SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 2 finale of ABC’s A Million Little Things.

A jam-packed Season 2 finale of ABC’s A Million Little Things ended in a shocking cliffhanger, with Eddie’s (David Giuntoli) life hanging in a balance.

A trip for more answers about his possible involvement in Alex’s death years ago pushes Eddie to a near-drinking relapse on his 10-year sobriety anniversary. He pulls it together and is on his way home to renew his vows with Katherine when he is hit by a truck while crossing the street at night.

Besides leaving Eddie’s fate up in the air, we can reveal that the cliffhanger also set up a new mystery — Who hit Eddie?, in the vein of the Dallas classic season finale cliffhanger whodunit Who Shot J.R.? (More on that, and the significance of the cliffhanger airing over an alternate finale ending that had been shot a little later.)

ABC

Tonight’s episode is framed around Eddie and Katherine vow renewal. The ceremony’s location at the last minute is moved to the hospital after Rome and Regina get a call that Eve, the woman carrying the baby they are set to adopt, has gone into labor. Eve develops complications and is rushed to the OR for an emergency C-section but, after a few intense moments for Regina, Rome and their friends, the birth mother and the baby are OK. Rome gets to hold the little boy and he and Regina get Delilah’s blessing to name him after Jon when the new parents receive a devastating news: Eve has changed her mind and is keeping the baby. By the time Rome and Regina get home, she is unconsolable and takes it out on him.

Gary makes it official with Darcy as his girlfriend and date to the vow renewal ceremony but he still cares for Maggie who finally tells him that she loves him and asks him to go with her to Oxford, but it’s too late. Gary later follows her to the airport, and looks like he would profess his love. Which he does, in a way, but mostly wants to clear the air and remain friends. He then goes straight to Darcy’s house.

While waiting for the ceremony at the hospital, Delilah’s kids get to meet their mom’s new squeeze, hunky EMT Miles who gets thumbs-up by the entire group.

In light of the difficult labor and failed adoption, Katherine cancels the vow renewal. Eddie never gets there anyway because he gets an unexpected visit by Alex’s sister Colleen who urges him to stop digging in the past. He heeds the request for about two seconds before asking his sister where she had hidden the wet clothes he was wearing when she found him by the waterfront the night Alex drowned in the lake. He finds them and in the jean pocket is the bracelet he had given Alex earlier that summer which she wore everywhere. Convinced that he is somehow responsible for her death, Eddie heads to a bar and almost takes a sip before calling Katherine to tell her he is coming home to do the vow renewal after all. Minutes later he is struck by the truck.

The whole marriage vows theme of the finale and it being titled “Til Death Do Us Part” certainly don’t bode very well for Eddie. In an interview with Deadline, A Million Little Things creator DJ Nash addresses Eddie’s fate. He also provides a clue about the identity of the person behind the wheel in the murder/attempted murder, a new mystery that would join the ongoing one about Alex’s death next season.

Speaking of Season 3, which has not been ordered yet, Nash shares an encouraging sign that AMLT would be renewed, reveals that the Season 2 finale had an alternate ending, talks about the theme for the potential third season and the future of Regina & Rome, Gary & Maggie and Delilah & Miles.

DEADLINE: Let’s start with the ending. What can you say about Eddie’s fate?

NASH: Right from the beginning of the series, we loved the idea of taking something you thought was one way and flipping it, whether it was thinking that Rome was going to take his life, only to find out that Jon died by suicide, whether it was Eddie having an affair with his guitar student’s mom, only to discover it’s Delilah, or even wanting you to not like Katherine in the pilot, to hopefully have you love her over the course of season one and two.

I think we loved the idea that something isn’t always the way it seems, and flipping something. With Eddie this season, we really liked the idea of seeing him punished for the affair last season. That’s why we had Katherine walk out in the series premiere, and I think towards the end of this season, we wanted to see him challenged, and potentially drink again, and yet, rise to, to not drink for the sake of his family, and to be the partner in this marriage that he hadn’t been previously.

So that decision and his ability to put that drink down, and to literally be heading home to take the vows to be that life partner, that’s where we wanted to show his success, and then, obviously we have him hit, which will threaten all of that.

DEADLINE: In the Season 2 fall finale, you told me, referring to Alex’s murder mystery, that it “will take us into season three.” In light of that, should we read more into the accident, that it may not have been an accident but part of the ongoing mystery, that someone, like Alex’s father for instance, intentionally hit Eddie?

NASH: That’s interesting. There is more to this story, and we will learn more about this story, should we get a season three, the story of what happened on that lake. Next season, whether Eddie is back or not, our group of friends and Eddie’s sister will uncover the truth of what happened.

DEADLINE: So Eddie could be dead?

NASH: He was hit by the car, and, what I’ve said about this is, I’m not confirming whether he’s dead or alive. I will say that Katherine and Theo’s life will never be the same.

DEADLINE: Back to Eddie being hit. Was it an accident or did someone try to kill him?

NASH: The person driving the truck is someone we saw before.

DEADLINE: That should keep fans guessing until next fall. As you mentioned, A Million Little Things has not been renewed for a third season yet. Did you hesitate to end the season on a cliffhanger in case you are not picked up, and what are your expectations about getting a third season?

NASH: I will tell you that the studio and the network have been so supportive of this show right from the beginning. They have let me and let us tell the stories exactly the way we want to tell them, they’ve just really been incredible partners. I had an alt ending for the show, and I was told to go with this one.

DEADLINE: Can you share what that alternative ending was?

NASH: No, I don’t want to. I did shoot it, A, hoping we wouldn’t need it, and B, thinking maybe at some point, it would be fun to release it.

DEADLINE: if there’s a third season, what main themes will it focus on?

NASH: What I will say is, it’s kind of similar to what we’re going through right now, this horrific thing that the world is going through right now. When we come out of it, we will have a different perspective on all of it, on life altogether. And I think our group of friends, after what they are going to endure with the way we ended Act Six of the finale for all of them, is they’re all going to come out of it with a perspective that is unlike anything they had before.

DEADLINE: Let’s talk about the group of friends. First, Regina and Rome, who started the adoption journey in the fall finale. After the heartbreak over the failed adoption and Regina’s reaction when they got home, will their marriage survive?

NASH: I can speak for myself in that I’m in a 20-year marriage that’s very strong. The loss of a child is just unimaginable, and in a sense, it’s almost like they had a death of a child, because they held this baby, and now that baby’s gone. When we first met Regina, and Rome, they didn’t want to have a kid. Then he wanted to have a kid, and then she not only warmed to the idea, she was really into it.

They’re both hurting right now, but for Regina, she’s angry at everything that let her hurt, and right now, Rome made her want this, and so, he’s a big part of why she’s hurting.

I want us to watch how Regina is changed, how Rome is changed, and how this couple is changed by what happened. This is the couple we root for. I know they’re loved, I know they’re sacred. I totally get that, and I feel the same way, and so, it’ll be, I want us to watch this challenge that’s put, this test, because, with her being a survivor of child sexual assault, and with Rome dealing with his depression and his suicide attempt, those issues brought them together. This is the first thing they’ve had to endure that threatens to pull them apart.

DEADLINE: Gary and Maggie, they never seem to have good timing. Will that ever change, and is Maggie out of the picture altogether for next season being in Oxford?

NASH: When we talked last season, I said that this whole season for them would be them trying to figure out what their life is without cancer, and it caused them to break up. There was the psychic, there was Eric, there was a bunch of things that led to her needing to figure out who she is without cancer, and as Gary said, I need to figure out who I am without you.

As they take this journey — she goes to Oxford for a year — they’re doing the necessary work to figure out who they are. So, while he is with Darcy, and I think that’s going to be fun to play out, and to see that relationship, I think there’s a bond between Maggie and Gary that is stronger than it’s been in a long time.

DEADLINE: Is Eric’s time on the show over?

NASH: I love Jason Ritter, and I would love to find a way to bring him back if his schedule will allow. Eric has done many, many questionable things, but we were more sympathetic to the story in the end than we were when we found out the secret.

That’s something true of most of our guest cast. We have a really strong cast, but we have a really strong guest cast. I’d love to see Parker (Young) come back.

DEADLINE: So, it’s not clear if Delilah’s romance with Miles (played by Parker) will continue?

NASH: It’s absolutely not clear, because he’s in another series. So, I have to, at the very least, work around that, I cast someone who I may not have access to.