'Will & Grace': Behind the Death of Rosario | THR News - video Dailymotion

The NBC revival addressed the absence of two beloved actresses who appeared on the show during its original run.

Transcript

00:00But at the end of the day, aren't we all whores just looking for a dirty pole to take our last ride on?

00:06Will & Grace delivered on the laughs as always on Thursday's new episode, but spoiler alert,

00:11the show also said goodbye to one of its most beloved characters. So if you're not caught up

00:16on the revival yet, again, warning, spoilers ahead.

00:18Thursday's tearful episode saw the death of Karen's longtime maid, Rosario, played by Shelly Morrison.

00:24In the new episode, Megan Mullally's Karen & Company went to visit a then-ailing Rosario in the hospital.

00:37Karen promised to throw her a quinceañera when she was released, as Rosario's mom had never given her one.

00:42Rosario, however, died soon after. So Karen turned the funeral for her longtime sidekick into,

00:48you guessed it, a quinceañera.

00:50Showrunners Max Muchnick and David Cohan revealed back in August that Morrison would not be returning

00:56for the revival, as she had retired from acting. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to the duo about the new

01:01episode and the importance of giving Rosario a proper send-off. According to Muchnick,

01:05"...to deal with Karen dealing with death and how the character would manage herself and how she would

01:10ultimately have a moment of truth in dealing with it, that was too rich of an area for us not to write,

01:15and so we went for it." As we suspected, Megan Mullally delivers a tour-de-force performance in this episode.

01:21Thursday's episode also addressed the death of Debbie Reynolds, who appeared in the show's original run

01:26as Grace's mom, Bobbi Adler. It was revealed that Reynolds' character had passed away some time before

01:31the events of the revival. Grace, played by Debra Messing, tried to console Karen in the new episode

01:37by talking about her mother's death. Karen missed nearly the whole funeral to drown her sorrows

01:41at a nearby bar, but she ended up going to the church and said an emotional goodbye to Rosario.

01:46Muchnick recalled shooting the scene, saying,

01:48"...it was actually a very emotional night, and it was something that we took very seriously.

01:52There was a hush on the stage the two times that Megan delivered her goodbye to her best friend.

01:57It was something that I will never forget, and one of the best nights I've ever had on the stage

02:02making this show. It was an incredible thing to witness and highly emotional."

02:06Will & Grace airs Thursdays at 9pm on NBC. For more from the show's creators on the new episode

02:12and the latest on all things Will & Grace, head to THR.com. And if you saw Thursday's episode,

02:17be sure to let me know what you thought in the comments.

02:19For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.