Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams: Wilhelmina "Got Everything She Wanted" in Finale
Ugly Betty - Vanessa Williams
Ugly Betty's series finale offered happy endings and closure for every character, particularly the brazen Wilhelmina Slater.
Read our recap of the Ugly Betty series finale
"She got everything she wanted," Vanessa Williams told TVGuide.com, noting her satisfaction with how her character's four-season run wrapped up.
In Wednesday's finale, Wilhelmina chose love instead of scheming and called a truce with Claire Meade. Although viewers saw a softer side to Mode's editor-in-chief, Williams says "we'd have to see a spin-off" to see whether she truly is a changed woman. Even so, Williams says she hopes that Wilhelmina ends up "happily in love, running Mode the way she's always dreamt, with Marc at her side, wondering whether you can have it all."
Michael Urie knows how he wants Ugly Betty to end
Co-star Mark Indelicato, who plays Betty's lovable nephew Justin, said that while fans may have hoped for Betty (America Ferrera) and her boss Daniel (Eric Mabius) to get together in the finale, the pairing wouldn't have been right. "The message of the show, originally about an ugly girl making it in the big city, turned into Betty doesn't need a man to find who she is," he said.
Say goodbye to Ugly Betty with series creator Silvio Horta
Ultimately, the 15-year-old says the finale was about coming full-circle. "The scene that America and I reenacted on the stoop together... was something you saw in the pilot," he says. "America and I are wearing the same color scheme, we're drinking out of the same cups, sitting on the same steps. It's about Justin telling Betty she can't be afraid of her dreams, and if you're afraid of your dreams you can't accomplish anything."
For both Indelicato and Williams, shooting those final scenes was extremely difficult. "It was hard to speak at times, because I was so caught up in my tears," Indelicato says. Williams added: "It was all really sad. Those tears were real, and a lot of the takes were unusable because we couldn't get through them. We love each other and we miss each other already."
Encore episodes of Ugly Betty air Saturdays at 7/6c on TV Guide Network.