There were a lot of big events in Mr. Robot’s Season 2 finale, as we got confirmation at last that Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström) was alive via an encounter between Tyrell and Elliot - one that quickly went south in a notable way when Tyrell pulled a gun on Elliot. But that wasn’t the only memorable encounter, as Tyrell’s wife, Joanna (Stephanie Corneliussen) discovered the messages she’d been getting from “Tyrell” were actually from Scott (Brian Stokes Mitchell), the husband of Tyrell’s own murder victim, Sharon.

Stephanie Corneliussen as Joanna Wellick in Mr. Robot.

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In the wake of the Season 2 finale, I spoke to Corneliussen about all that occurred for Joanna, how much of it she had planned out (including her reaction to Scott's attack) and more – including some lingering questions from the season... like what the hell is Joanna’s baby named?So I'll tell you a secret. The script that we read for the finale of Season 2 is not what happened last night.I was in complete shock, sitting screaming at the television, tweeting in all caps, because I was like, "What the hell is going on?" And people were like, "You've read the script," and I was like, "Yeah, but that's not what's happening right now." It was really, really fun actually to be allowed to be a member of the audience completely 100 percent, and just sit and watch it.I know that they wanted to keep it somewhat of a secret. I mean, I assume that Martin knew what was going to happen. But they were going to keep it somewhat of secret for us whether or not Tyrell was, in fact, a fragment of Eliot's imagination, or if he was alive. So what I had read, and we did have a couple of different drafts, was leaning more towards the other side and then going back, then back again to him being one of [Elliot’s] personalities. As we saw last night, after Elliot got shot, he was very real.In that scene where Joanna is with Elliot and Sutherland and Mr. Robot, she's explaining to Eliot that Tyrell does whatever is necessary. So does she, by the way, but we know this. [Laughs.] Joanna will do whatever's necessary. But she explains to Eliot that Tyrell will do whatever is necessary. Then in the scene in the finale where Elliot and Tyrell walk into the warehouse, Elliot looks at Tyrell and says, "Your wife's been reaching out. Joanna. She's very worried about you." And stone cold, Martin, as Tyrell, delivers the line, "I'm doing what's necessary." I saw a lot of people were like, “Ah, he's going ahead with Elliot's plan before he even lets his wife and child know he's alive!” But that is an understood thing between Joanna and Tyrell. He just looks at him and says, "I'm doing what's necessary." And Elliot has obviously heard this spiel from Joanna. In that moment, it's like, “No, no, she knows that there's a plan, and I'm following that plan.” And remember, in Season 1, after she gives birth to their son, she tells him, "Do not come back until you've fixed this s**t." She knows. They have an agreement. He knows that he needs to take care of his s**t before he can return to Joanna. And she's fully, fully aware and okay with that.There's different elements to the scene. First of all, Brian Stokes Mitchell is an amazing actor. The monologue of him explaining that all was originally much longer, but we had so much good material that I'm sure Sam [Esmail] has been pulling out his hair having to edit and cut everything. I wanted Joanna, because she is stone cold, not to react to it, but Brian Stokes Mitchell is so good that I kept welling up. As we were doing the scene, every time they were on me, I was like, “Ah, f**k!”, wiping my eyes. “Clear Eyes, Clear Eyes over here!” And sitting and having to react with this level of nonchalantness that we haven't seen before. What I as Stephanie was experiencing was something very emotional and obviously reacting to that. But what Joanna is experiencing, it's almost cringe-worthy for her to see this man, this powerful man, just sit there and just wallow in what she considers to be completely pathetic bulls**t. You can almost read on her face that “Ugh!” She's embarrassed almost. It's just too off for her. And then he just comes with this whole spiel that she thinks is just completely idiotic. She's like, oh really, that's your incentive? That you want to put me through all this for something I technically have nothing to do with? Or essentially have nothing to do with? And then it turns into her antagonizing him because she does have a plan. She wants to establish a temper so she can have Derek tell the police that he saw Scott coming down from the roof. All these things. We've already set incentive that he has a horrible temper. The way he freaked out at her could have very well been what happened on the roof that night.The actual scene itself was incredibly hard for us to shoot. We actually, Brian Stokes Mitchell and I, we rehearsed it because there's a lot of fight stuff going on. But we actually sat and had a very long talk about the actual scene, because Scott and I are pro-equal and women's human rights. Violence against women is something that... it's a subject that touches us deeply. We had an emotionally-driven conversation where we were like, listen, we're going to do this, and it is what it is. But it was a tough issue. It was very, very tough. As an actor, obviously, none of the blows land on me, nothing happens to me. No Joannas were hurt in the process of filming that scene! You know, theater blood, and all that stuff. But having to act like you're being beat up is pretty difficult, actually.

Continue on as Corneliussen discusses how much Joanna had pre-planned, the name of the Wellick baby, and more.