‘Mom’ season 2 shocker: Allison Janney on surprising character death

While “Mom” has taken some bold moves over the course of its series, what the CBS show did Thursday night was stunning, heartbreaking, and far from what is expected from executive producer Chuck Lorre at this time. (SPOILER ALERT.)

The sitcom chose to kill off the character of Alvin (Kevin Pollak), the father of Anna Faris’ Christy and the new love of Bonnie (Allison Janney), who were apart for some time before getting together. The timing was what made this even harder, given that Alvin was starting to get close to the two characters again.

So how did all of this come about? Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Janney said the following about this key change for the story:

“[Mom co-creator] Chuck [Lorre] very sensitively pulled Anna and me into a dressing room to say what the episode was going to be about … We were really shocked; we loved the character [of Alvin], and Kevin is an amazing actor. We enjoyed the family coming together again … and forging that family bond. To hear it was going to be torn apart, we were like, ‘Are you sure?’ They really want to show these women surviving. They’re not exempt from having things like that happen … you can’t, in a series like this, have everything tie up in a bow: Alvin is back, they’re a family unit again, and live happily ever after.”

Meanwhile, Faris described the loss as “devastating,” even if it may lead to quality storytelling on the show. There’s a family atmosphere on set, so it is hard anytime that you end up losing someone.

The show will address the character’s funeral next week, but this is something that will impact mother and daughter for many episode still to come.

Are you shocked by what happened on tonight’s episode of “Mom”? Share now with a comment.