A star of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live reflects on the meaning of their character’s death, alongside how it will push the story forward.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live star Pollyanna McIntosh reflects on Jadis’ death in episode 5, revealing how her ending will impact the story moving forward. In the latest episode, the CRM warrant officer tried to kill Rick and Michonne, only to get bitten on the neck by a zombie. Following this, she had an epiphany, realizing she always wanted to be Anne instead of the person she forced herself to become.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, McIntosh reflected on how Jadis’ death impacts The Ones Who Live‘s story while giving the character a proper ending. The actor explained how flashbacks featuring her and Father Gabriel were integral to her change, and how it set the stage for what Rick and Michonne do in the final episode. Check out what McIntosh had to say below:

She had a moment of clarity. Gabriel had told her who she was and she finally believed it. She finally believed that her purpose was to hand it over and to let these people live. She still hoped that they would leave the CRM alone, but by the end of that moment when Michonne says, “No, we’re going to go back and we’re going to destroy them,” she’s at peace. She’s done her best. And that prompts her to remember a time when she didn’t need to think about these things, when she was an artist.

Why Jadis Decided To Help Rick & Michonne

In her final moments, Jadis decides to tell Rick and Michonne where her dossier on Alexandria is located, ensuring they can destroy it before the CRM finds out about their home. Her decision stems from lamenting about what her life could have been like if she’d tried to be the person Gabriel saw her as. She regretted her decision to join the military group, only doing so because of her fear of losing more people she cared about.

While Jadis has been a major part of pushing the CRM’s 500-year plan, her last moments offer a more complex narrative surrounding her character. She was responsible for separating Rick and Michonne for many years, as well as killing people like Huck in World Beyond. However, her final moments illustrate how she’d tricked herself into believing she needed to do what she did in order to survive. In reality, she could have tried to be someone else, but chose not to out of fear.

By giving the show’s main couple the location of her Alexandria files, Jadis gives them one more chance to escape from the CRM without any repercussions. However, Michonne’s insistence that they’re going to destroy them means the permanent destruction of everything the warrant officer has helped to build. Thematically, though, this may be for the best, with The Ones Who Live ending by demolishing a legacy Jadis regrets.