‘The Westies’ Star Sarah Bolger Breaks Down Bridget’s Devastating Finale and Brendan’s Betrayal (Exclusive)

Bridget Walsh (Sarah Bolger) may not technically be a Westie, but by the end of The Westies Season 1, she has become one of the beating hearts of the story and one of its most changed characters. Warning: Spoilers for The Westies Season 1 finale “The Irish Goodbye” ahead!

Bridget is a former Irish Republican Army activist who lost her entire family during the Troubles. She is the girlfriend of Jimmy Roarke (Tom Brittney), a lieutenant in Eamon Sweeney’s Irish-American mob, but her past catches up with her when her former lover and fellow rebel Brendan Cahill (Allen Leech) pulls her into a dangerous gun-running operation. In the finale, Bridget learns her revenge has been aimed at the wrong person: It was Brendan who betrayed her parents in exchange for his freedom, which led to their deaths.

Bridget entered the season driven by revenge for the loss of her family, on the lam for her actions during the Troubles. But the finale forces her to confront truths she never anticipated, including Brendan’s devastating betrayal and a violent confrontation with Colonel Markham (Harry Hadden-Paton) that pushes her across a line she had never crossed before.

By the time the dust settles, Bridget has lost much of what defined her. TV Insider spoke with Sarah Bolger about Bridget’s journey, why Brendan’s betrayal will fracture her, the ramifications of her actions in the finale, and what her complicated relationship with Jimmy could look like if The Westies returns for Season 2.

Bridget has one of the biggest emotional arcs of the season as her story runs alongside that of the Westies. She isn’t technically part of the Westies, but she is what I consider one of the hearts of it.

Sarah Bolger: Yes. I agree. The opening line of Bridget’s character story in the script was, “If there were women in the gang, she would be a leader.”

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One of the hardest scenes to watch was not only Bridget’s attack, but also when she realized just how deeply Brendan betrayed her, that he was responsible for so many of the tragedies in her life. Do you think that realization resulted in a loss of identity for her?

I think that’s the thing that’s so interesting. You think through the story that the ghost that haunts her is the sort of Machiavellianness of Colonel Markham. Ultimately, it’s something Bridget holds very true to her core: The people she trusts — and I think it’s a small group, at this point in her life, minuscule, so to have someone like Brendan, who she lets back in, who she feels knew a part of her before she had to change, and knew a part of her before she even knew herself, have betrayed her is the biggest heartbreak of Bridget’s arc this season.

So much of her life is built on revenge after losing her family. What does revenge even mean after this point to her?

That’s it, you know, [when] you’re so singularly minded for some time, there’s the dream of it, and then there’s the diary entry of it, and then there’s the planning of it, and then there’s the reality of it. And ultimately, it amounts to nothing.

That’s the feeling, isn’t it? All this rage, even when outed, even when released, is only leaving the biggest void. And you’re right to ask, what does it mean? Because I think that will be very much if we, you know, please, hoping that we get a Season 2 — I think that would be the core of Bridget.

Her identity shifts even further in that horrific scene with Colonel Markham. We know Bridget has killed before, but largely from a distance, through actions that led to other people’s deaths. But now she’s killed. She’s now crossed a line. So what does that mean about who she’s becoming?

It had to be done. And I think you can rationalize it every which way, but I think for Bridget specifically, the ramifications of that act are going to ricochet through her whole life moving forward and her relationships.

I think it’s going to be the point of why Chris Brancato and Michael Pane do such a wonderful job, is because there are ramifications to actions and to violence. And the truth is, that act of violence is not going to be left without tending to the scars.

Brooke Palmer/MGM+

It was really important to me in the finale that even though you see what she’s going through, the core character trait is compartmentalization; that’s how she’s been able to get through any sort of trauma that she’s had in the past. That’s why she is where she is today. That’s why you see her stoic. That’s why you see her stand tall. That’s why you see her with a little bit of an “X” over her head, meaning she can go on to these missions and sort of be OK with not coming back. But ultimately, I think this is going to forever change her, and I’d be very excited to see how it does so.

As mentioned before, Bridget is not officially part of the Westies, but she’s the heart of the gang. Moving forward, if there is a Season 2, where do you see her place in this now that Jimmy is the head of the Westies?

I think because of the amazing relationship, that sort of mob marriage relationship we’ve been able to create, which is very lived-in and thriving, almost like their foreplay is secrets. And I think it’s very interesting to see these two characters thrive in the absence of truth. You know they love each other, you know they care, but they also need felonious things to sort of thrive in their day-to-day.

I think these two people are constantly pulled to a dark side and find hope and security in being able to fight back at the end of the night to each other. Now that Jimmy’s going to have more power, I think that it’s either going to spiral them in the best way possible or connect them in a way that we didn’t see coming, in a completely messed-up sort of relationship way that only they can do.

By the end of the finale, Bridget has lost so much: She’s lost her mentor, she’s lost every connection she’s had to her home, and she’s lost the story that’s driven her. Where would you like to see her grow?

I think because we were able to bring forth a character who wasn’t living in the fragility of PTSD, who was kind of like forcing her way through the door to be always OK, that as we land on her in those final moments, I think in Episode 8, [she’s] still trying to rationalize, intellectualize, and sort of compartmentalize and be there for Jimmy and be there for the Westies.

I imagined her coming home from that event and still putting her clothes away, still washing her face, and going through the mimicry of life, because she’s like, “I just have to be OK.” And I wonder if you keep telling yourself the story that you have to be OK, you have to be OK, what happens when you finally realize you are not?

I cannot wait to see what that looks like when those bricks start to crumble because I think she’s going to have to look in the mirror and reckon with not only what she did and what truth she now has, but also all her past.

The Westies, Season 1, Streaming Now, MGM+