Exclusive Interview
‘We Were Liars’: Esther McGregor & EPs Break Down Mirren and Ebon’s Tragic Goodbye
[Warning: The following contains major spoilers for We Were Liars Season 1.]
Please raise your hand if Mirren Sinclair Sheffield’s final goodbye illuminated all of your worst fears (and then some).
Throughout Summer 16, Mirren (Esther McGregor) craves new experiences and yearns to be seen as an individual rather than simply “a bored rich girl with a generic hobby.” Perhaps that’s why she’s so shocked when “Boat Boy” Ebon (Dempsey Bryk) reveals that after three years of driving her to and from Beechwood, he’s developed feelings for her.
The love story between Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind) and Gat (Shubham Maheshwari) lies at the heart of both the book and adaptation of We Were Liars; however, since the show hit Prime Video on June 18, fans have quickly grown attached to the adaptation’s addition of Mirren and Ebon’s banter-filled, enemies-to-lovers romance.
Prime Video
When it comes to adding in a love story for Mirren, Carina Adly MacKenzie, one of the We Were Liars creators, told Swooon: “We feel like Gat and Cadence [have a relationship that is] very fraught and very epic and very intense all the way through. Having a good old summer fling, that maybe was going to become something more than a summer fling, but at the moment, was really just a sexy summer fling. It was really fun.”
However, knowing the tragic ending, “fun” may not be the way that we would describe it. As viewers know, at the end of Summer 16, Mirren, Gat, and Johnny (Joseph Zada) all perished while attempting to set fire to Clairmont and the inheritance that came with it. This means that while Mirren was just starting to experience the intimate, romantic connection that she had always wanted during her “fling” with Ebon, the relationship will forever remain unresolved.
According to McGregor, Ebon was Mirren’s ticket out of the rigid Sinclair family. McGregor told Swooon, “I think [Mirren] really would have run away with Ebon.” Adding, “He was [her] escape from the jail of being at Clairmont,” even if they wouldn’t stay together forever.
During Summer 17, Ebon is nowhere to be seen. Since Cadence never knew how deep the connection was between her cousin and their “boat boy,” their breakup makes total sense. According to MacKenzie, “In the present day, [Mirren] couldn’t say, ‘Oh yeah, me and Ebon were doing great.’ So she had to make up a new boyfriend to explain why Ebon wasn’t around.” Leading her to maintain one of her most iconic lies from the book, “I’ve been really busy with all the intercourse.”
While a year in the afterlife gave her time to fabricate stories for Cadence’s benefit, it also gave Mirren plenty of time to reflect. After Cadence remembers the accident, Mirren can finally allow herself to break down, admitting, “I don’t think anyone ever really saw me.” Going in for the gut punch, she finishes, “Now, no one ever will.” Cadence takes this time to tell Mirren that, of course, she always saw her for who she was. However, we couldn’t help but think about the guy who completely understood her, in all her “frickin’ weird” glory.
Prime Video
During the final episode, Bess (Candice King) tells her sisters that she exhibited her daughter’s art in a gallery on the Vineyard. We can then see Mirren watching as a group of teens pose in front of the painting that she had saved from the fire. Turning around, Mirren spots Ebon walking past the gallery, smiling at either Mirren’s ghost or the painting. As we now know that Johnny’s mom, Carrie (Mamie Gummer), can see him, we couldn’t help but ask the show’s creators, Julie Plec and Mackenzie, if Ebon was actually looking at Mirren.
“It is open to interpretation,” Plec shared with Swooon. “But also, you know, here’s a young woman whose whole regret is that her life ended before she really, truly felt seen. And so either way you look at it, that’s him seeing her, even if it is metaphorically.”
For MacKenzie, the scene was a little more clear-cut. As she put it, “I think the intention is that in that moment, she feels like he can see her, and then she’s surprised to realize that he can only see the painting.” However, there is hope in the fact that “that painting is such a representation of her in a way that only he understands. It’s a moment of [Mirren] being like maybe somebody did see me the whole time.”
Sound off below with your take on that tragic final scene, and let us know if Ebon could see Mirren, metaphorically, physically, or somewhere in between!
We Were Liars, All Episodes, Streaming Now, Prime Video.
