Ariel Winter Says ‘Modern Family’ Death Will Be an Unexpected Character

Modern Family‘s tenth season will be a big one for the long-running ABC comedy, as it was revealed ahead of the season premiere that one of the show’s major characters will die in a upcoming episode.

While that character’s identity has not yet been revealed, the show’s cast has been discussing the death, with series star Ariel Winter telling Entertainment Tonight that the death will be an unexpected one.

“It’s a character that we’ll all be sad to see go, but it’s probably not an older character that you think is going to go,” the actress revealed. “We haven’t ever really had a death on the show. It definitely impacts the family, as I think it impacts any family. You know, some people have never dealt with death or if it’s a person close to them, they’re having to deal with them because it’s a tragedy, and you follow people’s stories on how they do that and I think some people obviously take it better than others.”

“It doesn’t hit people right away and it’s gonna be an episode that’s pretty relevant to how people deal with it, and some people’s struggles with the person that passed, and I think it’s a pretty real episode,” she continued. “And we try to do everything lightheartedly and it’s a show that people can enjoy, but also incorporate some real-life occurrences.”

Modern Family co-creator Christopher Lloyd originally revealed the news to Entertainment Weekly.

“We’re handling some bigger life events in this season,” he said. “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.”

Lloyd added that the death will claim a “significant character on the series” and “will be a moving event — and an event that has repercussions across several episodes.”

In September, series star Julie Bowen said that the death will not happen during the season’s first five episodes, the fifth of which airs on Oct. 24.

“We’re finishing episode 5 — maybe starting 6 — and we haven’t killed anybody yet,” Bowen told Ralph Garman at a live taping of The Ralph Report at the Improv in Hollywood, The Hollywood Reporter reports. “It’s still just good, clean, semi-gay fun.”

Modern Family airs Wednesdays on ABC at 9 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: ABC