‘Good Trouble’ EP Breaks Down Shocking Season 5 Premiere: Mariana Is ‘Wracked With Guilt’ (Exclusive)

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Evan nearly lost his life after getting shot helping Mariana, Joaquin, and Jenna escape Silas’ farm in the Good Trouble season 5 premiere. At the end of the episode, Evan was still in a coma. A distraught Mariana felt immense guilt over what happened, and Callie returned to support her sister through this difficult time.

HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Good Trouble boss Joanna Johnson about the next step for Mariana, especially after she was made Evan’s proxy at Speckulate. She also teased an update about Callie and Evan, how Gael is going to handle Isabella taking off with the baby, and Dennis and Davia’s future. Read our Q&A below:

T.J. Linnard as Evan. (Freeform)

Evan’s life is still in jeopardy. How long will it be before we find out an answer about his fate?
Joanna Johnson: It’s going to be a few episodes for sure. Mariana is going to step in at Speckulate and be his proxy at the company for him. We really are excited about exploring that idea of her returning there and having this tremendous responsibility, and also being just completely wracked with guilt about what happened and feeling responsible. She wants to try to do whatever she can for Evan. She’ll have obviously some nemesis there and some pushback there to deal with, so we want to be able to give enough time for that story.

I’m pulling for Evan. I hope he makes it out. Was there ever a discussion in the writers’ room about possibly killing him off immediately? Was that ever on the table?
Joanna Johnson: No, that seems so sad. It would sort of take away our opportunities to tell an interesting story. If he’s just gone, he’s dead, and then she’s in grief and that seemed a little too heavy. We didn’t know at first who was going to get shot, but it became pretty evident that the most interesting dynamic would be for it to be Evan and for Marianna to feel this incredible guilt about it and how that would bring them back together or not.

Mariana feels very guilty about what happened. She blames herself. How does this whole situation impact her relationship with Joaquin since she was there to try and find his sister?
Joanna Johnson: I think it really complicates the triangle that they’ve been doing with them. I think part of her, in the beginning, is upset. Why did you bring him out there? But then, of course, immediately takes that all on herself that if she had not gone out there in the first place without telling anyone, then none of this would have happened. With Joaquin, they live together, and they see each other often. They also form a bond in some ways over this trauma over what happened. No one can really understand what they went through because they weren’t there. I think in some ways that strengthens their bond.

What does Joaquin’s dynamic look like with his sister now?
Joanna Johnson: I think that they’ve been apart for a while since she left home. They both sort of share the trauma of their childhood of having been in a very oppressive home and an oppressive church situation. Not saying that all church situations are that way, but this particular situation was, so they both have a lot of healing to do. I think that when you’re around your siblings, you talk a lot about your childhood or you think about it more than you do when you’re not with them. It’s an interesting healing process. Also, when you have been in a cult situation, you don’t just leave and you’re fine. It’s really hard to come out of those situations where you really have been brainwashed.

Maia Mitchell as Callie. (Freeform)

Callie returns at the end of the episode to be there for Mariana. How long was bringing Callie back in the cards?
Joanna Johnson: When Maia left to go spend time at home with her family and go back to Australia, we said the door’s always open because we adore Maia and the character Callie is such an iconic and important character in this show from The Fosters to Good Trouble. She’s always going to be part of the show. We’re just happy to have her back whenever her schedule allows. She said she was free to come back and, of course, it was the perfect timing for the story. We jumped at it.

How long will she be sticking around The Coterie?
Joanna Johnson: You know, we definitely see her this season. I don’t want to give the impression that she moves in to stay, but we will see her in the A season and the B season as much as we can get her.

You know that I’m the biggest Callie and Jamie stan out there. Will we get some updates about what’s going on with them?
Joanna Johnson: In the next episode, we answer those questions. We keep it exciting.

There’s a lot going on at The Coterie right now. At the end of the episode, Gael realizes that Isabella has taken off with their baby. What is the next step for him?
Joanna Johnson: It is really frustrating. One thing that he’s going to learn is that in the state of California if you’re not married, the father has no rights to parental rights. You have to petition for them. That’s pretty scary when you find that out. Of course, he’s freaked out because Isabella can be very impulsive, but he also believes in her on some level because he sees the broken part of her and understands why she’s that way. He has a lot of compassion for her, but he’s also completely freaked out. Imagine if someone just took your baby and you have no power to do anything about it.

Cierra Ramirez as Mariana. (Freeform)

Dennis and Davia are very much together. They’re trying to keep their relationship a secret, but they’re not doing a very good job. How long will this honeymoon phase last?
Joanna Johnson: There’s no plan to rip them apart. We’re excited about just telling stories about relationships and the ups and downs of being in a relationship, especially with someone where it’s new to be in the relationship romantically but not new to be friends. They’ve known each other for a long time, so we’re definitely exploring that. The two of them also are going to have some big career opportunities this season. They’re also going to be balancing starting a new relationship and devoting the time that that needs and also devoting the time to building their careers.

What does Alice’s journey look like this season?
Joanna Johnson: Well, I think Sumi and Alice are coming back together after having been in a relationship previously, and then having had a lot of hurt in that relationship. I think the two of them, it’s interesting to kind of build back trust. And then Alice has a really fun career story this season as well. She goes to work on writing for a comedy show. That really brings a lot of fun comedy into the show, so we’re looking forward to that.

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