'Boardwalk Empire' Finale: Cast Dishes On Finding Out Their Characters Would Die During HBO 'Farewell' Special [VIDEO]
It turns out no news was always good news for the stars of HBO's Boardwalk Empire, which had the benefit of a send-off special Monday night entitled Farewell Boardwalk Empire.
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During the special, cast and crew discussed what it was like working on the prohibition drama and how they knew their time was up.
"We're creating this series as it goes along so very often I don't share with the cast where their characters are going and where their storylines are going," explained Terrence Winter during the HBO special.
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Even with the secrecy, there was always one instant in which Winter would contact the performers to give them a heads up and apparently he developed a reputation over the show's five-season run for calling an actor on the phone to inform him or her that the character was about to die.
"Part of doing a gangster show, sadly, is that characters die," explained Winter. "And when characters die, the boss has to call the actor portraying the character to tell them they are written off the show."
Series regulars Anthony Laciura (Eddie Kessler), Michael K. Williams (Chalky White) and Jack Huston (Richard Harrow) all received "the call" when it was time for them to say goodbye.
"I got a message from a friend saying you can call Terry and that's the phone call everyone knows," explained Huston, who time as fan-favorite Richard Harrow came to an end during the Season 4 finale. "So, I was like, 'Ah, I definitely die.'"
Winter became so infamous for calling axed actors that contact with him at all often terrified performers. Shea Whigham (Eli Thompson) and Kelly Macdonald (Margaret Schroeder) both thought Winter had called them to say their characters were dead only to find out he'd wanted to invite them to something.
The finale for Boardwalk Empire's fifth and final season will air on HBO Sunday, Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
