'The Good Wife' Season 5 Episode 16 Spoilers: Alicia Deals With Aftermath of Will's Death [Video]

"The Good Wife" dropped a tragic bombshell on fans in one of the series' most shocking episodes yet. 

In "Dramatics, Your Honor," Will (Josh Charles) is defending Jeffery Grant, who is accused of murdering a college student. They had represented Grant's father earlier, and there is a DNA match. However, they don't know if the murderer is the father or the son. Will finds photos that show that the murder victim checked out a book from the library that Jeffery Grant had returned a few hours earlier.

The victim, Dani Littlejohn, then went swimming, which would have eliminated the DNA from the book. There is also another suspect in the case: the victim's professor. Yet, the professor says he has an alibi.

Alicia (Julianna Margulies) tells Will that the Grants called her for a second opinion, and she said no.

Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) tells Will that she's leaving because she does not want to work as an investigator anymore. Will tells her that she'll be bored if she leaves.

Meanwhile, the public integrity official wants Alicia to submit a deposition, and says that Will is going on the record. Alicia agrees to do it. Nelson Dubeck from the office of public integrity begins grilling Alicia. He asks her if Will showed her the tape showing the voting files, and she says no. He then asks if she and Will are lovers. Alicia says that she's been under scrutiny for years, and knows that an investigator is in trouble when they start asking personal questions that don't pertain to the case at hand.

He shows her several videos, saying it shows a conspiracy that Peter (Chris Noth) orchestrated to win the vote.

Back in the courtroom, Kalinda finds out that the same doctor treated Jeffrey for a strained arm, then also treated the victim, Dani, later on.

While the lawyers are arguing the courtroom, Jeffrey becomes increasingly agitated, and begins looking at the police and their guns. The scene switches to another room in the courthouse, and four shots can be heard being fired. Jeffrey is trying to kill himself, but the gun has run out of bullets. Will was shot and is injured badly. 

Diane (Christine Baranski) and Kalinda go to visit Will in the hospital later, and find out that he has died. Alicia is at dinner when she gets the call about Will, and the screen goes dark just as she picks up her cell phone.

Josh Charles spoke to TVLine about his character's shocking death, and previews an emotional Will/Alicia scene that has not yet aired. Charles said that he decided to leave the popular series to "move on to the next chapter."

"After having a long conversation with Julianna, and with [series co-creators] Robert and Michelle [King], I liked the idea of coming back and doing a finite amount of episodes," Charles explained. "It all sounded like positives for me and for the show, and that turned out to be true. Once the decision was made and we knew what we were doing, it made it very special for me because I knew going into this season that this would be my last year, that I would be doing these 15 episodes."

Before Will died, he had a nice scene outside the courtroom with Alicia, indicating that their relationship was moving in a positive direction.

"The ice definitely thawed a little bit between them, and you see that maybe they could be moving towards a new direction, a softening of this anger that's been circling around their relationship," he said. "And the sense of betrayal, you feel that soften a little bit."

He said the way Will exited the series was "powerful and strong and shocking," but that Will's death scene was especially difficult for Diane and Kalinda.

"That was very tough for both of those actresses; they had to do a lot of heavy lifting. I just had to lay there. Christine and I have become incredibly bonded over these last four and a half years, and it was a hard time for us. Tough scenes, tough grieving," he shared.

He also shared a sneak preview of next week's episode.

"Will's presence is deeply felt in [next week's episode]. And the script is extremely powerful," he teased. "The shock is in Episode 15, but Episode 16 is where you see the ripple effect of how everyone is taking the news. Reading the script was very hard for me. The scenes between Alicia and Diane... it really broke me up reading it. It was beautifully written and crafted and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

"There's a moment at the end of the episode where Alicia is dealing with her memory of the day that it happened... Let's just say that there was a phone-call moment that I had [which was] the last piece of real acting that I did on the show, and that was a very emotional moment for me. (...) This emotion came from some sort of deep place inside of me," he added. "And I had to kind of contain it somewhat. But that was when it hit me. That moment was one I will remember for a long time."

While many fans are undoubtedly upset about his character's passing, Charles said that it will "send the show in a new direction and it's going to just keep being fantastic."

Executive producers Robert and Michelle King said that next week's episode rewinds a bit, then compresses eight hours into one episode.

"The episode really puts us quite a bit in Alicia's mind," Robert King said. "There has been the accusation - and even we felt it - that sometimes Alicia feels like a character who closes herself down emotionally. And we always think of her as a passionate character, so this year we've been moving more and more into her thoughts - and Will's thoughts too, as with 'The Decision Tree.'"

They also shared that the next two episodes will reveal whether or not the two firms will come back together. 

On the next episode, "The Last Call," "Alicia searches for answers as she tries to make sense of Will's death in the aftermath of the courthouse shooting. Meanwhile, Diane delivers the somber news to the partners at Lockhart/Gardner who must decide how to move forward."

Watch the promo for "The Last Call" below, which airs Sunday, March 30 at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.