‘R.J. Decker’ Kills Off Crucial Character in Season 1 Finale

R.J. Decker closed out its first season with a splash!

The ABC drama wrapped its first season on Tuesday with a main character’s death, setting the stage for a whole new mystery if the network decides to renew the series for a second season.

Spoilers Alert: Spoilers for ‘R.J. Decker’ Season 1 Episode “Even Walls Fall Down” ahead.

In the Season 1 finale of R.J. Decker, titled “Even Walls Fall Down,” R.J. (Scott Speedman) finally learned the truth about why Victor Ochoa (David Zayas) had ordered his son Lucas (Maximo Salas) to steal his camera — it contained a damaging photo of Victor’s henchman parked near the scene of a murder of a woman who had refused to do business with him.

A tip from the henchman to Emi (Jaina Lee Ortiz) pointed R.J. and her in the direction of an incriminating flash drive hidden in Victor’s safe, and while the drive contained enough evidence about the murder to lead to Victor’s arrest, the closing moments of the finale revealed that the big bad of the season had been killed by an unknown party, left floating face down in his own pool.

Following the finale, Speedman told PEOPLE that Victor’s murder “raises the stakes” for his character and the show itself.

“Again, the balance between the light and the darkness of our show, that’s really going to put R.J. … He’s going to be one of the number one suspects, and that whole group is going to be put into the spotlight,” he said, noting that with a “big figure” in Ft. Lauderdale dying, there are a lot of things that could “come to light” in a potential Season 2.

“So we’ll see where they want to take it, but it does add to or give a lot of hope for some really interesting stories coming down the line,” he said.

Showrunner Rob Doherty told TV Line that Victor was only originally meant to last for three episodes of Season 1, “but after meeting David Zayas, getting to work with him, getting to be there and watch him do what he does, that had me second-guessing my decision to kill off Victor.”

“David was just so fun to watch. He elevated every scene he was in, so that made it hard,” Doherty added. “For us as writers, though, it’s a good problem to have. It will give us a ton of storytelling runway as we move hopefully into a second season.”