‘Orphan Black’ Season 5 Spoilers: EPs Graeme Manson, John Fawcett Explain Why M.K. Had To Die

“Orphan Black” co-creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett recently explained their decision to kill off one of the Leda clones, M.K. (Tatiana Maslany), after Sarah (Maslany) told her that she now belongs to the group.

Despite the difficulty of saying goodbye to the character, Manson said that they felt it was time for M.K. to go. Fawcett seconded Manson’s statement and explained, “This was a conflict between the two. This is a longstanding conflict between Veera (M.K.) and Ferdinand (James Frain) that we set up in Season 4, and in Season 4 we discovered that Ferdinand way back killed her best friend, and she comes after Ferdinand in Season 4 seeking revenge and stealing all his money and almost kills him.”

Read: What happens to Sarah, Alison, Cosima and Helena in “Orphan Black” Season 5?

In Season 5, episode 2, M.K. pretended to be Rachel (Maslany) in an attempt to help Sarah, but their plan backfired. Ferdinand, who knew Rachel very well, noticed the marks on M.K.’s neck and confirmed that she is not who she claims to be. Despite not being Rachel, he decided to direct his anger at M.K. and killed her by stomping on her chest several times.

Fawcett also explained why they decided to have M.K. be killed in such a way that it was so brutal. In the scene, Ferdinand, who was also struggling with his personal issues, frothed at the mouth. “There was a lot of anger. He’s got a lot of anger and I think a lot of the Ferdinand psychology is that he has a lot of anger that he hasn’t expressed even towards Rachel. Because Rachel is in this episode that we just saw has become enlightened, and she has taken on the mantle of the heir to Neolution, and Ferdinand is pissed because he hates them,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

Meanwhile, not all of the Leda clones is aware that M.K. is already gone. But Sarah’s daughter, Kira (Skyler Wexler), can sense that something has happened to her. In the upcoming episodes, more storylines centered on Kira and her unique abilities will be given emphasis.

“Orphan Black” Season 5 airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. EDT on BBC America.