Mayans M.C. star JD Pardo on that brutal series finale: 'It was the perfect ending for EZ'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the series finale of Mayans M.C., "Slow to Bleed Fair Son."

"I'm ready."

With those two words, EZ Reyes (JD Pardo) ended his turbulent — and very bloody — reign as El Presidente of the Mayans motorcycle club.

Five years ago, when EZ convinced his brother, Angel (Clayton Cardenas), to let him join the Mayans after he got out of prison, no one knew that the young prospect was also working as an informant for the DEA. But in Wednesday's series finale of Mayans M.C., EZ's past came back to bite him — hard — when he and Angel were ambushed in Templo by fellow Mayans Bishop (Michael Irby), Hank (Frankie Loyal), Gilly (Vincent "Rocco" Vargas), and the newly patched-in Nestor (Gino Vento).

"You're the f---ing rat!" growled Bishop, who learned of EZ's betrayal — and the fact that he had their club brother Creeper (Joseph Raymond Lucero) killed to cover his tracks —from federal informant Katie (Stella Maeve). With that, Bishop gave Angel a terrible choice: Die with his informant brother, or kill EZ to prove his loyalty to the Mayans. Knowing that there is no way out for him, and wanting Angel to be able to raise his baby son, Maverick, in peace, EZ tells his big brother that he is ready to die.

"The whole purpose of EZ this season was that he wanted to die," Pardo told EW in an interview conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike. "EZ would not want to be killed by a Son. That wasn't going to happen. Not by the cartel, not by somebody on the street who has a hit out on him or whatever. That's why it was the perfect ending for EZ, because it was like, 'It needs to be my brother. I want it to be my brother.'"

And in the end, it was his brother who first plunged the knife into EZ's gut — though all the other Mayans followed suit. EZ Reyes died with a smile on his face, while Angel and his baby boy were able to escape club life and build a new future somewhere by the ocean.

Watch the video above to hear from Pardo about keeping EZ's fate a secret (he's known for years!), why EZ didn't try to save himself, and his biggest fear about shooting that final Templo scene.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your first reaction when you read the final script?

JD PARDO: "Wow." Time goes by so fast. In that moment it was like, "Wow, I really lived through this character for five years, and now it's finished." It ended the way that we thought it should. It made sense for the character. I really didn't think that I was going to be as attached as I was, given the time that I've spent in this business and the different characters I've played. I love playing them, and then I love letting them go. But this one hung on a little bit.

What, if anything, did you know about EZ and Angel's fate before you read the script?

I've known about the characters for quite some time. [Showrunner] Elgin [James] and I had a conversation, I think around season three, and it was like, "We want to take EZ in this direction, and Angel in this direction." I was like, "Yes. Yeah, that's exciting." It was important for me to continue to set ourselves apart from Sons of Anarchy. As much as we come from them and we are a part of their universe, we really wanted to — especially with EZ — just show something that was opposite of Jax, because those two are constantly compared to each other. But yeah, I knew for some time. It was definitely a secret that I had to keep.

How hard was it to keep that secret?

You know, it's actually not that tough for me to keep secrets. I think I'm pretty good at it. I think where it gets tough is sometimes, on social media you'll see the fans and you're interacting with them and they'll say something, and I just want to respond back. But then I'm like, no, for the sake of the story, I've got to keep this one a secret.

What was your first conversation with Clayton like about the finale?

We were having this conversation before we even started season five because we knew what was going to happen. It was one of those things where just having those conversations allows us to process it as human beings, and also artistically to kind of keep ourselves on the same track. [We wanted] to make sure that we're keeping each other accountable, that I'm not showing my cards. That was very important for me.

EZ and Angel have two very pivotal, but also very different, scenes together in this series finale. The first is very heartfelt and sweet, when EZ and Angel ride out to the bridge and Angel tells EZ he needs to leave the club. How did you prepare for that scene?

It was an emotional day, and it was bittersweet. Right before that bridge scene we're riding on our bikes throughout the town, and somebody had said to us, "Man, this is the last time you guys were riding together." And so we had a moment where we were like, "Wow, this is sad." The beauty for me is that a scene like that was so effortless, just because of the time that we spent together. We were really locked in.

I was a little surprised that EZ didn't try to convince Angel to stay. Why do you think that is?

In that moment, EZ doesn't try to convince Angel to stay because EZ knows what's going to happen to him. He knows the path that he's on — he doesn't necessarily know the timing of it all — but he knows it's coming. You could see that it crushed EZ to have Angel go because this is why he's been a part of the club this whole time. Now that it's all happening, EZ's like, yeah, go. It hurts, but it's the right thing to do.

Okay, so now we must discuss the other big scene between the Reyes brothers — one that has a much darker ending. First off, when the Mayans are gathered at Templo and Hank interrupts EZ to ask that they vote on patching in Nestor, do you think EZ knows in that moment that something is up?

EZ did not know that he was about to be sabotaged in the Templo. He didn't know it. It was a really fascinating moment for me, because I've always been ahead of the character. And this goes back to not tipping my hand. We do this for the audience. I'm thinking about what the audience is going to watch and what we're delivering to them.

As an actor, I want to pull out my gun and take Hank out and stop this from happening. But I have to stay within the character and within that moment and act as if EZ doesn't know what's going on. So, I go along with it like, "Yeah. You know what? You're right. We should patch our brother in." I knew I was going to have problems with that. I was really on Elgin, and I told him, I said, "You're right there watching the monitors. If I'm showing it in any way, stop it and let me know. I will go back and do it again. I can't tip it for the audience. I really can't."

EZ is a very persuasive guy, but when the club turns on him at that moment, he doesn't try to talk them out of killing him. Why?

EZ can talk himself a lot out of a lot of things. He's a very smart man. The whole purpose of EZ this season was that he wanted to die. He realized after the death of Gaby [in season 4], where he lost his soul, that death was going to come for him. He accepted that because that was the only way he would be with his mother. The loss of EZ's mom was so profound — he died in prison. He died in that moment when his mom died. The connection there was so strong.

Throughout the show, you see him searching and trying to grab at different things — maybe I could be this, maybe I could be that. And there's finally this full acknowledgement of, "No. I will only have peace when I go. There's nothing for me here." And leading up to that moment, EZ is struggling with the fear of physical death. It's one thing to say, "That's where I'll have my peace. I'm going to finish putting the Mayans on top and then I'm going to go." But there's such an unknown there, and as intellectual and logical as EZ is, he can't grasp that. There are all these moments within this last season where he thinks, "Maybe it doesn't have to end this way."

Then there's the surprise [ambush] right there at the end. He's looking at his brother and he's being held back, and his brother's being held back, and they're threatening to kill his brother, who is the true love of his life. I was thinking about, can I find this moment where EZ stops fighting? Can I have a realization where it's like, "Oh, this is it. This is the moment." And then, as scary as it is, it's like, "I'm ready."

You can absolutely see EZ make that transition. Is it at all a comfort to him that Angel is the one who kills him?

Yes, exactly! EZ would not want to be killed by a Son. That wasn't going to happen. Not by the cartel, not by somebody on the street who has a hit out on him or whatever. That's why it was the perfect ending for EZ, because it was like, "It needs to be my brother. I want it to be my brother."

It's obviously a hugely emotional scene, but I'm guessing it also required a lot of technical set-ups, with the prop knives and the blood and all of that. What was the biggest challenge in terms of getting in the right emotional headspace in the midst of all those logistics?

There were a lot of technical aspects that had to be considered in filming the last scene where EZ was killed. We had to wait about a week before we shot that scene. That was the last scene that we had to shoot, and there were just some technical issues [to deal with], so we were off for like a week. I remember thinking, "This is too much time between this last scene, this scene is so important. How am I going to do it?" I already knew that the camera was probably going to be right here [in front of my face], so I wasn't going to see anybody [I was acting with]. There was a moment where I was just wondering like, "Am I capable of selling this important moment to the audience?"

Plus, I'm being held [by the neck]. One of the first takes we did, Rocco, who plays Gilly — he's a real dude. He's done a lot of law enforcement. When he grabbed me, kicked my knees out, and I was really bent over, and I think the camera was kind of looking up at my chin, I just kind of stopped there. I was like, "Woah. Hold on, let's do it again. Give me a little bit less." [laughs] But I think then in that moment, it just clicked. I was like, "Yeah, this is what I do. I do this." It just came.

Finally, EZ dies thinking that the Mayans are finally on top — but then we see AUSA Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon) and the Feds raiding the clubhouse. Was that hard for you to accept, seeing that everything EZ worked for and died for was about to be taken away?

It was interesting at first, when I read that last scene of Potter's men coming in and taking over after EZ's death. And there's Bishop taking the seat [at the head of the table] again, he's like, "All right, back to business." At first, my natural reaction was like, "What? How could you?" But once I got away from that, it was, "Oh, yeah. Life moves on." Time doesn't stop. It just keeps moving. As a storyteller, I loved it. I loved how [the Mayans] assumed their natural position, Bishop takes the throne and they're like, "Okay, now what do we do?" And then here comes Potter — and the rest is up to the imagination of the audience.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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