‘Transplant’ Boss Joseph Kay Shares Reason for Killing Off Mags So Close to the Finale (Exclusive)

As Transplant prepares for its series finale, the medical drama killed off a major character in one of the final episodes, and creator Joseph Kay spoke to PopCulture.com about why it had to happen.

At the end of Season 4, Episode 8, “All I Have Is How I Feel,” Laurence Leboeuf’s Dr. Magalie “Mags” Leblanc died due to complications from her heart transplant.

Leboeuf previously told PopCulture that Mags was going on a “tumultuous journey” but was excited for the opportunity to do the storyline since she was playing a patient rather than just a doctor. Of course, going into the transplant, the characters and the audience knew that it was a risky procedure, and the show made clear of that as Mags weighed her options. Despite things seeming fine and her and Bash even planning a trip, her body ultimately rejected the heart, and she died. Considering it was just episodes away from the finale, it seemed pretty harsh to take away her happy ending, but Kay had a good reason.

“We wanted to show, first of all, just from Mags’ perspective, we’ve always found her to be very brave,” said the showrunner and EP. “And when she went into this heart transplant, she went into it with her eyes wide open, knowing that this was a possibility. And sometimes it is. And so we thought it really accentuated her bravery because she knew this and she was willing to do it, and Laurence, when we talked about it with her, she really wanted to do it. She really wanted to jump at the opportunity to get to do something like that, knowing that the show was ending.”

“If the show was continuing, I’m sure we would have had a much harder time letting her go. But the other reason is that it was very important that as we end the show, that we tell a story where we are with Bashir while he faces a crisis in real time,” Kay continued. “I wanted to end the show on a hopeful note around Bashir, and we’ve seen him over the life of this series try to restart his career, try to become a doctor again, while sort of flailing as he tries to process the traumas and crises of his past, mostly those are told through flashback, we felt it was very important to see him overcome something that was happening now to somebody he loved. And, obviously, that can’t be his sister.”

“If you’re thinking about it dramatically, that would just be too mean,” Kay explained. “And Mags is sort of the perfect choice in that regard. And I also felt that it wouldn’t be right to end the series with Bash and Mags sort of riding off into the sunset together because that isn’t what it was about. So in a way, we got to have our cake and eat it too. We got to have her health crisis over the course of the season bring them back together because she recovers and months and months elapse and they sort of get to have their happy ending.”

That happy ending came following Mags’ transplant, and the show flashes forward about six months. Mags seems to be doing well and is back at work; she, Bash, and Amira have their own routine, and all seems well, as Kay said.

“And then we have a giant flash forward in time,” he shared. “They’ve been living together. They’re happy together. They’ve managed to, at least for now, put aside some of their differences. And she has this massive impact on him. She believes in him. Mags reminds Bash again and again that he’s allowed to be happy, that he’s allowed to pursue things that he wants. And he takes that to heart. And those things are the things he hasn’t let himself take to heart over the life of the series.”

“And for that to come from someone he loves in such an emotional way was very dramatically powerful, and a lot of people loved her,” Kay continued. “So it gives us the ability to explore June and Theo and bring back John Hannah. So she opens up all this dramatic content.”

Following Mags’ death, last week’s penultimate episode opened with Bash telling June over the phone what had happened, only the audience doesn’t see the actual conversation. Joseph Kay admitted they “talked about that a lot” in terms of Bash breaking the news off-camera as opposed to telling everyone in person and on-camera.

“The audience knew that if you write the scene, you’re just saying something that they know, and it’s even harder,” he explained. “We thought living in the silence and connecting the dots was more evocative. And we made a concerted effort over the first 12 to 15 minutes of that episode to make sure it was really clear and to let the reality of it trickle through without hitting people over the head with it.”

What Mags’ death means for the series finale of Transplant and how it could affect certain decisions is unknown. Fans will just have to tune in to the final episode of the medical drama airing this Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day on Peacock.