Good Trouble’s Maia Mitchell Talks Callie/Jamie Engagement Party Episode and Its Deep Fosters Callback
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Tuesday’s Good Trouble. Proceed at your own risk!
What would the end of the Fosters and Good Trouble era be without some tears?
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When TVLine chatted up star Maia Mitchell earlier this month, she had wrapped production on the spinoff’s series finale a week earlier, with her TV sister and longtime castmate/friend Cierra Ramirez by her side.
“It was really special,” says Mitchell, who describes the vibe on set of the final episode as “very emotional.”
But before the waterworks come on for the series ender, Good Trouble celebrated Callie and Jamie’s engagement in this Tuesday’s episode, which featured the return of two of Callie’s Fosters brothers and a surprise appearance from her half-sister Sophia (played by Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’s Bailee Madison)!
Below, Mitchell breaks down that Fosters family reunion, argues for a Callie/Jamie elopement and looks back on her journey as Callie. Plus, the actress previews the upcoming series finale.
TVLINE | What was the mood like on set for the series finale? And how was it filming your final scene with Cierra after all this time?
It was very emotional. I had two days on set with everyone. The vibe was pretty good, and I think everyone was just really grateful for the experience and just kind of loving on each other, honestly. Toward the end of the last day, I don’t think we wrapped until like 3 am or something, but by that point, I was definitely emotional, and the last scene we filmed was the last scene of the show. If you know the show, you know that we like to turn on the waterworks. [Laughs] We get pretty sentimental. So there were a lot of parallels [with] the dialogue that we’re saying and our own kind of moving on from the show for Maia and Cierra and the rest of the cast. So it was definitely emotional, but a really, really good closure, I think, for us, and I think the fans are going to be very, very satisfied.
TVLINE | Did the series end the way you hoped it would? Was this the ending you envisioned for it?
It was. I mean, I would’ve liked for us to have some more episodes. [Laughs] But I’m really glad we were able to shoot what we did film, and I feel really good about where all the characters have ended up. I can’t really say much more than that. I feel very satisfied. I think the fans are going to be really, really happy with the closure, and I think we’re seeing the girls off in a really good place.
TVLINE | Is there anything at all you can tease about the series finale and what’s in store?
[Laughs] Well, let me think… I guess I can say that there is one big last Coterie dinner that almost resembles the dinner that we had in the pilot. So there’s a few kind of parallels between the first episode and our finale. Maybe there’s a resurgence of the Coterie anthem, a little dancing involved, but it does feel kind of celebratory.
TVLINE | I think in the engagement party episode, there’s the most Fosters family members we’ve seen since probably the Brandon and Eliza goodbye episode. What was it like being back with almost everybody from that cast, minus Noah Centineo, obviously?
It was amazing. It was so much fun. I think that the AD department had a tough time wrangling everyone during that week just because we were all so excited to be catching up. The vibe was just amazing. It’s always so good to see everyone, and having David [Lambert] and Hayden [Byerly] there and all our other guest stars, it was really, really, really fun. I love those guys, and when we’re together, it just honestly feels like no time has passed, except Hayden’s like four feet taller. [Laughs]
TVLINE | I love the line that Callie has, like, “Are Jesus and Emma ever coming back?”
[Laughs] Yeah. I think Noah was busy, like, in Copenhagen or somewhere fancy.
TVLINE | What surprised me was that we even got a cameo from Bailee Madison as Sophia, because I didn’t think we’d be seeing her again. It had been so long.
I know! Well, that was my whole thing. I was like, “If we’re doing an engagement party, she’s got a whole sister that we need to hear from.” So I think she was shooting something, somewhere, but she was willing to do a little Facetime cameo, which was amazing. It’s always fun to give the Fosters fans those little nuggets, throughout, because it’s just so exciting.
TVLINE | It did make me wonder, though, where Callie’s biological father was.
Yeah. Well, she’s got two dads. She got a kind of like raised dad and then a biological dad. But we don’t mention them. It’s all about the mamas. [Laughs]
TVLINE | That was a really moving and beautiful moment when she was thanking them and her family for, basically, giving her the life that she has now.
I know, and it was just so nice to see Callie and how far she’s come celebrated, in a way. We got that moment with her just to see exactly how far she’s come, and how much the Fosters family gave her and her kind of growth. It was a really beautiful scene and, actually, a really beautiful episode in that way, just seeing all of her growth and the family back together.
TVLINE | And of course, it’s always great to see Jamie and Callie together.
I love them. I’m so proud of them. I’m so happy that the show is ending, and they’re together, and we know that they’re in D.C., just, like, having a functional relationship. It’s so good.
TVLINE | When they introduced the character of Jamie on The Fosters, and the two of them had that almost like love/hate sort of relationship, did you ever think that they would end up here, together and about to get married?
Oh, my God. I mean, to think that Beau [Mirchoff] and I were filming that that episode five or six years ago, seven years ago, and now we’re here, talking about their engagement, is just so crazy to me. It’s such a blessing to have been given this show, but to be given five seasons of it, I just could not have even imagined. No, I had no idea. I had no idea how lucky we’d be or that we’d be here in 2024, talking about these characters. It blows my mind.
TVLINE | All this wedding/engagement stuff is so stressful for Callie. Should she and Jamie just elope?
One thousand percent! They should totally elope! They should just go to Vegas, and call it a day, and keep Diana out of it. I think so, but Jamie’s traditional, and I think Callie is figuring out how to [be] respectful of his family but also sticking up for herself and her kind of needs, and you definitely see her battling that during the engagement party, but I think she does a good job. I mean, she has a tiny mental breakdown. [Laughs] But they overcome it, and there’s a really, really sweet scene with her and Diane, which is a really nice kind of mother-in-law/daughter-in-law moment.
TVLINE | When I spoke to Cierra, I said to her, Jamie and Callie met at Brandon and Eliza’s engagement party. So it seems fitting for Good Trouble to end with their wedding.
Yeah. Listen, I would’ve been all for a big wedding, but no comment. [Laughs]
TVLINE | You have been playing this character for the better part of a decade, which is such a rarity these days, and even after you left the series, we still got to see Callie, which was wonderful. But now, this is truly the end. So what are you going to miss most about Callie?
It really has been so incredible. It’s been more than a decade. It’s been almost 12 years that I’ve played her. So to get to play an arc that long and to see where she started, which was getting beat up in juvie, to then being engaged to someone fabulous and having her dream job as a lawyer, it’s incredible. I did some letting go when I left the show as a series regular, but I liken it to like when your parents sell your family home. So you’ve like moved out, and your life looks different, but you still like to go back home and have your parents do your laundry. [Laughs] That’s kind of the vibe.
What am I going to miss most? Aside from, honestly, working with Cierra every day, Cierra really has become a sister to me, and our personal lives are so enmeshed in the show. So I’ll definitely miss Miss Thang. Callie, specifically, I just, honestly, playing her has been just the joy of my life. She’s so forthright and so set in her morals, and she sticks up for the little guy. And like, honestly, her bravery. I often try to kind of channel her in my life, and I like to think she’s kind of maybe rubbed off on me in certain ways. But just everything about her, playing her has been a huge part of my growing up, and it feels really weird that I’m not going to be on that set, speaking her cadence and wearing her costumes, although I did raid her closet before I left the studio and I did get to steal a few little items. [Laughs] But just so much, and just being on the sets and our crew. We’ve all, for the most part, been together for the last 10 seasons. It’s a whole world behind the lens that the audience doesn’t get to see that we’re living every day, and that’s massive. A whole little community. But I also just mostly feel really, really grateful, and I’m excited to see what everyone does next.
TVLINE | Have you and Cierra talked about doing another project together, since you are so close? Or is it one of those situations where you’ve got to take some space from your sibling?
No. We don’t do space. [Laughs] Me and Cierra don’t do space. I would love to work with her again. I mean, I would love to work with her as a director. Her episode this season that she directed was incredible. I’m keen to see her tapping into that more, and I’m definitely counting on her to cast her girl, Maia. I would love to work with her in that capacity.
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