Why Alfred Enoch’s Wes Was Killed In Season 3
Wes Gibbons was a favorite character on the Shonda Rhimes drama How to Get Away with Murder, and his season 3 death is an important part of the plot.
Wes Gibbons (Alfred Enoch) was a kind-hearted and sensitive law student in How to Get Away with Murder, but Wes left HTGAWM for a very good reason. When he was introduced as an aspiring lawyer in Annalise Keating's (Viola Davis) class, Wes seemed softer and more nervous than the others, and he became part of the Keating Five when covering up the death of Annalise's husband, Sam (Tom Verica). Wes and Laurel bonded, and after an intimate moment in season 3, Laurel ended up pregnant with their son, Christopher. Wes was also the one who killed Sam, adding to his guilt and self-reflection.
Wes's How to Get Away with Murder season 3 death is disturbing as it proved none of the Keating 5 were safe. Wes and Annalise had a connection revealed in season 2, as Wes's mother, Rose (Kelsey Scott), was scared to testify against the son of Wallace Mahoney (Adam Arkin), a wealthy man who assaulted Rose, resulting in her pregnancy with Wes. After Rose took her own life, Annalise was determined to keep Wes safe. This backstory became even more tragic in season 3 when Laurel Castillo's (Karla Souza) father, Jorge (Esai Morales), told Dominick Flores (Nicholas Gonzalez) to murder Wes to protect his company's corruption.
Wes Was Killed In HTGAWM Season 3 Because It Made Sense For The Story
Why did Wes leave HTGAWM? Alfred Enoch explained that his character was killed because it felt like the next step for the story, not because he wanted to leave or because he had a conflicting movie or TV show to shoot. Enoch told Entertainment Weekly, "The decision was creative." Before showrunner Peter Nowalk told him, he felt that Wes would be the character who would die. The actor also accepted this was a practical conclusion for his character and said, "We’ve done so much Wes story. It’ll be interesting, it’ll be good, they’ll be able to do something else."
While it's difficult for the members of the Keating Five to lose Wes, it doesn't seem like any other character could've died at this moment in the story. Wes's death was shocking and frightening, which proved there were dark consequences of being part of both Annalise and Laurel's worlds as both of them have made wealthy and well-connected people very angry. When an FBI agent murdered Asher Millstone in HTGAWMseason 6, this felt like the right story decision as well. Because Wes and Asher come from opposite backgrounds but are both murdered, these storylines exposed the danger the characters were always facing.
Alfred Enoch Appeared At Annalise's Funeral In Season 6
While it appeared that Wes attended Annalise's funeral in the series finale of How to Get Away with Murder along with Laurel, Oliver Hampton (Conrad Ricamora), and Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee), Alfred Enoch did return to the show, but not as Wes. The actor played Wes and Laurel's son, Christopher, who wanted to pay his respects and be a source of support. The How to Get Away with Murder ending was a melancholy affair, as the characters remembered the intense experiences they had together, and Christopher and Laurel wonder what would have happened if Wes had lived. Annalise's natural death at an elderly age was a logical and sad conclusion.
What Alfred Enoch Has Done Since How To Get Away With Murder
How to Get Away With Murder is the series that made Alfred Enoch a star, but it wasn't where his story ended. While Enoch had a pretty significant role in the Harry Potter franchise as Dean Thomas, appearing in every movie in the series, he wasn't one of the key players, so he mostly slipped by with little fanfare. The role as Wes Gibbons, coming three years after his Harry Potter tenure ended, changed all that. Enoch enjoyed some movie roles with parts in Executive Order, Tigers, and This is Christmas.
However, his biggest post-How to Get Away With Murder role put him back on television again. In 2019, he picked up the main role of Jamie McCain in Trust Me, a BBC medical drama, and then more significantly, he signed on to play Raych in Foundation. That is the Apple TV sci-fi series from David Goyer based on the Isaac Asimov novels about a group of exiles attempting to save the Galactic Empire by defying it. Enoch is the adopted son of one of the exiles, Jared Harri's Hari Seldon. He also has a lead role in the upcoming Starz thriller series The Couple Next Door.
