‘Mayans M.C.’ Star Momo Rodriguez Reveals Impact of Personal Loss on Tearful, Shocking Season 3 Episode (Exclusive)

As fans gear up for the Season 3 finale of Mayans M.C. on FX, they were left with quite an emotional turn of events following Episode 9. While it shouldn’t come as a shock to fans the twists and turns series creator Elgin James and his writers bring to the table to keep everyone on their toes, however, this ending was not something anyone expected. During an interview with PopCulture.com, Momo Rodriguez revealed the very real emotion he felt and brought to his character Steve before that traumatic scene that left fans’ jaws on the floor. Spoilers ahead for Season 3, Episode 9.

“I lost my mom in January to COVID, and I was shooting that scene that week when I came back and I had so much emotion in me,” Rodriguez revealed. “That woman taught me about comedy; about just doing what you love and to go back to the set with that little bit of emptiness, the cast, the crew, everybody, the writers, made me feel so at home.” The comedian admitted that he used his character as “therapy” to aid in mourning the process of what just happened. However, while Steve helped him escape, he also had to say goodbye “all over again” when Steve died by suicide.

“I had to say goodbye to Steve — and Steve was the guy who was kind of there for me in the process. The loss was just so poetic at the time,” Rodriguez explained. There were a lot of surprises in the ninth episode of Mayans, from Miguel Galindo (Danny Pino) attempting to kill his wife Emily (Sarah Bolger), to EZ’s (JD Pardo) life-changing decision to follow Gabby (Sulem Calderon), the engagement between Nails (Justina Adorno) and Angel (Clayton Cardenas), to Steve’s heartbreaking story of dying just moments after he was fully patched as a Mayan.

“Those were real tears on set,” the actor said before noting that James told him it was the quietest they’ve ever seen it on set when he shot his scene. “Yeah, the guys just stood there and watched the whole thing and were there for me and were waiting for me until I left,” he explained noting that the entire cast and crew were incredibly supportive. While that episode felt very much like a finale, fans still have one more week left and there’s no telling what will happen next.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.

New episodes of Mayans M.C. air every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET and become available the next day on Hulu. PopCulture.com readers get a free trial, which you can take advantage of here. Season 3 episodes are currently available on the streaming service, along with the first two seasons of the FX Network show.

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