The Night Agent Season 2 surprised audiences when Brittany Snow, who was highly promoted as a new agent named Alice, wasn’t seen much in the season.

Spoiler alert: She was killed in the first 10 minutes of the show.

As TVLine noted, Snow’s casting was one of the most buzzed-about parts of the new season leading up to its premiere. So why was her character, who seemed to bring a new dynamic to the show, so quickly done away with?

Showrunner Shawn Ryan told TVLine that doing away with Alice–and doing a bit of stunt casting–was the plan the whole time, saying, “The idea of having this recognizable face is a bit of a shortcut, because so many people know Brittany and they like Brittany. They love her from the Pitch Perfect movies, and she’s had this career playing these very likable characters.”

“Bringing in audience history to an actor and sort of jujitsu-ing it to make you care quicker about her than you might if it was somebody more unrecognizable was useful to us,” he said. “Because then we can put ourselves in Peter’s shoes a little bit more when he sees her get killed.”

It’s a gamble, but for Ryan, it’s a gamble that helped keep the show giving viewers the twists and turns they have come to expect.

“One of the things I love about this show is that we’ve set an expectation that you don’t know what to expect,” he said.

Season 2 of The Night Agent, starring Gabriel Basso, Amanda Warren and more is now streaming on Netflix.