Thomas Dekker (aka John Connor) recently did an interview with Sci Fi Wire and dropped some hints about what’s coming next in the second half of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which returns to the airwaves on February 13 in its new Friday timeslot, alongside Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. Among some of the more interesting things Dekker revealed was the fact that John Connor will, in fact, be meeting his father Kyle Reese at one point (perhaps even the first episode back, if the previews are any indication), and remember the bloody scene with Riley in the bathroom at the end of the last episode? According to Dekker, that may not be Riley’s doing.

Some of the highlights from the SciFiWire interview:

Dekker … reveals, among other things, that his not-everything-she-seems girlfriend Riley (Leven Rambin) may not have killed herself, as it appeared in the last episode of last year.

“She did not die from slitting her wrists,” Dekker said, confirming what co-star Garret Dillahunt had leaked earlier. “I will say that much. But I can’t say what happens—Garret’s a trickster, so I wouldn’t believe much that he said.”

But she may not be the last character to take the big dirt nap as the season winds up, Dekker added. “They said at Comic-Con that one of the major characters would die this season, and I think everyone thought it was Garret’s character [killer cyborg Cromartie] … His character did die, but then … he’s back [as a new cyborg, so] maybe he’s not the one who dies. I can’t really say who. It’s so cryptic. Somebody still has to die. … Yes, there’s still a major death. I think.”

And Dekker saved the biggest spoiler for last.

John will encounter his real father, the ill-fated Kyle Reese, played by Jonathan Jackson, at some point.

You can read the rest of the interview at Sci Fi Wire. Dekker talks about his character’s evolution, his relationship to his mother Sarah, and how John Connor is finally rounding out into the futuristic rebel leader that we know and love.

And best of all? According to Dekker, the writers won’t be doing anymore Terminator-of-the-Week episodes that the network had forced upon them in the first half of the season. The final nine episodes, says Dekker, will be more serialized, similar to the first year.