The From Season 4 finale delivered a gut-punch that fans won't soon forget. The MGM+ horror series closed its penultimate chapter with two devastating deaths that fundamentally alter the town's dynamics. Marielle (Kaelen Ohm) and Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons) both met their ends in the episode titled "If a Tree Falls in the Forest…," leaving viewers reeling and setting the stage for the final season.
In exclusive interviews, Ohm and Simmons opened up about the moment they learned their characters wouldn't survive the finale. For Simmons, the news came via a cryptic coffee invitation from showrunner John Griffin. "I got a call from John's assistant. They were like, 'John wants to meet you for coffee,' and I was like, 'Okay, cool, cool.' Then time went by, and I was like, 'So I can't do this evening. I'll do it tomorrow.' Then I was like, 'Actually, can we do tomorrow evening?' Then he was like, 'No, John really wants to see you,' and then I was like, 'Okay, cool.' Then I get to this one café, and it's not clueing in. We sat outside, and it's still not clueing in. And then I was like, 'Oh, I see what it is now,'" Simmons recalled.
Ohm's experience was similarly abrupt. She was with co-star Chloe Van Landschoot (Kristi) when the call came. "I know what this meeting means because it has happened to people before, so some of us at least knew the template. So I answer my phone, and he's like, 'Hey, Kaelen, John would like to meet you for coffee.' We were just about to go into the climbing gym together, and she's like, 'What?' I got off the phone, and I was like, 'I'm meeting John at the café tomorrow.' And so we processed the information together in a way. She was more upset than I was at first, I think. But yeah, it's part of it. Someone's gotta go every few episodes, and definitely by the finale," Ohm said.
Both actors learned the specifics of their deaths only a week or two before filming. Ohm was told her character would die protecting Fatima, with Smiley as the instrument of her demise. "I think he told me that generally I was going to be protecting Fatima and going out that way, and then he told me it was Smiley, and I was like, 'Oh, that sounds cool,'" she said. Simmons, meanwhile, was given the full picture of Elgin's prayer and deal with Sophia. "He pretty much told me everything about the prayer and the deal and everything, and it being Sophia. I remember it was before I read the scene where Clara joined Sophia's side, so that was all surprising to me. I was kind of excited at that point, though, because the season before, I thought he was dead, and I had to process all that. Then this season, I felt like he went off on a really good note," Simmons explained.
Elgin's final choice—to stand up to Sophia rather than join her—was a defining moment. Simmons sees it as a reflection of the character's unwavering morality. "For Elgin, it's a thing of having to maintain what your morals are, who you are. I think that was, I guess you can say, the fatal flaw, more so than even saying, 'Hey, is this you in the photo, Sophia?' I think his flaw was that he has this very pure view of what's good and what's wrong, and I think at the end, that kind of overrides his will to survive and even go home," he said.
Ohm's preparation for Marielle's death scene involved a mix of technical precision and emotional depth. "Death scenes are interesting because I've never died before, obviously, so I don't have a personal experience to reference. So, there is a technical aspect where you've got to make sure that it's going to work and be believable on that level. But I think the process of dying, because that is most of the scene, she does get to have a struggle, which I loved, that it's just really remembering what's important," she said. She also drew inspiration from near-death experience documentaries to capture the psychological weight of the moment.
The deaths of Marielle and Elgin come amid a season that saw the aftermath of Jim's fateful encounter with the Man in the Yellow Suit and Jade and Tabitha's mission to unearth the bones of the town's sacrificed children. The finale's events have reignited the creatures' aggression, setting up a perilous path to the final season. As Ohm noted, "Everyone will be going back to Season 5 very, very soon, and we aren't, are we?"
For fans wondering if there's any hope of resurrection, both actors have playful ideas. "I'd like to come back as a ghost, maybe haunting Kristi," Ohm joked. Simmons added, "Elgin's spirit could guide the others from beyond. That would be cool."
As From heads into its final season, the stakes have never been higher. The town's survivors must now contend with the fallout of these losses while facing an even more dangerous Sophia. With the bottle tree uprooted and the creatures emboldened, the final chapter promises to be a harrowing conclusion to the series.
