- "You protect me. I protect you."
Nathaniel "Nate" Lahey, Jr. is one of the main characters of How to Get Away with Murder. He is a tough, respected Philadelphia detective who works tirelessly to uphold the law. He was the boyfriend of Annalise Keating for a while and had an affair with her. He contributed to the murder of Sam Keating by sending Rebecca Sutter to search for proof that Sam killed Lila Stangard. Nate murdered Ronald Miller due to his suspicions that he ordered the hit on his father, Nathaniel Lahey, Sr.. He later filed a wrongful death law suit with the help of Tegan Price and learned from one of the guards involved in the conspiracy that Xavier Castillo ordered his father's murder. Towards the end of the series he was able to capture Xavier with the help of Frank Delfino and get a full confession out of him, including the fact that Lynne Birkhead was the main conspirator in Nate Sr's death. Nate then killed Xavier in an effort to make it look like the governor killed him and get Jorge Castillo to testify against her. Nate Lahey is one of the few characters that truly got away with murder.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
For twelve years, Nate worked for the city of Philadelphia as a detective. At some point, his wife was diagnosed with cancer. ("Pilot")
Season 1[]
Nate is forced to lie to the court. ("Pilot") |
After coming up with an idea that could be useful in Gina Sadowski's trial, Wes Gibbins hurries over to Professor Annalise Keating's office, where he finds her getting ready to have sex with Nate Lahey. The detective tells Wes to get out. Annalise leaves the room to meet Wes in the hall; Wes presents his idea, but is told that it's not good enough. A couple days later, Nate is called to the court as a witness. Annalise asks where he was the night Detective Gill supposedly acquired the video that incriminates Gina. Nate states that he was "at a friend's." Annalise finds it odd that it took so long for evidence to get logged into the computer, but Nate tells her that sometimes that's what happens. Annalise asks if Nate has ever known them to alter video footage to help the prosecution get a conviction. He states that he has, thus winning Gina's case.
(...)
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
In July a couple of months later, Annalise Keating and Nate are having a BBQ at the Keating House. Asher Millstone shows up for Annalise's help and asks for a loan as his mother cut him off after his father's death. She laughs at him and tells him to get a job. A couple of months later, it's September and Nate and Annalise are giving each other massages. Annalise tells him about the flyers calling her a killer at the university. He tells her that it harassment and cautions her that the individual responsible may be unstable. When its Annalise's turn to give Nate a message, she glances at her jewelry box. Sometime later, Annalise comes home from work and goes straight to her room. Nate follows soon after noticing a creek in the stair on his way up. He lets himself into her room where she quickly hides a phone in her draw before he notices it. He informs her of the creaky stair and offers to fix it. ("We're Good People Now")
Nate and Annalise are kissing in bed. Nate then goes to take a shower. After getting a little wet, he comes out and tells Annalise that she's joining him. Sometime later, Annalise arrives at his apartment. When inside, Annalise asks him for his help in finding Frank as she is worried that he'll come back to Philadelphia and do something to hurt her. He agrees to help her. While at work, Nate discovers that Frank has been checking his voicemails in Wichita, Kansas and calls Annalise and meets her in his car to tell her the news. She finds comfort that he's far away from her which puts her mind at ease. She then kisses Nate and leaves to return to her client at the clinic. Sometime later, Nate calls Annalise for another update on Frank. He tells her that Frank was never at Wichita, Kansas: that his IP address was faked, making his location appear somewhere where he isn't. Nate tells Annalise that Frank could be anywhere, even Philadelphia. He then tells her that he'll stay with her that night to keep her safe. ("There Are Worse Things Than Murder")
Nate spends more and more time at Annalise's house. One morning, he makes her a healthy smoothie which she forces herself to drink despite her clearly disliking it. Though once she gets to work, she throws it away. Sometime later, Annalise has a client who has done some ethically and morally compromised decisions. Once coming home from a workout all sweaty, Bonnie, Michaela and Oliver arrive with information regarding their client, Toby Solomon. Oliver is instantly distracted by Nate's sweaty body so he excuses himself as he recognises himself a distraction. Later when in bed, Annalise struggles to sleep. Nate asks her what's wrong and she comes clean. Toby has murdered a girl years ago and the girl's parents are still looking for her. Annalise wants to come clean but is scared of the fallback from her breaking attorney-client privilege. Nate then helps her come up with a plan to use someone from Toby's past, a criminal to pin the crime on in order to give the family of the girl some closure. After court, Annalise and her clinic are branded heroes after solving the case with the missing girl. ("Always Bet Black")
After Annalise arrives home inebriated, Nate helps her to her bed after struggling to get through her front door without falling over. The following day after Annalise gets her license to practice law suspended, she tells Nate in her car. Nate laughs and compliments her on her technique as she shows him the video of her slapping her client. Later, Nate catches Renee Atwood in the parking lot and questions her about whether it was her who sent in the video of Annalise. Renee acts clueless and questions who no one in her office has asked told her. Nate later arrives home and notices that Eve Rothlo is there. The two embraces and Eve tells Nate that she was in town on business when she heard about Annalise's predicament. Nate informs Annalise that he doesn't think that Atwood was the one responsible. The following day, Annalise discovers the real culprit behind the video and goes to the university to confront the school board. After getting fired, Annalise drinks in her kitchen when Nate comes home from work early. Nate asks her whether she is sleeping with Eve. Annalise becomes defensive which results in a nasty fight between the two, causing Nate to call Annalise a cancer and telling her to get help. Later, Nate meets up with Atwood and the two have sex. ("Don't Tell Annalise")
While in bed with Renee Atwood some days later, when he receives a voicemail message from Annalise who was drunk when she made it. He listens to it. She tells him that he is lucky that he ended things with her and that he should thank her. Nate puts his phone down when Renee comes back into the bedroom and lies to her, telling her that it was just family drama. Renee wants to make things more public however Nate wants to keep what they've got between themselves for the time being. The conversation moves to Annalise coincidently where Renee mentions that Annalise is calling herself an alcoholic which will most likely get her her job back knowing Annalise she says. Later, after hearing that Wes is wanted for questioning by the NYPD, he tracks down Annalise. He finds her in a parking lot outside the court and tells her to get in his patrol car. Once inside, he asks whether she's hiding him and by her lack of response, he takes that as a yes. He then tells her that it was an anonymous tip which put Wes onto the cop's radar. He then comes clean about sleeping with Renee. Annalise accepts it and leaves, thanking him for telling her. ("It's About Frank", "Is Someone Really Dead?")
At the courthouse sometime later, Nate bumps into Wes. Nate informs Wes that he was there for a meeting with the D.A. Nate asks him how it went with the NYPD. Wes tells him that his lawyer, Vince Levin took care of it meaning now he isn't a suspect. Nate then asks about Annalise and tells Wes to watch his back with her. Later in the parking lot, Laurel catches Nate leaving work. She comments on his new job, working for the D.A.. He assumes that she's there on behalf of Annalise but she says that she isn't. She says that she's there for Wes. He agrees to help. He is tasked with calling in an anonymous tip to the prison where Charles Mahoney is being held at claiming that Charles is holding a mobile phone in his cell. The following day, Nate calls in the tip. ("Call It Mother's Intuition", "No More Blood")
Season 4[]
After Annalise managed to get her class action lawsuit reinstated and sent to the Supreme Court, Nate visits the prison where he informs his dad and that there may still be a chance that he might just get out of there. Nate's father becomes emotional when he tells him the good news. The following day, Nate makes the trip to Washington DC where he visits Annalise at her hotel room where he is greeted by Olivia Pope and Annalise's parents, Ophelia and Mac Harkness. Olivia worries the court will use the fact that their face case is Annalise’s ex-boyfriend's father to crucify her and use it to dismiss the lawsuit. Later, while getting ready for the Supreme Court, Nate is prepping his dad on the stress of the courtroom and helping him shave to better his appearance. They then wait in the courtroom for Annalise to arrive. After she does, she presents the justices her case that her plaintiffs of the case are all examples of victims of being given poor representation from their public defenders. Although, Justice Strickland, especially gives Annalise a hard time and the opposing attorney, Ingrid Egan argues that the money which Annalise is proposing be given to the public defenders could be going to other, more important places such as schools. Following court, Annalise answers a few questions and thanks Nate's father for his involvement in the case. ("Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania")
Following Simon Drake waking up from his coma, Bonnie has Nate go to the hospital to see what information he can gather about Simon's conditions. Later, Nate calls Annalise to inform her that Simon remembers that Laurel was at the party that night and is prepared to give a statement to the detectives. Annalise then uses this information to inform Laurel to hide from the police so that she can deal with it. In the end, Annalise manages to convince Simon to stay quiet about Laurel in exchange for their assistance with getting him a whistleblower visa. Later that night, there's an accident; someone from the District Attorney's Office is dead. He calls Annalise to inform her that someone is dead and they think that it could be Bonnie. Nate then meets Annalise at the parking garage where they discuss who the victim could be. Bonnie comes up from behind them to tell them that it was D.A. Todd Denver who died. ("The Day Before He Died", "Nobody Else Is Dying")
Nate reading the files Denver had on Annalise's associates. ("Nobody Else Is Dying") |
After District Attorney Todd Denver's death, he digs into some of Denver's old cases in the database. He finds a suspicious looking case which was signed as open and Nate investigates it. Once he gets to the evidence lockers, he tells the police that they’re looking into old cases to find people with grudges against Denver and goes to an old evidence locker. There is something in the locker, despite the case being supposedly closed for decades. Files on every one of Annalise's associates along with Dominick's phone and the hard drive. Once he returns to the Easton Hotel, he falsely informs Annalise that Denver didn't have anything on them and that he was just bluffing. He hands over the hard drive so that Oliver could hack into it and find illegal evidence against Antares Technologies. Later, after the news was out that Jorge Castillo had been arrested on multiple crimes and that the justices had ruled in Annalise's favor for her class action lawsuit, he called her and was surprised that her phone wasn't "blowing up" with phone calls. Later in his office, he removes the files which he obtained from Denver's locker on Annalise's associates and reads Bonnie's. One of the pages which he stops on is the one with a DNA test which suggests that her child may be alive. ("Nobody Else Is Dying")
Season 5[]
Season 6[]
Murders Committed[]
- Nia Lahey: Due to his wife's illness, Nia had been wanting to end her life for some time, initially asking Annalise Keating for help before she refused. Nate stepped in and acquired the drugs which she took, killing her. Due to how ill she was, the death wasn't classed as suspicious and was ruled a natural death due to natural circumstances. ("Two Birds, One Millstone")
- Ronald Miller: Falsely accused him of killing his father, Nathaniel Lahey, Sr. and beat Ronald so brutally that Bonnie had to suffocate him. DA Miller tried to stop Nate Sr's murder from happening by moving up his transfer time.
- Xavier Castillo: Neck snapped in revenge for the murder of his father.
Trivia[]
- On the ABC website Nate is described as "a tough, respected Philadelphia detective who works tirelessly to uphold the law. There's only one person that can get in the way of that... Annalise Keating. Assertive and sharp, Nate doesn't allow people to play games with him. As a result, Nate is one of the only people Annalise can really be herself around. But that doesn't mean they're entirely honest with each other..."[1]
- Nate is left-handed. ("He's a Bad Father")
- Nate is a registered independent. ("Family Sucks")
Appearances[]
"Mama's Here Now" | "The Night Lila Died" | "It's All My Fault" |
"Something Bad Happened" | "There's My Baby" | "Anna Mae" |
"It's War" | "He Made a Terrible Mistake" | "Wes" |
"Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" | "The Day Before He Died" | "Nobody Else Is Dying" |
"Where Are Your Parents?" | "Make Me the Enemy" | "Please Say No One Else Is Dead" |
"What If Sam Wasn't the Bad Guy This Whole Time?" | "Annalise Keating Is Dead" | "Stay" |
Gallery[]
- Main article: Nate Lahey/Gallery
Promotional Photos[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Season 4[]
Season 6[]
References[]
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