‘Modern Family’ Is Supposed To Kill Off A Character In What Sounds Like The Show’s Final Season

As Modern Family goes into its 10th and, reportedly, final season, there is apparently at least one significant change on the way, and not one that is likely to please the show’s die hard fans. It seems that one of the main chacters is going to die, and while the assumption is that character will be Ed O’Neill‘s Jay Pritchett, that could also be viewed as the safe way to go. 

Executive producer Christopher Lloyd tells EW.com. “We’re handling some bigger life events in this season. We do deal with a death, which is certainly a topic that families have to deal with, and on television, it’s not easy to do because that’s a heavy subject. But at the same time, it would seem unusual for a family not to go through it.” He adds that the character, whoever it is, is a “significant” one and the death will have an impact that ripples across a number of episodes. 

It seems that cast members themselves don’t have any clue as to who the grim reaper is going to visit. “We’re finishing episode five — maybe starting six — and we haven’t killed anybody yet,” Julie Bowen, according to The Hollywood Reporter,  told Ralph Garman on Saturday at a live taping of The Ralph Report at the Improv in Hollywood. “It’s still just good, clean, semi-gay fun.”

Julie, of course, is Claire Dunphy, wife of Phil (Ty Burrell) and mother to Hayley (Sarah Hyland), Alex (Ariel Winter), and Luke (Nolan Gould). “It’s me,” she abruptly joked, before adding, “I have no idea who’s dying. I have no idea!”

In the same interview, she was asked to confirm that this season will the show’s last one. “We’re all under contract. We’re done. We finish up now,” she said. “So if somebody bursts through the door with handfuls of cash and is like, ‘You’re going again!’ we’d all say yes, but so far it has not happened.”

Modern Family, which debuted in 2009, is set around nuclear, step and same-sex families, all living in LA. The 10th season makes its debut on Sept. 26 on ABC.