition of Alicia regarding the voter fraud. So I really think the only reason that we *would* have the doctors and nurse is if there were some sort of accident. I'm calling it now (no keyboard involved): Will is going to get shot, or hit by a car, or something. I'm not sure if he's going to die, but I kind of think that he will after an extended hospital scene with Alicia. Deaths aren't the sort of thing that this show usually does, but that's why it would be all the more shocking if it happened, and as we all know shock is what really appeals to Robert King more than logic or reasonable storytelling. Will's death (or serious injury) would certainly be something that drew Alicia and Diane back together.

That level of speculation was really good considering what actually happened, which means some of us "hardcore" fans of the show did expect what was coming. That's why I replied to you at the beginning that it wasn't a total surprise to all viewers - some of us kind of "knew" by deducing from all the hints we could find. 

Best wishes,

janar

"Love [...] is the most incredible gift to give and to receive as a human being." - Ellen Page

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