We all know and love Emily Thorne for her ability to manipulate people and serve up some revenge, but in the second season of ABC’s Sunday drama, creator Mike Kelley hints that we’ll see a softer side of Emily.

At the end of last season, Emily learned that her mother was alive, and Victoria had been keeping that a secret. In her early years, Emily (formerly Amanda Clarke), was never able to spend much time with her mother considering the fact that Mrs. Clarke was locked up in a mental hospital.

But exactly why she was there, we don’t know yet.

So now Emily has even more reason to focus her revenge on Victoria Grayson. She believes Victoria had something to do with where Mrs. Clarke ended up after she supposedly died.

And since Emily now knows she might have family out there alive, it’s affecting her in a way we haven’t seen before. Now she might have someone living to fight for.

“Emily is going to be changing a lot with the introduction of her mother. She’ll become a little more of a revenging angel, a vigilante in a lot of ways, not just focused on herself,” says creator Mike Kelley in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“We need to do that or otherwise she becomes not as fun to watch,” he adds. “But you want to see her evolve and you want to see her try and connect in some way to her mother.”

We have no idea how Emily is going to react to her mother, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, or how Emily’s mother is going to react to her. She’s expected to be a little out of her mind.

And as we’ve questioned before, how does the introduction of Emily’s mother affect the exchanged identities of Emily Thorne and Amanda Clarke? How will Emily react if she has to see her mother create a loving relationship with the fake Amanda? Or will Emily let her in on the whole thing?

But then we have to ask: Can she trust her own mother? She hasn’t seen her in decades.

Of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s casting, Kelley says:

“I actually had a plan that really fit what she does so well for the character. Her representation contacted us after Emily’s mother was announced in the end of the season. Turns out she was a fan of the show. I didn’t know if any of it was really going to happen at the time, but she became a template while I was thinking about the character during the hiatus. It’s one of those cases of things lining up perfectly.”

Always the tease, Kelley hints at another high-stakes finale.

“We’ll get a little bit of freedom [later in the season],” he tells THR. “Which I really wanted, because I know what the season finale is this year.”

How do you think the introduction of Emily’s mother will affect the show?