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Will & Grace fans may need a little extra love and attention today, because last night, they bid farewell to a beloved character – Rosario Inés Consuelo Yolanda Salazar. The episode, “Rosario’s Quinceañera”, addressed the absence of Karen Walker’s (Megan Mullally) long-time maid (and Jack’s former green card wife), but not in the way fans were hoping. Shelley Morrison’s fan-favorite character had yet to appear on the NBC revival, but when she finally did, it was for a somber reason – to give her a proper send-off.
Morrison, whose name was the only other to appear in the opening credits besides the central four leads, was expected to return to the series, but the 81-year-old actress had reportedly retired from acting and did not plan on jumping back into the industry for the show. Her volatile (and at the end of the day, loving) relationship with Karen was one for the books, so the show’s creators felt it necessary to give her more than just a one-line send-off. On last night’s episode, Rosie died off-screen.
“The [Rosario] character felt too much a part of the fabric of the show to just dismiss it with a line or two or an explanation,” show co-creator David Kohan told Variety. “It felt like it merited more of a loving farewell.” And a loving farewell it was; while Morrison did not return for her character’s final episode, Karen did bid her former maid tearful goodbye, and her funeral was a tearjerker in more ways than one. Fans, understandably, did not take the death well, and took to Twitter to mourn Rosario.
No word yet on the fate of Karen’s new maid, but we can be sure that she’ll never quite fill the Rosario-shaped hole in our hearts.
