Is Detective Colin Zabel really dead in Mare of Easttown?

18 May 2021, 10:27 | Updated: 25 May 2021, 11:41

Evan Peters as Colin Zabel in Mare of Easttown. Picture: HBO

Fans are worried that Evan Peters' character is dead.

Starring Kate Winslet, HBO's new detective drama Mare of Easttown has really started to heat up - with episode 5 of the series ending on a huge cliffhanger.

Not only did Mare and Zabel track down the guy who kidnapped two local girls, they got caught up in gunfire and there was a helluva lot of blood!

The pulse-racing scenes that followed saw a gunless Mare trying to escape the suspect, before police finally arrived at the scene to offer some assistance.

But was it too late for our favourite co-investigator Zabel? Here's what we know about the fate of Evan Peters' character...

Mare of Easttown Episode 6 Trailer

What happened in episode 5 of Mare of Easttown?

To be honest, what didn't happen??

First Betty Carol, the woman who called Mare about a prowler at the start of the show, has a heart attack and crashes into a pylon - causing a town-wide blackout. At her funeral it is also revealed that Mare's mum had an affair with Betty's husband.

Mare then makes some breakthrough during her therapy session, in which she talks about her father's suicide and her fear that her grandson Drew may "inherit" the gene, given her son Kevin also took his own life.

One of the more shocking revelations episode five served up was that Billy Ross allowed murdered teen Erin to stay in his basement. Not only does this raise suspicions that he is in fact her baby's real father, it also suggests that he may have been responsible for her death.

Dylan and Brianna then talk about the events that have happened since the woods. Brianna says she might enrol at the local beauty school, seeing as her arrest has shot her chances of going to college. She then questions Dylan on his whereabouts the night Erin was murdered - resulting in him flipping out and telling her he never wants to see her again. Ouch.

It is later revealed that Erin's best friend Jess lied to Mare about her pal's diaries, as she is seen burning them with Dylan to cover something up - she does, however, sneak what appears to be a photo into her pocket.

Mare then goes on a date with Colin Zabel, though it's clear from the offset that her intentions are to get closer to the case, now she's been suspended. She brushes off his advances and says he wouldn't want to get involved with her complicated life. He later kisses her telling her: "How do you know what I want?"

In another plot twist, Deacon Mark admits to being with Erin the night she was murdered. He tells Mare's cousin that he picked her up from the woods after she called him, distraught. He placed her bike in his boot, before driving her to the spot where Mare and Zabel believe she was killed - though the Deacon vows he had nothing to do with her death. Scared of how it may look, he says he got rid of her bike and didn't tell the police he was with her.

After interviewing several young girls in the area, Mare and Zabel finally get a lead on a blue vehicle. They trace it to a dodgy-looking bar - the one where the girls are being held captive. They start quizzing the man, before asking him to turn his music off. It is then that the girls manage to alert the detectives of their presence, as they bang on the pipes.

The man, however, is armed. And while Zabel draws his gun, Mare's has been revoked because of her suspension. Zabel is shot at and immediately hits the floor, before Mare desperately tries to flee and dodge bullets. Her wrist has been wounded, though, and she loses a lot of blood.

In a pulse-racing scene, the man chases her around the property, before she manages to shoot and kill him. The police arrive just as Mare has killed the suspect.

Mare of Easttown fans think Colin Zabel is dead. Picture: HBO

Is Detective Colin Zabel dead?

As much as we'd like for Zabel to still be alive, he was indeed killed in episode five.

Actor Even Peters said to EW: "We played with time a little bit there and slowed it down. But Colin is not a quick draw. That is for sure. He is not a quick draw. Poor Zabes."

Revealing that he knew his character's time on the show was limited, Peters told the New York Times: “I was excited by the idea that that would happen, to craft this whole character and formulate this whole plot so it’s almost like we did it for that moment.

“It’s this interesting way to develop a character, knowing that he’s going to die in such a way.”

It was then confirmed in episode six of the show, with Chief Carter giving a press conference about the rescued girls and Zabel's death.

Mare then also went to visit Colin's mother, but was met with an icy reception when she got there. It's clear that Mare is going to struggle to come to terms with her partner's death.