Madison Taylor Baez on ‘Let The Right One In’ Finale Shocker: ‘My Jaw Actually Dropped’

[Warning: The following Q&A includes major spoilers from the season finale of Let the Right One In. If you haven’t seen it yet, well, that just bites.]

Showtime’s addictive Let the Right One In closed out its first season in bloody, brutal and strangely beautiful fashion as the drama’s three main storylines collided into what can only be called a cliff-fanger. After being lured to the mansion of scientist Claire Logan (Grace Gummer), pre-teen vampire Ellie Kane (Madison Taylor Baez) and her protective father Mark (Demián Bichir) learned that she had been working on a cure for her brother Peter (Jacob Buster), who had been attacked by the same vampire that infected Mark’s little girl. At the same time, their cop neighbor Naomi (Anika Noni Rose) — who was helping her heartbroken son Isaiah (Ian Foreman) deal with his new bestie Ellie’s sudden departure — pieced together Mark’s murderous past and tracked him down to the Logan estate.

Before you could say “fantastic adaptation of a cinematic gem,” the blood hit the fan as Mark realized Claire and Peter’s sinister plan to use Ellie as a test subject, and Naomi arrived to hopefully put an end to all of the murders that have been plaguing New York at Kane’s hands. The showdown took a grisly, violent turn with Peter attacking Naomi in such a horrific way that her only hope of staying alive was to become one of the undead, leading Ellie to make her first official kill.

It was horrifying and heartbreaking, but also opens the door to let more vampires into the narrative. Here, the tremendously gifted Baez discusses the unexpected twist and previews what could be coming should there be a Season 2. So let’s get crackin’ on that renewal, Showtime. After all, her 12-year-old immortal isn’t getting any younger!

So congratulations, you got through the season!

Yes. Thank you. [Laughs]

Scripts can go through a lot of rewrites, so was the idea always there that the season would end with that scene?

I think so. I don’t think it changed too much between when we first got the draft and when we filmed it. The idea was always that there would be this twist at the end.

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Before it all went to pieces, it did start to look like Eleanor’s world was about to get bigger. There was even a smile on your face as you were walking through the house.

I also thought that was interesting because yeah, that was sort of like another perspective on the world for Eleanor, to know that there’s another person like her out there and know that there’s a whole different world. I think [that] definitely gave her hope that there’s something here for her and even a cure waiting.

What did you think of what she did at the end with Naomi?

I couldn’t believe it. My jaw actually dropped. I think my dad finished reading it before me and he was like, “You gotta see the end of the script!” I mean, you, I was like, “What? What could it be?” But when I read it, oh my gosh, I was shocked. And I’m still processing that just in my head, yeah. All those feelings that you’re feeling, that’s what I was feeling as well. [Laughs]

You spent so much of the season with Demián and Ian. How was it getting to finally be worked into the other storyline, with Peter?

It was really cool getting to work with Jacob [Buster] and especially to be in the lab and that mansion. We filmed at Mill Neck Manor in Long Island, so I went there to do all those scenes and that was really cool [to be a part of] everything they were doing. And it was so fun filming with Jacob and Grace.

How did you handle so many night shoots? Because you were also going to school during the day, right?

Well, at the time — I’m going to in-person school right now — but I completely took a break from in-person school.They were sending me all my work and tests online, so luckily they were really flexible. And the night shoots? I’m actually a night person and I really liked the cold in New York, so I think that helped. I also think a part of what helped was all the Crystal Light that I was consuming on-set. All of that sugar definitely helped keep me up. [Laughs]

Oh right! That’s what they used for the blood, right?

Usually. If it’s, like, a vial of blood or the jug of it, that was Crystal Light.But if it was, like, a bunch of blood that just splattered on my face or was coming down from my head, it’s the usual fake blood that they would use on set.

And so what has [showrunner] Andrew Hinderaker told you about what Season 2 might look like?

Oh yeah. When I went back to New York for the premiere of the show, we had this, I guess you could say, “family meeting.” [Laughs] And I was talking to Andrew and was pushing questions because I’m anxious too! But he said that maybe some people might be getting into some mischief. He didn’t name any names but he said that characters might be causing some problems.

And thanks to Claire’s experiment, you get to age!

We’ll see if that works, we don’t know yet. But it better work. [Laughs]

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Now that the season is over, what would you say was your favorite moment?

Oh, I went through this a million times once, but I think I have it narrowed down to my top three. It was getting to go to Coney Island with Ian Foreman and spending the day there.Then it was probably my scene with Nick Stahl [who played the Logans’ “fixer” Matthew] in Episode 9 where I’m saving Mark. That was a fun one. And then I think in episode 10, where I’m at the mansion.That scene where I had just run out of that huge massacre in the lab and I form a new vampire. And also, you know, all the scenes with Demián…honestly, I can say that all of them were so fun. Yeah. We always kept it fun on-set, so I loved all of them.

Let the Right One In, Sundays, 10/9c, Showtime