Now that murder night is behind him, can Connor keep himself together? (ABC)

Okay, How To Get Away With Murder fanatics. To quote out law student Connor Walsh, stop being a little bitch baby, because your wait is over -- the addictive drama is finally back tonight!

When we last left our group of law students and their teacher/mentor, played by SAG Award winner Viola Davis, we finally caught up to murder night where Annalise Keating's husband was killed and were left with suspicions that she might have had something to do with it.

In tonight’s episode, we pick up the next morning after the event and we finally discover what the hell happens next.

Of course, one of our favorite characters on the show is gay law student Connor Walsh, played by Jack Falahee. Compared to the other characters on the show, he saw a whole lot of very physical, very revealing action in the first half of the show’s freshman season. Connor was cocky and sexually active in a way that was groundbreaking for a gay character on a broadcast network. However, murder night also brought us a very unsettled and shaken Connor, proving that the sexually magnetic character has many layers-- and that Falahee is not a one note kind of actor.

Will the usually confident and self-assured Connor keep it together as the group tries to get away with murder? Is he going to crack and confess all to Oliver (Conrad Ricamora)?  Oliver, who started out as merely a way to get information for Connor but later became someone he might be actually be falling for. And how is Falahee dealing with all the attention the show has brought to him?

We talked to the actor earlier this month at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour for all those answers and more.

The Backlot: How would you tease these next episodes we’re going to see, because we know where we left off, Connor was emotionally fragile.

Jack Falahee: Man, it’s going to be really exciting to watch. I feel like the writers have really found their stride at this point in the season. It has been exhilarating to act and perform a lot of these scenes. But, yeah, it picks up right after the murder and sort of launches us right into the aftermath. And a big thing that Pete [Nowalk, the series’ out creator] and the writers explore is how being intertwined in this murder plot affects the relationships between these characters.

So you see a lot of characters coming together, a lot of characters moving apart, alliances being formed, enemies being made. We explore how much Annalise knows about the murder, and Bonnie and Asher have to deal with the consequences of sleeping with one another. Just a lot going on.

Falahee says we may be surprised who people lean on. Could Connor and Frank (Charlie Weber) unite? (ABC)

Is Connor leaning on anybody, because Oliver’s in his life, but he’s also lied to Oliver. So is he trusting anybody?

JF: Yeah, he is and I think that it’s maybe people we don’t expect. That’s sort of the beauty of it. I think that these characters have transformed so much in the first nine episodes and when the stakes are as high as having committed a murder, there’s really no telling who people turn to in these moments of weakness. We do see at the end of [episode] nine, these characters go to different people’s houses and sort of lean on their significant others. And whether or not any of that withstands the test of time, we’ll see.

Is everybody still vying to be Annalise’s pet, or does that kind of get put aside? I mean, everyone is still in law school.

JF: Right, and I think that’s a huge component of the season is the fact that we are still in school, and that to me has been something that is really interesting to explore from a character standpoint -- how do you maintain any sort of facade of your normal life and day to day, given the circumstances? And so, going to class, going to court and working for Annalise becomes difficult.

How would you characterize the relationship with Oliver, moving forward?

JF: I characterize it as complicated.

But we do see them, right? Oliver is around?

JF: We do see Oliver, yeah. Conrad is unbelievable. He’s doing The King and I in New York, so I’m trying to go out and see him in that.

Once the show launched, it kind of did what you want every show to do-- it launched big. People tuned in. There was definitely a lot of stir, particularly over your character. How did you take that in?

JF: It’s been pretty bananas. The producers and show runners over at Shondaland (the production company of uber-TV producer Shonda Rhimes) do a really incredible job of shepherding their young actors through it because they’ve seen this happen with a lot of their programs. So they’re very quick to check in and be there for us, which has been incredible. And having the support of such a tight-knit cast has been a saving grace just because it is such a whirlwind.

And I didn’t expect it. It’s what they don’t teach you in drama school, right? But it has had its ups and downs. Mostly ups, but I was just talking to someone about a funny story that happened to me the other day, which I think sort of summarizes the whole experience thus far. I was with a friend of mine who was visiting and is not in the industry and we were at this party and a girl comes up and she’s like, “I love the show.” And I was like, “Thanks,” and she asked if she could get a photo and I said, “Sure, yeah, of course.” I take a photo with her and to my buddy, I’m like, “Yeah, see?” And then we’re walking to the bar to get a drink and there’s this group of young ladies, and they’re like, “Excuse me?” And I’m like, “Okay, all right.” They say, “Could we get some drinks?” [laughs]

'Help me, Oliver! This whole murder night thing has my hair a total mess!"

Mistook you for a waiter? Knocking you down a little. Back to reality.

JF: Exactly and it was perfect, too. Little moments like that are a great microscope on everything’s that changing. Yeah, it’s been really exciting.

Are we getting more bitch babys from you on the show?

JF: There are some amazing little gems coming up, some treasures.

How is it when you guys are doing those table reads getting to actually see and speak these words out loud together for the first time?

JF: It’s exciting, especially now that I think that we all have sort of sunk into our characters a little bit more and are starting to live in the world of these characters a bit more honestly. It’s really exciting to see that brought to life at the table read each week, or every couple weeks.

What have you been hearing from the gay community about your role and the show?

JF: Just a lot of excitement and it’s been really flattering.  I don’t know, it’s been sort an out-of-body experience with so many people, especially young people coming up to me and saying, “Thank you so much. It means so much to have a real, honest, truthfully depicted gay person on television that isn’t a clown and isn’t a caricature.” And I think that Pete just created someone who is just that and is multi-faceted and grounded and has flaws. That’s rad. So any part I play in bringing that to life has been a wonderful experience. I’m glad that people are relating.

How To Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays at 10pm on ABC.