Last month, a Modern Family death was teased by the show's co-creator Christopher Lloyd, and we all basically felt like Sarah Hyland:
Is this how actors on @GameOfThrones & @WalkingDead_AMC feel?!?! https://t.co/68AyM78ejL
To be honest, for the past few weeks I put it out of my mind — until the promo started up for this week's Halloween episode and I realized the inevitable was coming:
East coast and central, a new #ModernFamily starts in 7 mins! 👀
Like, what if it was Claire????
Well, at the beginning of the episode this week, all was quickly revealed — we found out that DeDe Pritchett (Shelley Long) died peacefully in her sleep.
The rest of the episode shows how the family reacts to the news — but THE INTERNET also had some very strong reactions:
When they said there's going to be a death on #ModernFamily I thought it was going to be a major character, not someone who's been on a few eps.
Dede was the MAJOR character that died in #ModernFamily?! Dede??? #youvechangedMF
when I think of a significant death, I always think of the person whos been in seven episodes in 10 years. #ModernFamily
That death was super obvious! #ModernFamily
But others were still very sad to see her go:
Major character or not dede episodes were the best. #modernfamily
ITS DEDE😭 #ModernFamily @ModernFam
I’m sorry but Dede was the best character on this show. #modernfamily
Major character or not, DeDe was definitely pretty unforgettable.
