How Michaela Conlin Reacted To The Big Zack Addy Plot Twist On Bones - Exclusive

Long-time "Bones" fans will remember the wild season 3 finale plot twist that revealed Eric Millegan's slightly awkward and softspoken character, Zach Addy, as Gormogon's apprentice. Gormogon is not just your average Joe: he enjoys killing people. Then, he eats them with dentures made from real k-9 teeth. To top off Gormogon's most charming attributes, he publicly displays his human skeleton 'art' made from his victims' bones.

So, naturally, everyone's biggest question was how someone as sweet-natured as Zach could get roped into something so grisly? As Caroline Julian (Patricia Belcher) says, "It happens like it always does: A strong personality finds a weak personality and takes advantage." After the big reveal, Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor) sums up the fandom's pure shock with the bewildered announcement, "I did not see that coming."

Well, we didn't see it coming either, so when Looper spoke to Michaela Conlin (Angela Montenegro) for an exclusive interview, we asked how she reacted when she heard the big news and how she felt about Zach's redemption arc in the final season.

With a shortened season due to the 2007-08 writer's strike, "Bones" had to find a way to keep up its penchant for bombshell season finales with fewer episodes — and sadly for Millegan, his character paid the price. The episode, titled "The Pain in the Heart," aired quite a while ago, so it took Michaela Conlin a minute to recall how she reacted to the series' most significant plot twist.

"Okay. I'm dialing my brain back to that period," she said. "That was a crazy period. Finding out that he was [Gormogon's apprentice]. Right. Right. I remember getting that script in my trailer and making an audible like, 'What?'"

Luckily, Conlin and the rest of the cast — having already spent three years together on the show — didn't have to face the revelation alone. "We had no clue that was coming," she added. "So I do remember just being genuinely very surprised. I was glad that they sort of waited to tell all of us at the same time because I think that's probably the way you should do it on a series like that. But of course, it was really sad. Eric Millegan was... I mean, we all were in the pilot together. So that was really sad." 

In the final season, writers retconned Zach's murder of Ray Porter, revealing that Gormogon's previous apprentice actually killed The Lobbyist. While fans had to suspend disbelief on how it all came together, the redemption arc provided comfort for fans knowing that their favorite Jeffersonian intern wasn't a cold-blooded killer. Fans had mixed feelings on the follow-up to the plot twist, which had happened almost a decade prior. However, it gave Conlin closure before she said goodbye to her character, and the Jeffersonian, for good.

"Oh my God. How do I answer this? Let me think about it. I did. I felt satisfied with it," she said. Yeah. I think on a show like that, you're trying to do a lot of things. The fans at that point have a lot of opinions about what they want to see and who they're loyal to. And so I feel like you can't try to please everybody because you'll never win. So yes. I thought they did a good job with it. Yeah."

Fans can catch up on "Bones" on Hulu, while Conlin's new film, "Bad Trip," is available on Netflix. The final episode of Conlin's Apple TV+ series "For All Mankind" airs today.