Yahoo News 13RW boss addresses controversial season 2 finale
Warning: This article contains major spoilers for 13 Reasons Why season 2 episode 13 'Bye'.
13 Reasons Why showrunner Brian Yorkey has attempted to justify the last events of the season two finale.
Episode 13 'Bye' saw Tyler Down (Devin Druid) brutally and sexually assaulted by one of his bullies. Tyler then chooses to arm himself with assault rifles and heads to school during the spring dance, ending with Clay managing to talk him down.
Yorkey addressed Tyler's storyline in the finale, saying that there was no intent on glorifying school shootings.
"We had a character who was obviously severely bullied, suffering from social isolation, and was thinking of making a very tragic choice in addressing those feelings for himself," he told The Hollywood Reporter, referencing the fact that Tyler was seen with a number of guns hidden in his bedroom at the end of season one.
"With season two, we're very interested in continuing to follow his journey and to try to understand his state of mind and the state of his soul.
"I think you'll see in the balance of the episodes that it's very much about trying to understand Tyler's character and how a troubled young man might be driven to consider this very difficult choice.
"We're much more interested in understanding that character's journey than we are in seeing it end in the worst way possible. The thing that's interesting for us is the journey and trying to understand what goes into the experience of a young man who goes that route."
Yorkey added that the writers "tried to be authentic and honest and also accurate" when portraying the character and storyline.
"We did as much research as we could," he said. "As with all things with the show, our hope was that we could honestly represent the experience – that our viewers might, through the experience, learn more and start more conversations about those issues in their own world."
13 Reasons Why season two is available now to watch on Netflix.
Readers affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans free on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or visit 13ReasonsWhy.info, which provides crisis information and resources about topics covered in the series.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.
You Might Also Like
