Evan Daigle
Evan Daigle dishes on the big twist with his character, Toby, on “Claws.” Akeem Biggs

Fans watching “Claws” may have thought that Toby was just a great source of comic relief and a small character who plays a special role in Uncle Daddy’s life. However, after watching the July 23 episode, they may be realizing just how much bigger his character is when it comes to the Dixie Mafia.

In an interview with International Business Times, Evan Daigle, who portrays Toby on the TNT series, revealed that the big twist for his character was one that he felt honored he was allowed to play because it helps set things up for the rest of the season.

Spoiler Alert: Crucial plot points from Season 1, Episode 7, “Escape” are discussed below.

Read: Evan Daigle Reveals What It’s Like To Work With Niecy Nash

In the episode, Desna (Niecy Nash), knowing that Uncle Daddy (Dean Norris) isn’t going to let her get out from under the foot of the Dixie Mafia easily as she tries to buy her new salon, asks Toby if he wouldn’t mind taking over her current salon in Palmetto—meaning both the nail art management and the illegal money laundering. Uncle Daddy did wind up agreeing to the plan for Toby’s take over in the end. However, Daigle warns that it won’t ever be that simple for Desna, because something else will happen to reel her back in.

“With Uncle Daddy agreeing to let Toby take over the salon, Desna and the audience may get a false sense of security in that, and there is no way it would be that easy for Desna to alleviate her problems and have Toby take them over,” he told IBT.

And while Toby’s new role may initially seem innocuous to viewers, Daigle promises that it actually helps set up the rest of the action for the season going forward.

“Without giving too much away on how the season ends, Desna and Uncle Daddy end up sort of having to come together in order to solve another extremely massive family problem that happens,” he said. “So it sort of pushes the dramatic action towards the end of the season, and we leave the characters in a state of complete disarray, and it really sets up the next season for the characters to have to sort of rebuild everything that they had at the beginning of this season from the ground up, including Desna and Uncle Daddy.”

Read: 5 Things To Know About “Claws”

As for the big change in Toby’s role, which has been a quieter one for most of the season thus far, Daigle admits that he was honored when he received the script for the episode and realized how much bigger his role was getting, especially because “Claws” was his first big acting gig in television.

“When I got the script for Episode 7 and read that Toby was sort of going to be the solution for one of Desna’s central problems, I felt really honored that the writers and producers trusted me as an actor with the evolution of my character,” he said. “Because I don’t think that they would have included my character in the plot so heavily, had they not been confident that I could handle it, and so I just felt really excited, and really proud. And I just really wanted to make them proud.”

To see how much more Toby’s role increases and how the drama plays out for the rest of Season 1, tune in to “Claws,” Sunday nights at 9 p.m. EDT on TNT.

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