WARNING: Spoilers ahead. Do not read on if you have not watched the premiere episode of Big Sky.If you’re still picking your jaw up off the floor following that completely bonkers Big Sky (Tuesdays, 10 pET on CTV) premiere twist, you’re not alone. After all, the show completely Game of Throned viewers by the end of the dramatic first hour. And while there are a million questions out there, the big one is: what the heck happens next?

A Twist No One Saw Coming

At a virtual Big Sky screening event last week, stars Ryan Phillippe, Kylie Bunbury and Katheryn Winnick dished on all of the burning questions viewers might have following the closing minutes of the first episode. To recap, the series introduced viewers to a small town in Montana where girls (mainly prostitutes from truck stops) were going missing. The story took a turn when two sisters (played by The Goldbergs' Natalie Alyn Lind and Little Fires Everywhere's Jade Pettyjohn) were kidnapped while on their way to visit the older sister’s boyfriend. When they didn’t show up, the kid called his parents, private investigator Cody Hoyt (Phillippe), and his ex-cop ex-wife Jenny (Winnick). Along with Cody’s partner and new flame Cassie Dewell (Bunbury), they set off on a high-stakes mission to find the girls.All promos indicated this would be a race against the clock for the trio to find the sisters before another woman was taken. However, when Cody met up with highway patrolman Rick Legarski (John Carroll Lynch), a community man with ties to a local church group that Cody suspected may be involved with the disappearances, things went in a completed unexpected direction. As Rick climbed into Cody’s truck to take him to the church building in the middle of the night, he explained the politics of the situation to the out-of-town investigator. Just as Cody agreed to let Rick take the lead, Rick turned to Cody and said, “One more thing” before shooting him in the head point-blank. The episode closed with Cody’s brains on the side of the window, and Rick phoning up the kidnapper to tell him that he’d gotten sloppy.[video_embed id='2078944']WATCH: Ryan Phillippe dishes on his brand new thriller series, ‘Big Sky’ [/video_embed]For anyone wondering, Phillippe confirmed that his character is 100 per cent dead. “I was shocked. Certainly. And I think that's also what made me so excited about it,” Phillippe said. “So often in entertainment, you can see what's coming a mile away. And to have moments in a series like this, where it kind of takes your breath away, or you're absolutely shocked and didn't see it? I mean, that's exciting to be a part of.”

What Comes Next?

Winnick and Bunbury were just as shocked when they found out what was going to go down in that first episode. “When we read it, we said, ‘Whoa… Ryan's fans are gonna be pretty pissed,’” Bunbury said. “It’s a real opening for [the series], showing that they want to go for a little bit more of an edgy feel, or a more cable feel. I think we gave that to them. Episode one.”According to the cast, this is not the last viewers will see or hear about Det. Cody thanks to the power of flashbacks. But having the character die in the very first episode puts the focus on the series’ two female leads, who spent most of the premiere fighting over the guy (including in a hardcore physical altercation at a bar). That kind of female-centric storyline is what hooked Winnick and Bunbury in the first place, especially considering the similarities to executive producer David E. Kelley's most recent female-driven project: Big Little Lies (now streaming on Crave) starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep.“The show is really about two strong women in their own right, completely independent and strong and vulnerable and each have their own path,” Winnick, who wasn’t looking to do a new show coming off Vikings, explained. “And somehow they're coming together under these crazy circumstances.”[video_embed id='2076873']MORE FROM TV: An iconic character returns to Grey's Anatomy [/video_embed]

Setting the Scene for the Rest of the Season

Winnick added that she feels it’s important for girls to have role models to look up to, especially female role models who aren’t perfect. (“Even if they’re broken and undone and not perfect and vulnerable and strong and crazy and emotional.”) Her major hope with the episodes to come is that everyone finds a character they can see themselves in. Bunbury, meanwhile, revealed the show will continue tackling tough subjects like toxic masculinity, sex trafficking, and race, and her hope is that it makes people talk more about those taboo issues.“I hope it fosters conversation,” she said. “We don’t shy away from the sex trafficking component. We don't shy away from my Blackness in the show… even though this is an interesting and unique show that has strange themes, we're discussing real things. So I hope it breeds conversation between people and escapism, and that people feel things.”It’s safe to say that Phillippe fans are feeling all the things right about now with that premiere. But he added that he’s happy to be a part of the project, especially with the female-centric view that it takes going forward. He pointed out that he himself grew up with three sisters and was raised by women, so Big Sky definitely landed in his personal comfort zone.“I'm very down for seeing a show that celebrates the strength of what it is to be a woman and everything that comes along with that,” he wrapped. “I think that's a cool thing. And now I get to be a fan. I just get to guess along with the rest of you, like, what exactly is going to come next. And I get to be excited about each and every episode. And that's the experience I hope the audience has as well.”Stream the Big Sky premiere on CTV.ca and the CTV app and watch weekly on Tuesdays at 10 pET on CTV.[video_embed id='2049925']BEFORE YOU GO: 'Horse girl' from Alberta can gallop and jump just like a horse [/video_embed]