'Big Sky' Sneak Peek: Cassie Faces the Consequences After Shooting Legarski (Exclusive)

The private detective may be forced to confront her actions in Tuesday's winter premiere.

Is Cassie about to face dire consequences?

Trouble may be brewing for the small-town private investigator in Tuesday's winter premiere of Big Skyafter she shot crooked Montana state trooper Rick Legarski (John Carroll Lynch) in the head following a tense confrontation. Now, Cassie (Kylie Bunbury) is forced to face the aftermath of her decision, whatever that may be.

The return episode picks up moments after the winter finale as the survivors of Legarski and his partner Ronald Pergman's (Brian Geraghty) foiled kidnapping plans are safe and sound. But as Cassie tries to navigate the muddled waters following her fatal decision, her blank expression says it all. Her trance is broken when Sheriff Walter Tubb (Patrick Gallagher) seeks her attention.

"There's another one out there," Cassie says in ET's exclusive sneak peek. "The girls say there were two abductors. The other one's a trucker."

"Before we get to that, what happened in there?" Sheriff Tubb asks, referring to the bloody crime scene inside.

"He had a gun, said when he counted to five he's going to shoot. He made it to four...," Cassie explains, not hiding the truth.

"And you shot him?" Sheriff Tubb confirms.

"I shot him," she says without hesitation. 

Moments later, Jenny (Katheryn Winnick) arrives on the scene and her first question is about the whereabouts of her missing estranged husband, Cody, who we know is buried six feet under. But Jenny and Cassie still remain in the dark about his true fate.

While things seem to be settled, for now, it's hard to believe there won't be larger implications for Cassie sooner rather than later. Nothing is this simple in Big Sky, after all. 

Following the stunning events of the midseason finale, Lynch spoke with ET about his character's demise at Cassie's hand.

"It was open-ended in the way you could play it and it felt like they had been building to it since they discussed her willingness to shoot or not shoot in the very first real discussion they had, once the revealing happened. This was coming," the actor said. "I really appreciate the incredible intensity of the writing of the show. It's a really great high-wire act, frankly, and I'm glad that they're using the book [C.J. Box's The Highway] so efficiently inside these stories. They're not lingering around, so I really appreciate the speed of it. It keeps the audience guessing. Anybody's fair game. Once you kill Cody Hoyt in the first episode, anybody's fair game, which creates a heightened level of drama that they're paying off in these episodes."

Lynch believed Legarski was never going to be long for this world after he killed Cody cold-blooded.

"If you shoot somebody in the head and [Legarski] was shot in the head, that's pretty clear that karma's on its way for him," he said. "He signed up for a bullet in the head and there it is."

Big Sky returns Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. For more on the series, watch the video below.

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