Modern Family will apparently have a “significant character” death in the upcoming season

Modern Family aficionados have been patiently awaiting the Season 10 premiere for months (we’ve missed our favorite TV fam, obviously). But it sounds like the upcoming season won’t be all fun and laughs…because the series creators revealed that there will be a “significant” death coming our way.

In other words, the Dunphy-Pritchett-Tucker family will be saying goodbye to someone—maybe even one of their own.

The show’s co-creator Christopher Lloyd wouldn’t tell Entertainment Weekly who the character is or when the death would occur, but he did say that it “will be a moving event—and an event that has repercussions across several episodes.”

Lloyd explained that killing off a character this season will explore how families deal with death.

"We’re handling some bigger life events in this season," he told EW. "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."

Meanwhile, the series has yet to be renewed for an eleventh season, but Lloyd remains hopeful.

"I think there's a decent chance we'll see it happen. I hope there is. From our standpoint creatively we've gotten excited writing this season and changing the lives of the characters—some in a significant way—and it's made us think, 'Wow, there's a lot to explore in the lives of these characters.'"

Modern Family returns on September 26th at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.