Death came to Modern Family. It wasn't the first time, but the 2018 Halloween episode titled "Good Grief" featured a death that touched every part of the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clans. Warning, spoilers follow.
In "Good Grief," the family learned DeDe (Shelley Long), mom of Claire (Julie Bowen) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and ex-wife of Jay (Ed O'Neill), passed away in her sleep while on a trip. What followed was the family handling the news in, as per usual, unexpected and funny ways.
"We've never really done a death before on the show," Ariel Winter told E! News at Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation's A Time for Heroes Family Festival. "We usually like to keep things fun and lighthearted, but also talk about things that might be difficult issues. But this one was a little bit darker than usual."
However, Winter, who play Alex on the show, said she felt it was time for Modern Family to take on the subject considering the ABC series is in its 10th season. "While there was a death, I think it just shows how different people handle death and I think that's something that happens all across the world is people deal with it differently. I think we did it in a somewhat of a nice, lighthearted way…but it also explored people's reactions and how they handled it."
As for what's next, Winter teased there a lot of "twists" coming up.
"They're definitely more mature for everybody," she teased.
Click play on the video above to hear more.
Modern Family airs Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on ABC.