Joss Whedon

The long-awaited 13th episode of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, the post-apocalyptic "Epitaph One," will debut July 24 at Comic-Con, then on the season 1 DVD and Blu-ray July 28. In the issue of EW out today, we have the first look at SPOILER ALERT! Caroline (Eliza Dushku), who, having escaped for some time, is seen in the top photo entering an abandoned Dollhouse in the year 2019 with Paul (Tahmoh Penikett).

Fox had declined to air "Epitaph One," which Whedon says was designed to either close out the series or to lead into the second season (which premieres Sept. 25). "So you will find out snippets of everything and all of nothing," Whedon tells EW. "Every flashback answers something about where people are heading but brings up a lot more questions about where they end up or how they got there." (Whedon says the season 2 opener he’s writing and directing won’t pick up right where the May season 1 finale left off, with "We’ve got to find Alpha!", but a little bit later.)

Though he would’ve loved to have seen "Epitaph One" air on TV, Whedon understands Fox’s decision to save it for the DVD. "It has a very different structure and feel from what we do on Dollhouse, so it would have been ridiculously startling to have aired it the week after the season finale as just this insane coda," he says. "And it is a little bit insane, except that we sort of follow everything through to its logical conclusion. As always, it’s logical to conclude that people are terrible and will try to destroy each other."