The fifth and final season of A Million Little Things premiered on ABC Wednesday, February 8, and within minutes of the episode, our beloved Boston friend group gathered at Sophie and Danny’s house to…host a funeral.
If you have yet to watch the farewell season premiere and want to avoid spoilers, consider this your chance to stop reading. But if you need to know who died in the A Million Little Things Season 5 premiere, we have the answer.
Creator DJ Nash told Variety that multiple people die in the final season, and the premiere’s episode description confirmed an early death by noting, “The family of friends gathers once again to celebrate the life of a loved one who dies unexpectedly.” We also knew from promo photos that Maggie (Allison Miller), Eddie (David Giuntoli), Katherine (Grace Park), Greta (Cameron Esposito), Regina (Christina Moses), Rome (Romany Malco), Sophie (Lizzy Greene) and Danny (Chance Hurstfield) attended the funeral, which — assuming Delilah (Stephanie Szostak), Theo (Tristan Byon), and Tyrell (Adam Swain) are alive and well — left fans to wonder if Gary (James Roday Rodriguez) died.
Wondering who died in A Million Little Things Season 5, Episode 1, “The Last Dance”? And if it our favorite Bruins fans were attending Gary’s funeral? We’ve got the answers below, so consider this your final A Million Little Things spoiler warning.
Photo: ABC/Sergei Bachlakov
Did Gary Die In The A Million Little Things Season 5 Premiere?
Aside from Gary’s absence in the funeral promo photos, fans feared he might be the character leaving the show in the Season 5 premiere because when we left him in Season 4 he had just been diagnosed with lung cancer and was starting treatment.
To say the transition the Season 5 premiere’s cold open to the title card to Act 1 of the episode was an emotional roller coaster would be a serious understatement. We opened with a touching scene between Gary and his father, Javier Mendez (Paul Rodriguez). Javier, holding an ultrasound photo of Gary and Maggie’s baby, said, “It’s funny. One day this little black dot is gonna grow up and wreck your prized vintage automobile.” Gary replied, “It was an 82′ Buick. It had 300,000 miles and duct tape for armrests. Dad, you have to let this go,” and the two laughed and bonded some more over hospital jello.
Photo: ABC/Matthias Clamer
Javier asked Gary questions about Sophie and Danny, then cracked some jokes to lighten the mood, but when his phone alarm went off he remembered he had to go feed his parking meter. As Javier walked out the door, Gary said, “Hey pop? Thanks for being here with me. I know it’s not easy to pretend that all of this is normal.” Javier replied, “However you want to do this, that’s how we’re gonna do it. Alright, mijo? I got you.”
After Javier left the room, Rome and Eddie surprised Gary and offered their support. Meanwhile, Regina and Katherine knocked on Maggie’s door to do the same. After a few tears and a big hug, the title card dropped. And when the show returned, we jumped forward seven months to a the mysterious funeral.
The placement of the funeral scene coupled with Gary’s absence leads fans to believe that Gary died. To add fuel to the fire, Maggie is getting extra attention. Danny gave a speech at the service. And when Regina says, “That’s the kind of joke Gary would make,” Eddie replies, “Yeah…Not today.” All signs point to Gary, but then Gary casually walks into the room and reassures us all he’s still kicking. So if Gary didn’t die in the Season 5 premiere, who did?
Who Died In A Million Little Things Season 5 Premiere?
Gary’s dad, Javier, is the one who passed away, which makes the touching opening scene the two shared in the hospital an even bigger gut punch.
How did Javier die? When asked how Gary was holding up, Maggie said, “Like he always does. Making a ton of jokes. I think he’s still in shock. I mean, it was so sudden. Javier went to sleep and just never woke up.”
Though Javier wasn’t introduced until Season 3 of A Million Little Things, he made quite the impression on Gary and his friends — especially Danny. Danny told Gary that making a speech was the least he could do to honor his dad, since he played such a big part in him coming out at school. “That is exactly why I wanted you to speak. You did a beautiful job, my dad would have been very proud of you,” Gary told him.
Since the series started out with the death of Danny and Sophie’s dad, the two were sure to let Gary know they were there to support him in his grief. “The only reason we got through it is because we leaned on you, and now it’s your turn to lean on us,” Sophie told Gary.
When Danny added, “I’d like to think that somewhere in heaven our dads are having lunch right now fighting over the check,” Gary said, “You’d be wrong about that. My dad’s never fought over a check in his life and he’s not going to start in heaven.” Those memories — coupled with the opening scene from Season 5 — are a delightful way to remember the great Javier Mendez.
A Million Little Things Season 5 premieres on ABC February 8. New episodes air weekly on Wednesdays, and are available for next-day streaming on Hulu.