We've just had the news that it's being renewed for a third season but now Timothy Granaderos has opened up about the rape scene in the second season of 13 Reasons Why and the backlash he's faced.
Granaderos, 31, plays the aggressive bully Montgomery de la Cruz in Netflix's American teen drama, a character who stayed on the sidelines for most of the first season, but shocked viewers by becoming one of the main antagonists of the second.
It must be very tricky indeed to film a scene like Granaderos did and now the actor has lifted the lid on how he is dealing with scores of fans despising his character.
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Granaderos knew right away that Monty was the person who was behind all of the life-threatening notes and objects that various characters were sent in Season 2.
However, he didn't know that his character would end the season by forcibly penetrating school outcast Tyler Down with the handle of a mop.
Once he was told about the graphic rape scene, Granaderos told Elite Daily how he got into the mindset to act that out, saying: "Our executive producer Brian Yorkey approached me around Episode 7 or 8 and asked me if this was something I felt comfortable with, and it was more of a conversation and less of a, like, 'This is what happens to Monty.'
"Once I started preparing for it, I did research on similar scenarios and really just tried to get in the mind of someone who would do something like that.
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"I discovered that Monty was in pain... his actions are from a place of pain. And although it doesn't seem like it and it doesn't justify what he does, he's hurting too and he just doesn't know how to deal with it."
The mop scene came with a huge amount of controversy with viewers arguing that the scene was unnecessarily graphic and potentially triggering to rape survivors and the show was under pressure to be cancelled but playwright Brian Yorkey defended the scene's inclusion.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Yorkey said in their research, he and the writers found numerous 'upsettingly similar stories of male high school athletes violating weaker kids with mob handles or pool cues', and decided the story was worth telling even though it would be difficult to watch.
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Timothy Granaderos agreed with the inclusion saying: "I can understand how people are disturbed by [the scene], but in the most sincere way, I hoped that they would feel that way, because this is based on real events; this does happen.
"People don't talk about it, and unless we show you, you might just sweep it under the rug. Our goal is to bring to light issues that might not be talked about, and if we don't show you the real thing ... the conversation might not get started."
There are many charities across the world that help victims of rape and sexual assault.
Rape Crisis England And Wales: 0808 802 9999
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Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network: 800.656.HOPE (4673)
Featured Image Credit: 13 Reasons Why/NetflixTopics: TV and Film, News, Sexual Assault