’13 Reasons Why’ Season 4 Features 2 Major Characters Returning

The final season of 13 Reasons Why saw more than just a few familiar faces roaming the halls of Liberty High School. As the controversial Netflix original series returned to the platform with Season 4 on Friday, it brought with it the unlikely return of two characters who many fans assumed would never be seen again. Warning: This post contains spoilers for 13 Reasons Why Season 4.

Along with the group of well-known, and alive, characters of Clay Jensen, Justin Foley, Jessica Davis, Tyler Down, Alex Standall, Zach Dempsey, and Tony Padilla, Season 4 saw the return of both Bryce Walker and Monty de la Cruz, albeit in an unusual way. With both characters having died in previous seasons, they returned in the form of hallucinations seen by both Clay and Jessica as they battled with their pasts throughout the final season. Appearing similarly as Hannah Baker did in Season 2, both Bryce and Monty had what seemed to be very real interactions with Clay and Jessica.

For Clay, Bryce and Monty’s return come as his mental health deteriorates, and he faces surmounting guilt after framing Monty for Bryce’s murder. He first has nightmares that Monty is still alive, though those nightmares quickly transform into hallucinations, with Clay seeing Monty at school among the other football players, outside his own home, and in several different locations. He also begins to see Bryce. Both characters are with him during the school shooting drill, challenging his belief that he can save everyone. Jessica, meanwhile, sees Bryce as she burns the tapes in which he confesses to sexually assaulting multiple girls. By the end of the season, both Clay and Jessica seem to move past what has been haunting them, and the hallucinations stop.

The appearance of Bryce and Monty came as a surprise to many viewers. Bryce had died off-screen between Seasons 2 and 3, his death being the lingering mystery that set the pace for 13 Reasons Why’s third season. Throughout that season, it was revealed that Bryce was severely beaten by Zach after he ended his football career by purposefully injuring him. Zach, however, was not the one to kill him, with the final episode of the season revealing that Alex pushed him into the river, causing him to drown. Desperate to protect Alex, the core group of characters pinned Bryce’s death on Monty, who was already in jail after assaulting Tyler Downs with a broom at the end of Season two. Monty quickly became a target in prison and was murdered.

All four seasons of 13 Reasons Why are available for streaming on Netflix. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest information.