13 Reasons Why: Who picked up Alex's phone?

Ross Butler — a.k.a. Zach — tells us what he knows about the series big cliffhanger.

Ross Butler
Photo: Beth Dubber/Netflix

As fans of 13 Reasons Why will tell you, the Netflix series ended with more than a couple of big cliffhangers (even apart from whether there will be a second season). Among the dangling story lines is who exactly answers Alex Standall’s (Parenthood‘s Miles Heizer) phone.

One of the final scenes of the season finale saw basketball star Zach (Ross Butler) send Alex a series of urgent texts, only to get a single message in response: “Please call.” Once Zach calls, it’s not Alex who picks up, though: As viewers learn, the teen was rushed to the hospital because of a gunshot wound to the head. So who is on the other line?

“I imagine it was his dad,” Butler tells EW. “Or maybe some police investigator on the scene, because Zach had been sending texts. I didn’t think into it too much… He sent out a call and the scene cuts.”

However, Butler says that Zach had been worried about Alex as the episodes had gone on.

“I don’t know if it’s a detail people picked up on, but Zach and Alex got really close,” explains Butler of the duo’s new bond. “Out of all of them, Zach had been really worried about Alex because he’d seen that Alex had been having issues with his stomach and that he’d been getting really depressed. In the texts, you see that there’s a lot of outgoing texts to Alex, but no responses.”

And Zach’s concern was somewhat founded, as the final episode doesn’t reveal what it is that happened to Alex in those last few days. Did he attempt to end his life? Or could it be possible that Tyler, who we now know was collecting guns, shot him?

The 10th anniversary edition of 13 Reasons Why is currently available for purchase — order it here — and the television adaptation is now streaming on Netflix.

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