When Sweet Magnolias showrunner Sheryl Anderson told Glamour that season four of the Netflix hit series would feature “huge twists and turns and surprises within every episode,” she wasn’t overstating things. Nearly every one of the 10 episodes in the new season (which dropped on Thursday, February 6) features a shocking development, but episode 402—titled “Practical Dreams”—delivered the most stunning one of all: Bill Townsend (played by Chris Klein) has died.
The news comes in the form of Bill’s sharp-tongued mother, Bonnie Townsend, who shows up on her former daughter-in-law’s doorstep and says, “It’s Bill. He’s dead.”
Judith Ivey (best known for Designing Women, Will & Grace, and more) plays the formidable matriarch to such delightful perfection that it reverberates throughout the entire season, even after she returns to Texas with her husband, Tripp, and Bill’s girlfriend, Kathy. Bill’s death—from a heart attack—injects a sense of urgency into all the characters on the show, who quickly realize just how precious time is.
While some supporting characters are written off the canvas so an actor can pursue other roles, Anderson says that wasn’t the case here; Bill’s death was purely storyline dictated. As a result, she had to break the news to Chris Klein—who had played the playboy father since season one—that his time on the show had come to an end.
“It was so hard to tell him,” Anderson tells Glamour. “We all love him, and he loves the show.”
Below, Anderson elaborates more on why the decision was made, her conversation with Klein, and whether Bonnie and Kathy might return to Serenity in a possible season five.
