R.J. Decker ended with a bang, a big splash and a shocking death — and according to actress Jaina Lee Ortiz, season 2 will be just as surprising.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 1, episode 9, of R.J. Decker.
“I really hope he’s not dead,” Ortiz, who plays Emi Ochoa, told TV Insider on Thursday, May 21, referring to her TV father Victor Ochoa (David Zayas), who was killed during the April 28 finale. “I want him to jump out of the water and gasp for air because it’s not fair. I love David Zayas.”
While Ortiz, 39, would love to continue to act alongside Zayas, 63, the corrupt politician’s death — he was shot and left floating in the pool to end the season — will open the door for even more drama next season.
“I feel like it’s going to be very juicy,” Ortiz said of season 2, noting that Emi’s strong connection to her father will make solving his murder even more complicated.
During the season 1 finale, private detective R.J. Decker (Scott Speedman) teamed up with Emi to take down Victor with help from R.J.’s former cellmate, Wish Aiken (Kevin Rankin), his ex-wife, journalist Catherine Delacroix (Adelaide Clemens), and her new wife and police detective Mel Abreu (Bevin Bru).
As fans learned this past season, R.J. went to jail after he got into a fight with Victor’s son and Emi’s brother, Lucas Ochoa (Maximo Salas).
What viewers didn’t know until the end of the season was that Victor orchestrated the whole thing, telling his son to purposely steal R.J.’s camera equipment because his pictures might trace back to Victor’s more unseemly activities.
Although R.J. and Emi were able to put Victor behind bars on another charge during the finale, they knew it wouldn’t last. Still, they celebrated their small victory as Victor was released from jail and went home only to be killed by an unknown assailant.
Ortiz teased that even though Emi has feelings for R.J., the death of her father will complicate their possible future.
“Maybe he had something to do with it, I don’t know,” Ortiz told TV Insider half-joking.
Speedman, 50, for his part, told the outlet last month that it is a “scary” reality that R.J. will potentially be “at the top of the suspect list” since he was determined to expose Victor’s wrongdoings before his death.
“In terms of rolling into a season 2 here, I think anybody’s game: certain political opponents could be, his daughter could be, he could be, wish could be, Mel could be. So it’s wide open,” the actor said in April. “I think that’s what makes it such an interesting murder for the cliffhanger of our show, is it really does open up a lot of stories and kind of takes the show in, not a different direction, but in a really exciting direction.”
Ortiz noted on Thursday that even with R.J. possibly being accused of killing Victor — and Victor’s past potentially haunting Emi — R.J. and Emi’s romance isn’t dead in the water, at least not yet.
“I feel like Emi and R.J. will always have this cat-and-mouse game, but something needs to come in between them and ruffle it up a little bit,” Ortiz teased. “I don’t know. They’re too happy right now — even though they don’t know what’s going on. They don’t know what they are, but maybe they need to be tested a little more.”
R.J. Decker returns for season 2 on ABC in fall 2026.
