Every Hint the 'Modern Family' Cast and Crew Has Given About Killing off a Character

Series Co-Creator Christopher Lloyd

The whole thing started when Modern Family co-creator Christopher Lloyd revealed in an interview that the writers and producers planned to kill off a "significant" character.

"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," he stated. "But at the same time, it would seem unusual for a family not to go through it."

Lloyd went on to say that the death would claim a "significant character on the series" and that it "will be a moving event — and an event that has repercussions across several episodes."

Sarah Hyland

One of the first Modern Family cast members to respond to the death news was Sarah Hyland, who plays Haley Dunphy on the show.

During a red carpet interview, Hyland was asked if she knows the identity of the character who will be killed, to which she replied that she did not.

.@Sarah_Hyland on who will die on #ModernFamily, "If the dog dies, I leave." pic.twitter.com/P45s8bg6rm

— Variety (@Variety) September 16, 2018

"I hope it's not the dog," she said. "Fans of the show, if the dog dies, I leave."

Julie Bowen

Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy) didn't so much drop a hint, as she did let fans know that the death definitely does not happen in the first part of the new season.

"We're finishing episode 5 — maybe starting 6 — and we haven't killed anybody yet," Bowen said in recent interview. "It's still just good, clean, semi-gay fun."

So at least fans have an small idea of how long they will have to wait for the surprise.

Sofia Vergara

During an interview with Ellen DeGeneres and the Modern Family cast, Sophia Vergara — who plays Gloria Delgado–Pritchett — opened up about her feelings on the highly-secretive death.

"I didn't get nervous when I heard somebody was…if I had heard somebody was going to get deported, than I would. It would either be Rico or me, I think Rico would go first," the actress quipped.

Eric Stonestreet

While he technically didn't drop a "hint," Modern Family actor Eric Stonestreet did make reference to the impending death during the Ellen show interview.

Stonestreet — who plays Cameron Tucker on the show — joked that it could be husband Mitchell Pritchett — played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson — who would be shuffled "off this mortal coil."

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

While Vergara and Stonestreet made jokes, the rest of the cast stayed fairly quiet on the topic of the death during their appearance on Ellen.

Ferguson seemed to speak for everyone when he said, "we can't say anything."

Who Could It Be?

There is really no telling who could be the "significant" Modern Family character to be killed off, and the cast and crew are clearly playing coy about it.

In a past article, we here at PopCulture.com speculated on who it might be, citing some characters we feel are significant but not necessarily who you might immediately think of when discussing the show.

When Will We Find Out?

Based on Bowen's answer, we know that the death does not happen in the first five or six episodes, so that means it probably doesn't come anytime before Halloween.

The most likely scenarios seem to be that the death may come during the fall/winter finale and then the storyline will pick back up during the spring premiere. This would give the series a cliffhanger to come back from.

It seems unlikely that fans would have to wait on pins and needles until the season finale, since Lloyd explained that it would be "an event that has repercussions across several episodes," but that could happen.

Modern Family airs its season 10 premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 26 on ABC.