The Big Apple is where it’s all happening in the Katy Keene finale, which airs May 14 at 8 p.m. on The CW. The last episode of the season will deal with the fallout of Pepper’s shocking arrest at the Pepper Plant and more. Pepper hasn’t been truthful with Katy, Jorge, and Josie, so this core group of friends isn’t at their strongest. There’s also even more Cabot drama that Josie has found herself facing.
HollywoodLife talked with Ashleigh Murray ahead of the season finale to discuss what the finale holds after that game-changing penultimate episode. When it comes to Pepper, Ashleigh noted that Josie’s Riverdale past has helped her figure out who is “misguided” and who is “malicious.” Ashleigh does not think Pepper is the latter. Ashleigh also opened up about Josie’s relationship with Alexander and why Josie is “worried” about her beau. Plus, the actress revealed what she like to explore with Josie in a potential season 2.
How long do you think it’ll take Josie to forgive Pepper?
Ashleigh Murray: I don’t know. I feel like considering Josie’s background coming from a town that seems like it’s pretty much based on lies and danger, I would like to think it’s put her in a position to be able to tell the difference between someone who is misguided — it doesn’t mean they don’t need to be held accountable — but not malicious. I think she sees that Pepper isn’t being malicious, she’s just making stupid decisions. Deep down, underneath all of that, she really does love Katy and Jorge and Josie. I feel because she’s on the outside it’s easier for her to sort of forgive things.
I was going to say, I think Josie might be the most forgiving of the core friends.
Ashleigh Murray: Which is so funny, considering that it seems as though she was the one person on the outside right away that was like, ‘Nobody’s gonna ask her where she got this coat?’ I feel like she was the first person to pick up on Pepper’s scent and be thorough about that investigation and ask her questions about what’s going on because that is also a sign of a good friend. Somebody who actually cares to be invested in whatever your personal life is if we’re all spending time together.
How worried is Josie for Alex now that he is back his dad’s clutches again?
Ashleigh Murray: I think she’s definitely worried. It’s a combination of things because we saw in a previous episode with her and her mom the tie that she has with her father and his addiction to alcohol. That relationship resonates with a lot of people, and it’s trying to find the balance of where you can actually help and assist somebody and when you’re enabling them. It’s a really fine line, and it’s up to each person to figure out what that is for them in their situation. So I definitely feel like Josie is on the verge of being very worried.
Do you think that Josie can ultimately trust Alex if he’s still under his dad’s watchful eye?
Ashleigh Murray: I don’t think so. How blind will we allow ourselves to be when matters of the heart are involved? How far are you willing to push this? How many signs are you going to be willing to ignore if what you’re doing it for isn’t actually serving you? That’s my conscious mind thinking about it. Now, even though I play Josie, Ashleigh would not be putting up with any of that. I think this is all a new experience for her. She moved to the big city that she’s been talking about doing for so many years. She’s got these great friends, a cute, relatively large Washington Heights apartment. She meets this producer and he signed her and she’s making music and has a band now. There seem to be all these pluses and yet there’s still something that keeps hooking her back in with the Cabots, and that point of connection is Alex. I’m not sure she’s really ready to let that go. There are too many attachments with him.
Do you think Josie and Alex are endgame or do you want to see Josie out on her own while pursuing her dreams? How do you feel about her being in a relationship versus her being solely focused on her career?
Ashleigh Murray: That’s a tough question. I’m not really sure how to answer that. Me as a person, I feel like trying to find the balance between having a relationship and having a career, those are two of their very own relationships as it is. Me personally, when I’m in a relationship, I feel like sometimes I might lose track of what I really want to do, especially when I was younger. It was always relationship, relationship, relationship. There wasn’t a whole lot of me, and I had to learn how to split the difference as I got older. I’m not sure where Josie is in that place. I know also when I was growing up in my 20s in New York, I was in a relationship maybe twice. There was just a lot of fun to be had in the city. Even just the fun of dating, getting to know people, and also just building stronger friendships that really last… I like the idea that not every character has to be defined by the relationship that they’re in. They can be just as important and strong on their own. I think it would be really great to see Josie really like delve deep into her career, whatever that’s going to be after this whole experience. Regardless of a relationship or not.
What can you tease about where this final episode of the season will take Josie and the rest of the characters?
Ashleigh Murray: I feel like you’ll see these characters and their relationships at a peak. I feel like, at the end of it all, you see where the friendships really lie. We just sort of come together in a way that you hope that friends will always do. They’re always going to be there and support each other and push each other to continue to succeed. That’s what I feel like really resonates. Regardless of what’s going on in our lives, it’s really good to have that group that’s always going to be there to support you and push you to be your best self.
If the show gets a season 2, is there anything you would want to explore with Josie?
Ashleigh Murray: I definitely would like to see more of just Josie in her everyday life just to build out a little bit more of her away from a relationship. It’s kind of hard to say because she’s definitely had more of a presence in this show than in the past. I think I would also like to see more of her family aspect, that family dynamic because we definitely have that with Katie and Jorge, as well as Jorge and his parents. Also, the budding of the familial relationship between Katie and Pepper. It was such a lovely time when Kevin hopped onto the show for that episode. It just felt so comfortable and so warm. Even though Josie is in this new space and this is her new home, she still has her home. She still has that family connection, and I like that. I think it would be really great to see more of that and then more of the development with her and the band and maybe more dating stuff. Just a little bit more of the New York life.