Warning! The following contains spoilers for Season 4 of 13 Reasons Why. Read at your own risk!
13 Reasons Why Season 4 is out, and according to actor Dylan Minnette, who played Clay Jensen, it was a hard one. With only 10 episodes in Season 4, the series didn't have the usual 13 to let the story draw out more, but managed to deliver some major stories nonetheless.
Season 4 was quite a trial for Dylan Minnette, though not a challenge he didn't see coming. The actor spoke to EW about filming the final season, and the major issue he faced getting the work done.
I knew that it would most likely end up being an extremely difficult season, and it turns out it was. Especially because every other season takes place over the course of like two weeks and it's every day of the week, but this season takes place over the course of about six months and there's only 10 episodes, so every episode just focuses on one major event and there's not really much filler. For that reason, there ends up being a major event for Clay in every episode. I'd open every script and be like, ‘Okay we're doing this. I hope I can pull it off.’ [Laughs.] Season 4 was the most difficult season to shoot for that reason.
Clay Jensen is typically the person holding all the characters together in 13 Reasons Why, but that was not the case in Season 4. As Dylan Minnette said, Clay went through the wringer in the controversial Netflix original's final season. This included a rather heartbreaking moment for the character, in which his adopted brother Justin Foley died from AIDS.
As difficult as it may have been to shoot, Dylan Minnette seemed to enjoy the experience. As an added bonus, the finale featured the song "Half Light II," by Arcade Fire, which is one of the actor's favorite songs. It feels like a fitting reward for Minnette given the fact that showrunner Brian Yorkey put so much on his character's plate in the final season. With that said, he was the series lead, so it would've been weird if Clay just hung out in the background the entire season playing mediator to all the drama.
Instead he's front and center and, as usual, going through the gauntlet of harrowing teenage experiences only matched by the teens of Riverdale. 13 Reasons Why managed to keep the drama as heavy and unflinching as it has been since the show garnered controversy for its accurate depiction of suicide in Season 1.
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