Sons of Anarchy fans were shocked at the end of the sixth season when Tara (Maggie Siff) was murdered in the closing moments of the season finale. Even more shocking was the perpetrator: Tara’s mother-in-law, Gemma Teller (Katey Sagal), who believed that Tara had betrayed her son and was sending him to jail. The tragic crime was covered up thanks to the timely intervention of Juice (Theo Rossi), who was forced to kill Sheriff Eli Roosevelt in order to rescue Gemma, and the seventh and final season begins with Gemma and Juice harboring a dark secret about the truth of Tara’s death.

At Comic-Con, we stole a few moments with Katey and Theo to ask them about the events of the season finale, and what the future holds for each of their characters. You can check out the videos below, and keep reading for a few highlights from our conversations.

Katey Sagal

On Gemma’s true nature:

“She’s not truly evil. I think what happened last season was truly evil, however it was not premeditated… I think it was a response to a perfect storm of things, in her mind, falling apart. The worst thing that could ever happen to Gemma is that her son goes to jail and the whole club is disbanded, and in her mind, that’s what Tara had set in motion… So I think in that moment, that was not something she had planned to do, that was a response. But she’s not evil.”

On how Gemma will deal with the guilt:

“She’s wrapped her brain around what she needs to do to protect her family. The secrets that she now keeps are once again rooted in that. But we’ll see what happens when you live a lie… I did a lot of reading about people who have done heinous things, including to their family members, and how they function anyway. Human beings have an amazing denial system… could she tolerate living with herself? Probably.”

Theo Rossi

On Juice and Gemma covering up Tara’s murder:

“Someone called it an unholy alliance, with Gemma and Juice. These are two people who have the largest secret in the history of the show. It’s our hero’s wife, we know what happened, no one else does. How that plays out is absolutely fascinating.”

On Juice getting revenge on Roosevelt:

“I talked to Kurt about that before that episode, and it really was just circumstancial. It could have been anybidy who was in that house, it just happened to be Roosevelt. I think there was a little bit of something that went over Juice where he was like “oh, that’s the guy who ruined my life,” because technically he is. [That information] started this… downward spiral, and literally hit everything on the way down, kicked things, tripped over things, burned things, fell down, and it’s gotten a hundred times worse.

The way that plays out in this final season is now the culmination of all that stuff. I’ve used the word ‘floating’ a lot. I think Juice has become one of the most dangerous people on the show, because he’s floating and he has a ton of information, and that makes him dangerous.”

Sons of Anarchy returns for its final season in September, exclusively on FX. Watch the trailer here.