'A Million Little Things' Kills off Major Character in Series Finale

A Million Little Things had its series finale this week, and keeping on par with the entire run of the show, it was pretty emotional. As expected, James Roday Rodriguez's Gary had died after going the assisted suicide route rather than letting his lung cancer overtake him. Everyone got together for a memorial dinner, and Maggie was the one that gave him a drug-laced tea that ultimately did the job. 

It was quite an emotional and heartbreaking hour that even ended on a 15-year time jump. Rodriguez, who co-wrote the episode, told TVLine that Gary didn't come to the decision until recently in the series, knowing he didn't want to put his family and friends through this pain since he'd want them to remain hopeful. Which is when he started to get into his own mindset that this is what is going to happen.

"I personally tried not to start thinking about it until the end of Episode 11," Rodriguez shared. "I think Gary's responsibility for both his wife and his baby and all of his friends was to remain as positive and hopeful as possible. When he coughs up blood at the end of 11 is when he realizes that things probably aren't going to go his way. So, that's when for me, I started sort of letting the mortal coil stuff sort of seep in for sure."

Leave it to A Million Little Things to leave one last punch to the gut before ending. When it was announced last year that the series would end after its fifth season, it was hard to predict just what would happen and how it would wrap it. Needless to say that the show did not disappoint, even if fans did sob uncontrollably. However, I wouldn't expect anything less from the series, even if it did break a million hearts.

It's hard to deal with the fact that after five seasons, A Million Little Things is done and that Gary died, but it was a finale that was filled with much closure. The time jump was also a welcomed surprise, though it probably didn't stop the tears from flowing. The series may be done now, but thanks to streaming, it will always be with us, and fans will always be able to rewatch every little moment, good or bad, for years to come.