"Quantico" is about a month away before returning to TV screens, which means fans still have time to prepare themselves to bid goodbye to some of their favourite characters and say hello to new faces.

The groundbreaking TV thriller ended the first half of its rookie season with another explosion after Alex (Priyanka Chopra) and Simon (Tate Ellington) inadvertently caused the FBI's emergency headquarters to become the terrorist's second target. The midseason finale saw Elias (Rick Cosnett) admitting to framing Alex and choosing Simon for the second bombing. But while Alex, Natalie (Anabelle Acosta) and Nimah (Yasmine Al Massri) were trying to save Simon, a third bomb detonated in their command centre.

The immediate question that arose from the finale was who survived and who didn't. "Quantico" executive producer Josh Safran revealed to TV Line that "32 people are not going to make it out of that building alive," and that includes members of the FBI and the DNP hierarchy, as well as some of Alex's fellow NATS.

Chopra revealed as much to Entertainment Weekly and added that the loss "will affect Alex and her friends in a huge way."

However, that doesn't mean that viewers won't be seeing their favourite characters anymore. As Safran explained to TV Guide, having dual timelines means the show can still continue to work with those characters, even if they have already died in the future.

There might not be any news on who perished in the blast, but EW has reported on who will be joining the cast when the show returns from its hiatus. According to the site, Alex and the others will be introduced to three new NATS – Iris Chang (Li Jun Li), Drew Perales (Lenny Platt) and Will Olsen (Jay Armstrong Johnson).

The trio are reportedly a class ahead of Alex. Olsen is described as being brainy but even more socially awkward than Simon. Chang is the cool, collected and fierce one with no regard for people's feelings while Perales is the charismatic alpha of the group.

"Quantico" is set to return to ABC on March 6.