The final season of How To Get Away With Murder is going to be killer. Literally. The season 6 premiere kicked off with a bang and dropped the show’s biggest bombshell yet in a flash-forward: Annalise Keating is dead. Yes, you read that right.
The shocking reveal came at the end of the episode. Asher tells Michaela that Annalise knew her birth father. A stunned Michaela turns around and says to Annalise, “If that’s true, I’m going to kill you.” Cue the sounds of a fire poker hitting something (okay, someone) and blood splattering everywhere.
The scene then jumps to a funeral. The camera makes its way through a crowd of mourners and comes upon a black coffin. A picture of Annalise stands beside the coffin as the minister bids Annalise farewell. The show has thrown so many incredible twists at us over the years, but this is by far the most jaw-dropping yet. Who killed Annalise? That’s the question How To Get Away With Murder will have to answer by the end of the series.
Also during the HTGAWM premiere, we meet Gabriel’s mom, played by Emmy nominee Marsha Stephanie Blake. After mysteriously disappearing in the season 5 finale, Laurel is still nowhere to be found. Bonnie and Frank eventually report that Laurel and Christopher are missing and Frank finds a key hidden behind a photo of Laurel and Christopher. Meanwhile, Annalise brings Michaela, Asher, Connor, and Oliver together for a therapy session after she returns from rehab. “You’ve been eaten alive by the lies and the fear,” Annalise tells them. “And that’s no way to live. And I want to live. Don’t you? So that’s what this is. Right? We’re going to beat out all the guilt and the shame and the lies and the fear. Bury it. We’re going bury all of it. Even Laurel. Consider this her funeral.” Michaela doesn’t want any part of this. “Laurel needs us,” Michaela. Annalise says that Laurel has always been able to take care of herself so it’s time for them to do the same. “Beat her away,” she says. “Say goodbye.” And that’s what they do. But in the end, the person everyone is saying goodbye to is Annalise herself. The final season of How To Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.