So, Check Out These 'Good Wife' Theories

By now you've probably heard: Will Gardner bit the dust on last night's shocking installment of The Good Wife. You've probably also heard that Josh Charles, the actor who played Will Gardner, wanted to leave the show to pursue other creative opportunities. In a letter to the fans posted in the wee hours of the morning, The Good Wife creators Michelle and Robert King admitted that Will's exit from the show had been planned for a long, long time. (They're such good secret keepers.)

But as a diehard The Good Wife stan and shipper of all things Will Gardner and Alicia Florrick, I'm experiencing a teensy-weensy bit of denial right now. Like, "Nope, this can't be true. Will and Alicia are meant to be together. It WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END LIKE THIS!!!" denial. Maybe you are, too! Oh, how I will miss the adorable, handsome, and endlessly charming Josh Charles on my television screen every Sunday night. But maybe, just maybe there's another way. Maybe Will doesn't have to die after all! If the reality of Will's death is just a little too much for you to handle right now, try these ridiculous (but fun... and maybe totally possible!) theories on for size:

Will Staged His Own Death

Last night, it was clear: Will was going to lose the Jeffery Grant case. Every piece of evidence Will found supporting Grant's innocence was swiftly blocked and stomped out by the prosecution. What if Grant, realizing that he was going to lose the case and probably spend the rest of his life in prison, made a secret deal with Will? What if Grant and Will STAGED the courtroom shooting as a way for Grant to escape jail time and for Will to fake his own death?

This way, Will could drop off the grid and assume a new identity. He could finally pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a minor league baseball player! (I have no idea if Will actually wanted to become a minor league baseball player, but he WAS playing with that baseball in his office an awful lot... and the major leagues just seem like a stretch. I mean, c'mon.) It's not probable but it is POSSIBLE — and that's all I'm really going for here! Maybe Will hired an expert make-up artist to make him look dead to Kalinda and Diane Lockhart in the emergency room? Maybe he had been practicing holding his breath for months? Help me out here.

Kalinda Saves the Day!

Everyone knows that there really isn't anything Kalinda can't do. She's kind of a superhero — she's smart, she's beautiful, she's interested in justice, and she knows everybody. I mean everybody. What if in the next episode, Kalinda, using her super-secret private investigator connections, reaches out across the networks and contacts Agent Chuck Coulson from ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Coulson could give Kalinda S.H.I.E.L.D.'s magical alien serum, you know, the one that was somehow able to bring him back from the dead, and she could use it on Will! Voila: Lockhart/Gardner is saved! Of course, Kalinda would have to figure out a way to implant some false memories in Will's brain to explain the time he spent... dead, but I'm assuming Coulson could walk her through all of that. How hard could it be?

Diane Turns Back Time

Diane is a well-known, successful, high-powered attorney in the city of Chicago. Is it unrealistic to assume that she may have some contacts in the literary world? Let's just say that Diane has British author J.K. Rowling in her iPhone. (I don't know, could happen.) In the next episode, Diane calls up Rowling and after some small talk about the weather and a few brief but heated words about Ron and Hermione's relationship, Rowling reveals that the infamous Time-Turner from the world of Harry Potter is real. Mind = blown. Diane borrows the Time-Turner from Rowling, goes back to a time just before the courtroom shooting, and stops Grant before he has the chance to make a move (after all, she was just in the room next door). Just like that, Will's saved and Diane's a hero! She no longer has to try and stop a tidal wave of vicious lawyer vultures from trying to take over her firm AND Will and Alicia can finally be together forever like I've always planned! It's what the French call a "win-win" situation.

Okay, so these theories are pretty insane. I guess they're just the rantings and ravings of a true fan who was not quite ready to see Will Gardner go. I know there are many of you out there like me — perhaps you will be able to take comfort in this ridiculousness. Maybe in some far-off, alternate universe, Alicia finally escaped her husband Peter's evil clutches and is hanging out with Will on the beach right now. They're both drinking mimosas and throwing their heads back, cackling like Diane and remembering the good times — the times when they used to indulge in totally inappropriate office sex. Ah, the good ol' days. I guess that's all us Good Wife fans have now.

Image: CBS