We can all breathe a deep, deep sigh of relief: Jay Pritchett's beloved pup Stella made it through the latest episode of Modern Family [1] alive! The episode, "Good Grief," does, however, reveal the unlucky human who bids the show a permanent goodbye, so stop reading now if you haven't watched yet.
Spoilers ahead!
The news that someone would die in an upcoming episode of Modern Family [2] was first reported back in September, with co-creator Christopher Lloyd revealing that the series would be "handling some bigger life events" over the course of season 10. Within the first few minutes of the Halloween-themed episode, which aired on Wednesday night, we discovered that DeDe (recurring guest star Shelley Long), Jay's ex-wife and Claire and Mitchell's mother, was the one who passed away.
Claire finds out the news from DeDe's husband, who tells her that her mother had a heart condition that she didn't want anyone in the family to know about. Apparently DeDe died peacefully in her sleep on a trip with her women's group, and was found clutching a 10-page list of notes for the housekeeping staff (naturally). Even though DeDe hasn't been a constant presence in the show — she's popped up in just seven episodes over the years — Long's performance remains one of the ABC comedy's most memorable.
Perhaps the only thing more surprising than the fact that Modern Family [3] is still going strong 10 seasons later is that the comedy series — which is typically full of lighthearted, zany antics from the Dunphy clan [4] — killed off one of its characters. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter [5] after the episode aired, co-creator and co-showrunner Steve Levitan explained the writing room's decision.
"We gather [with the writers] at the beginning of the season and talk about the big arcs and things that we want to have happen — the milestone moments," he said. "It occurred to us that death is a giant part of the family experience and while Phil (Ty Burrell) had lost his mother in a previous episode, we've never seen the entire family have to deal with such a loss. It seemed like an interesting thing to have happen."