Suits stars Katherine Heigl, Dulé Hill on the outcome of the summer finale

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the season 8 summer finale of Suits, which aired Wednesday night. Read at your own risk.

Zane Specter Litt is changing its name yet again!

In the Suits midseason finale, Alex (Dulé Hill) and Samantha (Katherine Heigl) went head to head on a case to determine whose name would go up on the wall next. Through some shady means, Alex managed to gain the upper hand and checkmate Samantha. Refusing to accept defeat, however, Samantha asked Robert (Wendell Pierce) to simply declare her the winner because he owed her. Seeing that this conflict threatened to tear the firm apart, Donna (Sarah Rafferty) pushed Louis (Rick Hoffman) to take over as managing partner, since neither Harvey (Gabriel Macht) nor Robert could help them solve the problem. And Louis (Rick Hoffman) somewhat reluctantly stepped up and made both Alex and Samantha named partners. (For a glimpse of what’s next, watch an exclusive teaser for Suits season 8.5 above.)

If you didn’t see this outcome coming, you’re not alone. Both Heigl and Hill were surprised when they found out their final battle would end in a tie.

“I didn’t really know how they were going to work it out at the end,” Hill tells EW. “When Samantha came in, I could tell she was a very formidable opponent to Alex, and I really could see it going either way. Alex had Harvey’s backing, but Samantha had the backing of Zane, and I had no idea which way it was going to go.”

He continues, “Another reason I didn’t see it coming was because earlier in the season, a few episodes back, Alex and Samantha had a scene where they said, ‘You want to do it together?’ and I think either myself or Katherine’s character said, ‘absolutely not,’ and then [the other] said, ‘me neither.’ So I just kind of assumed that just would never be on the table, but there you go. They snuck that around us.”

Heigl was somewhat disappointed on Samantha’s behalf. “I really wanted her to win,” she says. “It’s like a participation award. Not the same. But I think it’s the best outcome for the team, for everyone to be able to work together and feel valued.”

Even though this conflict has been resolved, both Hill and Heigl suspect that things aren’t settled between the two lawyers because Alex cheated to win: He had Katrina (Amanda Schull) essentially impersonate Samantha in order to acquire incriminating documents.

“The way that Alex won wasn’t necessarily fair and square,” says Hill. “I have a feeling that, in normal Suits fashion, it’s not going to go away that easily. We’ll see it resurrected somewhere along the way in some shape or fashion.”

Adds Heigl, “I think there’s definitely going to be some residual tensions because she’s going to want to know that he pulled this off, and she knows it’s shady. I think it will, to some degree, come to a head when she figures it out.”

Looking ahead at the rest of the season, Heigl offers a few teases. “It’s safe to say we’re going to see a little more of Donna’s personal life,” she says. “For Samantha, I think right now she’s just kind of settling into her role as a named partner and what that means. Again, I’m curious to see what that means for her — how she’s going to behave, how is she going to respond, what kind of power does that give her with Harvey, especially? I’m really interested to see what that means for her relationship with Harvey.”

Suits will return in 2019 on USA Network.