Bustle Exclusive
The Season 3 star opens up about her fan-favorite character and the finales gut-wrenching twist.
I was like, Im so honored that I get to grow up, she recalls to Bustle.
She doesnt want normality.
She doesnt want mundane.
Rick, in turn, is killed while carrying her limp body.
And I can grow up for both of us, Wood recalls.
Congratulations on this beautiful and heartbreaking finale!
Chelsea is such a spiritually in tune person.
She had hope because shes very hopeful.
But Mike [White] doubted this choice a lot.
He would say, Am I making the wrong decision?
Are people going to hate me too much, killing the personification of hope and romance and optimism?
But Im saying, Mike, it has to be Rick and Chelsea.
By giving them that ending, you elevate Chelsea.
You give her the status of the mystic that she thinks she is.
By killing her and Rick, you prove her right.
In this lifetime, she wants to be right about this gut feeling that shes got.
She hasnt looked inside because shes scared of what shell find in there.
And so she says, The thing thats drawing me to Rick is fate.
Do you think thisWhite Lotusseason confirms you cant heal someone elses problems and shouldnt try?
Patrick [Schwarzenegger] was devastated that Saxon didnt take a bullet for Chelsea.
He was like, I want Saxon to die for Chelsea.
And Im saying, But you cant save Chelsea.
Saxon cant save Chelsea in the way that Chelsea cant save Rick.
People say, Rick should never have taken Chelsea to Thailand and put her in harms way.
Do you think Rick was going Chelsea, yo come on my revenge quest?
No, he was probably saying Go home.
Look at [when] she sees Rick kill Jim, she doesnt run away.
She walks towards it.
OK, youre giving me a little bit of peace about this whole thing.
She wasnt totally helpless.
She is a tenacious, determined, strong love addict.
Her higher power has become Rick and the relationship.
When he says, Were going to be together forever.
Thats the plan, she sees God in that moment.
But this is what she wanted.
When she says, Is this a kind of You killed my father, prepare to die thing?
He says, I dont know.
But she hugs him.
Shes so childlike, curious, endearing, funny, and lovely that people want to save her.
But shes a grown woman.
Some fans wish Chelsea and Saxon would have ended up together.
Saxon and Chelsea would have been a connected relationship, not an addictive one.
She wants to be the seer, not the seen.
Saxon going, OK, yeah, Ill read those books.
Its too reciprocal, and shes like, No, youre not for me.
She wants the darkness.
She doesnt want her Aries twin.
[She and Saxon] would be firing along together, moving forward and getting things done.
[Saxon is] still reading the book on that last shot, so shes living on in him.
He will be a better person.
In a way, theyre more cosmically linked than Rick and Chelsea because they die.
Saxon lives on with all of Chelseas best bits.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
