This week’s Colony ended with a tragic loss. If you’re hoping next week will reveal he wasn’t really dead, we’ve got bad news. This one really sticks, and we spoke with Sarah Wayne Callies and Josh Holloway about the tragic episode, "End of the Road." Spoilers for this week’s Colony follow, obviously.

During the assault on McGregor’s camp, Charlie was fatally shot and now there’s really no way for the Bowmans to be whole again -- but they still have to fight on with their two surviving children.

“I think in some ways the story of Colony is the story of families and people who have to constantly recreate themselves after catastrophic loss,” Callies told USA Network. “Because it’s not just the loss of Charlie that we’re recovering from. That will destroy us all in ways that we will have to live around for the rest of our lives, but we’ve lost our family. Neither one of us have living parents. Every friend we ever had is gone. I don’t know where my sister is.”

The Bowmans had to evacuate without even recovering Charlie’s body. If they’d gone back for him, they might have suffered more losses, or been captured.

“I have to leave my son on the field,” Holloway said. “It’s terrible, and it still resonates with me today. You’ve got to put your soul in a safe place when you do what we do sometimes because you bring it home. But any parent -- all parents -- have a fear of losing their child or them getting hurt in some way. So, in a way, facing it and walking through it maybe helped me as a parent a little bit. It doesn’t take away the fear, but it makes you realize that, going into raising children, these are the stakes. It was an interesting exploration.”

Next week’s episode will pick up the Bowmans still trying to find safety on the run. They don’t really have time to grieve for Charlie, and they still have Bram and Gracie to protect. Callies had time to reflect though.

“I remember reading this thing from a woman who had lost a son,” Callies said. “I don’t even know if I can get through it without ruining my mascara. She said when you lose a child, you realize that your children are never yours. You’ve just borrowed them from God and someday he’s going to take them back. What it takes to get to that place of grace, I don’t know that I could. That thought kept going through my head.”

Colony may be a show about an alien invasion, but it still reflects universal human issues like grief.

“I love our show for that It uses the prism of sci-fi to explore a lot of issues, global issues, personal human issues,” Holloway said.

“And rooted in that family,” Callies added. “This is, I think in some ways, to me the most meaningful season of television I’ve ever done.”

Tune in for more Colony every Wednesday at 10PM on USA.