Spoilers ahead!
“Modern Family” killed off a “significant character,” but it’s one that fans were not expecting.
On Wednesday’s Halloween episode, titled “Good Grief,” DeDe (Shelley Long) met her end.
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She was the ex-wife of Ed O’Neill’s Jay and mother to Julie Bowen’s Claire and Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Mitch.
The death was really built up, and some fans weren’t happy with how things played out, as they expected one of the lead characters to die.
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“It was Dee Dee…boring,” one fan lamented on Twitter.
Nobody major. It was Dee Dee…boring.
— sunshineau1 (@sunshineau1) October 25, 2018
“#ModernFamily: We’re gonna kill off a MAJOR character this season. Me: Goes to look up who died after all the hype. Modern Fmaily: We killed off a character that’s been on 7 episodes of a 10 season show. Me: Let me define major character for you,” another person wrote.
#ModernFamily: We're gonna kill off a MAJOR character this season.
Me: Goes to look up who died after all the hype.
Modern Family: We killed off a character that's been on 7 episodes of a 10 season show.
Me: Let me define major character for you. pic.twitter.com/Q8yHQeaS2p— Kirsten (@KirstenAcuna) October 25, 2018
“Calling the modern family death a “major character” was false advertising. Jay or bust,” one other person wrote.
Calling the modern family death a “major character” was false advertising.
Jay or bust
— Jilaria (@jilaria2) October 25, 2018
The show’s creator Steven Levitan opened up to Entertainment Weekly about the choice to kill off DeDe.
“This seemed like the logical choice because it so directly affects three of our main characters,” he said.
“It was also just a very nice send-off to the character and to Shelley Long, so it seemed like the thing to do,” he added.
“Modern Family” airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on ABC.
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