'Timeless': Major Character Dies in Series Finale Special

Timeless featured one heartbreaking death on the first hour of its Christmas series finale special, marking a moment of redemption for a major character.

Picking up right where the season two finale left off, with the team mourning the death of Rufus (Malcolm Barrett) and being faced with the arrival of Lucy (Abigail Spencer) and Wyatt (Matt Lanter) from the future, they were given a big clue as to how to bring their friend back from the dead, and finally defeat the evil organization known as Rittenhouse.

The key to stopping the organization in the future would be to stop Rufus from dying, they are told by their future selves, before they are forced to head back to their time before suffering from the side effects of traveling back to their own timelines.

With that knowledge in mind, and with Lucy's journal from the future now in their possession, Wyatt realizes that the only way to save Rufus would be to go back to 2012 and take out his wife Jessica — who turned out to be a traitor and working for Rittenhouse all along.

Knowing that the mission back into their timeline would be a risk, Garcia Flynn (Goran Višnjić) volunteers to take the Lifeboat and get it done. After the realization that future Lucy was once in a relationship with Flynn, but it ended as her heart always belonged to Wyatt, Flynn knew it was the right thing to do to sacrifice himself for the team.

Flynn heads to 2012 as the rest of the team follows Rittenhouse's trail in the 1800s and he arrives at the night where Wyatt and Jessica (Tonya Glanz) fight and she had once died — but Wyatt had once before returned and changed history by convincing her to go home with him despite their argument.

After an angry Jessica forces Wyatt to leave her on the side of the road, Flynn confronts her and after a heated fight he shoots and kills her, removing her from the timeline.

Back in the 1800s, the team finds themselves held captive by a band of thieves when they hear a commotion outside and they think it's Flynn coming to rescue them after completing the mission. However, the door opens and reveals, Rufus, who as the timeline changed never died and is acting as nothing tragic happened.

Lucy then finds a note in the journal from Flynn, in which he writes that he had to sacrifice himself and stay in 2012 to make sure the timeline wouldn't be further affected. He says that he believes the team can beat Rittenhouse without him, and he watches his family living happily before the side effects of time travel cause him to die.

After the team returns to the present, Denise (Sakina Jaffrey) reveals Flynn's body was found and identified as a John Doe in 2012. They make a toast and pay tribute to their former enemy turned ally before they venture to 1950 to have their last mission to defeat Rittenhouse.

Timeless is available to stream on Hulu.