Orphan Black Boss on Burning Qs About Kira's Dad, Charlotte's

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the very last episode of Orphan Black. Proceed at your own peril.

Orphan Black may be over, but our burning questions about the series finale will never end.

After weighing in on when and how he and co-creator/director John Fawcett decided what the show’s swan song would be, co-creator/writer Graeme Manson tackled a few lingering mysteries about Charlotte’s living situation, Kira’s MIA pops and the clone conspiracy.

And after a season of surprising and fun returns — Dr. Leekie! Aynsley! Chad! — Manson explains why some other comebacks just weren’t necessary.

TVLINE | When Siobhan exposed Neolution, was the existence of clones concealed from the public?
MANSON | Yes. It’s one of those things we always avoided. We never wanted that sort of news conference-y [moment or] the plot to turn to, “Oh, it’s all going public.” That took out the mystery and the heat and the clandestine tone of what the girls were going through, so we were never interested in that. It’s our secret, and we’re off to cure our secret sisters.

TVLINE | Where is Cal? Is he still in Iceland?
MANSON | He’s doing whatever Khaleesi tells him to do.

TVLINE | On that note, you got a lot of fun characters back this season for flashbacks. Were there actors like Michiel Huisman that you wanted to get back, but couldn’t?
MANSON | Yeah, sure. Anybody who wasn’t there was somebody we couldn’t get back. [Laughs] But listen, you can’t get everybody. Particularly some of the male supporting cast who were love interests to, for instance, Sarah or Helena. At the end of the day, when we were boiling it down with Tatiana [Maslany], it was like, these girls’ story does not need to be supported by a male romantic interest. The tightening and the closing down and the finishing of these women, it’s about a sisterhood, motherhood and family. For instance, after everything they’ve been through, do you think Helena really needs a boyfriend? No, she needs her sisters. What’s more important? I think we focused it quite thoughtfully that way.

TVLINE | Is Charlotte living with Art?
MANSON | She was staying with Art during the last couple of episodes of shenanigans, when everybody was running around. She was staying with Art’s ex and Art’s daughter. It’s a nice, little open thing of what could happen to Charlotte. I know that the fandom discussed her being adopted by Cosima and Delphine. I love that story, too. That’s a beautiful one to have in your imagination. I second that. It’s not what we chose to put on screen. But there are a bunch of jumping-off points, and when you end with the hopeful tone that we have, the fans can take their hopeful ideas of what might happen to the loose ends, and they can spin it forward in the same tone. If we ended in a giant bloodbath, I don’t think you’d be able to do that spinning forward. [Laughs] [With] loose ends like that, we all just need to know that this family is going to stick together.