Into The Badlands: Why Veil Died In The Season 2 Finale

Veil (Madeleine Mantock) died in the season 2 finale of Into the Badlands, but what inspired the AMC series to kill off such a key character? Throughout the show’s lifespan, Veil was Sunny’s only love interest.

Veil, a physician who ran her own clinic in the Badlands, was involved in a forbidden romance with Sunny before the series even began. Their relationship is what led to Sunny’s fallout with Baron Quinn (Marton Csokas). After the season 1 finale, Sunny and Veil were separated. Sunny spent most of season 2 fighting alongside Bajie (Nick Frost) to get back to Veil, who gave birth to their son, Henry. During this time, Veil was without Sunny’s protection, which put her in a precarious situation with Quinn, who began to lean on her skills as a doctor. Over time, Quinn fell in love with Veil and began to see himself as Henry’s father.

At the end of the season, Sunny finally reunites with Veil and discovers that his old enemy, Quinn, now has his son. Quinn, who has developed a strong emotional attachment to Henry, wants Henry to be his heir. After Sunny defeats Quinn, Quinn grabs Veil and offers to let her live if he can leave with Henry. To stop this from happening, Veil plunges a blade through herself and Quinn, killing both of them. After spending a whole season trying to get back to Veil, Sunny ends up losing her all over again.

Veil’s fate in Into the Badlands did serve a narrative purpose. Following her death, Sunny had to experience life as a father for the first time, and to make matters worse, he had to do it without Veil to help. Season 3 saw Sunny protect Henry from various threats as he traversed through the Badlands. Sunny’s experience as a professional killer made him accustomed to danger, but being in the constant company of a small child made Sunny’s life more difficult than it ever was before. Sunny knew how to protect himself from bandits and other enemies, but keeping Henry safe was an unfamiliar challenge. It became even more challenging when he had to temporarily align with Pilgrim (Babou Ceesay) to save Henry from the Gift.

What happened to Veil is what forced Sunny to deal with the perils of being a father to an infant in a world populated by vicious thieves and killers, the Widow and her Butterflies, and Pilgrim’s army of zealots. Veil’s death shaped Sunny’s story in season 3 of Into the Badlands.

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