The Cast of 'Marvel's Runaways' on The Time Jump

One of the most devastating moments in the third and final season of Marvel's Runaways was without a doubt the moment Gert Yorkes died during the Runaways' standoff with Morgan le Fay.

Data log: June 14, 2028. The two most powerful forces in life are invisible. The first is love. The second is time. I'm about to harness one in service of the other. And if it doesn't work, if for some reason I don't come back and you see this? Please know that I'm attempting all of it because I'm trying to make up for my mistakes in the past. And I want to make things better. And that includes what happened to her. Gert, I mean. It was always her and only her.

In the series finale episode, “Cheat the Gallows”, three years has passed since Gert's death and Chase Stein has not let a single moment since then go to waste. The episode involved Future Chase and evil Future Alex from 2028 time jumping to the present day, as well as back to the pilot episode where the Runaways formed, and back to the evening of the battle against Morgan le Fay.

Marvel.com had the opportunity to talk to the cast on an intimate set visit earlier this year about the finale and time jump.

Marvel.com: First, I want to talk about Gert's death, Ariela, since your character isn't part of the time jump. Can you tell us what you felt when you read the script? Were you prepped ahead of time?

Ariela Barer: I actually knew for two years. I knew that that was going to be the plan for the end of Season Three for a while. I think since beginning of Season Two, I've known. Josh [Schwartz] and Steph [Savage] weren't the ones that told me, so they don't really know that I knew that. But they did end up telling me when we got the call for Season Three. It's always been speculation, and then beginning of Season Three, they were "It's for sure happening, but don't worry too much about it." I was like, "Okay, cool," because I knew in the comic, there's the time travel stuff, and she comes back.

So I was, "I have hope in this." I read 309, and we were at the table read and I got kind of emotional. It was like my goodbye to Gert because even if she does come back, it'll be a while, it'll be different. And I got kind of sad. And I teared up at the table read and then Josh texts me "It's been great. Thank you so much." And I was, "Oh, I'm not coming back." And I got so scared. And I texted Ginny and Lyrica. And I was, "Ah, guys, I think I'm not coming back to the show." So I said something to Josh like, "Yeah, it's been really great. I'll write you a whole sappy letter soon." He was "Yeah and then we see you in 10." I was "You can't say that to me!" I was so scared. So I was very happy to see that I came back in 310.

Marvel.com: Gregg, where is Chase's mindset in all this? Gert's death kind of propels the Runaways to break up. While some people have moved on, they go to college, they finish high school, where has Chase been?

Gregg Sulkin: At the end of the season, Chase loves Gert so much. He's determined to do everything in his power to to protect her and save her and save the Runaways. He's in a very devastated place when Gert dies, naturally. I think all of the Runaways... I wouldn't say there's like the glue, that there's one character that's the glue of the Runaways. I think we all are. That's what makes our bond so strong and so special.

What happens to Chase is, he's very determined to get her back. And he knows that he's capable, more so he believes he's capable of getting her back and he can create this time machine to go back and save her. So instead of moving on, he tries to move back. And I think you know, he loves Gert so much that he's willing to do everything in his power to do that.

Marvel.com: With the Runaways kind of disbanded, they've all kind of moved on with their lives. Chase didn't move on. Just like how Nico was so determined to save Alex, Chase was so determined to figure out time travel and go back and save Gert. What was Gert feeling like coming out of that, with this whole time travel, knowing that here's someone who loved her who really did everything he can to save her?

Ariela Barer: It's really interesting this idea that she doesn't really know for a fact what has happened. But there is also just kind of this bigger thing happening that she has to surrender to for a second, that maybe this guy and her are like linked in a bigger way. And maybe soulmates are real and then they are kind of really just meant to be in a big kind of almost like higher power kind of way. Like they are just meant to work in whatever timeline it happens.

Marvel.com: Allegra, another character that would be most impacted by Gert's death is Molly. Were you prepared?

Allegra Acosta: When I first heard about Gert's death, it was kind of crazy because Ariela had been hinting at it for the past two seasons, but then changing her mind like she was contradicting herself.  Season one, she was, "Oh my god, I want to pitch this idea that Gert dies," and I was, "Oh, go for it that'd be awesome. Let's live your fantasy, queen!" Then the second season, she was, "Oh, I don't think they're going to do it." Then she would change it. So in my head, I was, "Oh, they're gonna kill Gert. That's crazy." But then when I actually saw it on paper, I was, "Oh my god, she's gonna die." I was kind of sad, but it's so exciting because it brings a new rift along the characters. And then when you go into Episode 310 when we start time traveling and our time warping and breaking like a bunch of different dimensions, it reminds me a lot of the Avengers in some way, and we're introducing this new universe into this TV show that a lot of the fans will enjoy because it's very cinematic.

Marvel.com: In 310, we see Molly back in high school, as a senior, a cheerleader. Tell us how Gert's death affected her.

Allegra Acosta: What I love about is that when you see Molly grow up, you still see that she's still herself and she's still Molly. She's just older in age and she's taking on the sense of leadership and just letting her light shine. She's thinking, "I have to continue on my sister's legacy." As she grew up, she got even more mature and wiser than she's ever been. And the audience finally gets to see that attention from other people.

Marvel.com: What do the other Runaways feel following Gert's death and their eventual disbanding?

Virginia Gardner: You find Karolina three years later with a new girlfriend and a new home, and she's going to UCLA and all the Runaways kind of moved on. Her girlfriend doesn't know about her powers or anything, so I think Karolina kind of chooses to not embrace that side of herself so much. One, because she saw what magic and those powers did to Nico, and two because an epic battle lost us one of our best friends. After we've all felt so invincible for so long, realizing that we aren't, we all just kind of like broke off and started to focus on different parts of our lives. It's really tough for Karolina. But I do think she found so much love in Julie that she is she's in a good place when we find her years later.

Lyrica Okano: Nico got super woke. Nothing phases her. She’s seen it all and by the time she comes back and we see her three years into the future, she’s really mastered all aspects of her powers. She doesn’t really have to put much thought into anything. She’s gone through it all. She’s felt it all. She’s found peace in herself, even with the Runaways splitting up, and splitting up with Karolina and what happened to Gert, she had time to find herself and find her powers. But that came with sacrificing this big part of herself which was lacking love. She was on her own.

Rhenzy Feliz: Yeah, it was an incredibly tough time. We do a huge time cut from there to three years later, but they separate after that. And it's tough on them all, especially Chase more so. He's lost someone that he's loved. But it just sort of created this rift in the group that you can't sort of go back to the same dynamic that we had before. Chase feels it the most out of the entire group. Somewhere in the middle, it was too much for us to just hang out like as if it were normal because it's not normal anymore. Well, I mean, it was never necessarily normal, but we were a group and now that that's sort of been shattered, it's hard to even be around each other. And it sort of reminds you of that every single day.

Marvel.com: What was it like, being in such a good place, but having Future Chase come to the group and convince them to go back in time to save Gert?

Rhenzy Feliz: Alex needed to move on and wanted to make a life for himself. He knows that he can make a real change and an impact with the resources, his dad and the money and all that, he can make a real change in the community. So that's sort of what he goes off to and still even in that, and communicating with Chase, trying to help him achieve this goal that he has of bringing back Gert, because I feel for the most of us, we've sort of moved on or tried to, and Chase cannot. And thank God he can't because he's got an amazing brain on him and he can actually make a change as well, as we see he does. So you know good on him.

Virginia Gardner: I think we're all really sad to leave our current selves behind because we've grown into these adults and have these lives and I've got a new girlfriend. But I think that we're ready to take on that challenge. Because above all, the six of us are a family and we lost a family member and have the opportunity to get her back. So we're all on board to do whatever it takes to get her back.

All 10 episodes of Marvel’s Runaways Season 3 is exclusively available to stream on Hulu now!