Modern Family Is Killing a 'Significant' Character

Jay? Phil? Claire? Maybe Gloria? The co-creator of Modern Family tells Entertainment Weekly that a "significant character" will die in the upcoming 10th season of the ABC sitcom. But that's about the only hint Christopher Lloyd is giving. "We do deal with a death ... and on television, it's not easy to do because that's a heavy subject," he says. "But at the same time, it would seem unusual for a family not to go through it." He said the death will have repercussions over several episodes. The oldest member of the cast, 72-year-old Ed O'Neill, plays patriarch Jay Pritchett, but EW floats the possibility that the death could be that of a major side character such as his ex, played by Shelley Long. Something else up in the air: whether the show will return for an 11th season, notes People. (More Modern Family stories.)