Only Murders Has 1 Character Who Is Not Allowed to Be Killed — For Now

No one is safe on Only Murders in the Building — except one character.

During the season 4 finale, which premiered on Tuesday, October 29, Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short) and Charles (Steve Martin) solved the mystery surrounding Sazz’s (Jane Lynch) murder, and mere hours later, their doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca) was the next victim at the Arconia.

Creator John Hoffman addressed how OMITB managed to pull off the shocking death by misdirecting the audience by having Oliver question whether his now-wife, Loretta (Meryl Streep), would be the next victim.

“When Oliver, right up top is saying, ‘Now, why would you say that? Loretta’s just on her way now for my wedding, of course, we’re going to kill her. That’s just so us.’ I wanted to hold that, but I also knew, unavoidably, it would just be there,” Hoffman told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. “So there are certain things I just can’t do, and one of those things I can’t do is kill Meryl Streep.”

Hoffman confirmed that any discussions about killing Streep’s character off didn’t last long, adding, “Granted, she has many other things she will be doing and should be doing, and yet, every time we even begin to have a discussion about anything like that, or her ending her time with us, I say, ‘Stop talking. I can’t talk about this.’”

OMITB stood by that for season 4 — but Hoffman can’t guarantee Loretta’s future moving forward. “I can’t promise that might be true forever,” he noted. “But for this season [it is].”

Streep, 75, originally joined the cast in season 3 as a struggling actress. Her connection with Oliver paved the way for Streep to reprise the role of Loretta as the fictional couple figured out a long distance relationship. The season 4 finale made that even more complicated by having Loretta move to New Zealand for work one day after her wedding to Oliver.

“There are a lot of reasons [for that decision]. I’ll cop to that for sure. But I think, ultimately, I delighted in it, and we said yes to it because it felt like a funny, believable thing now. If you’re working in TV and film, again, it’s a little bit of a tweaking joke to the industry that overseas is cheaper, or overseas makes sense, or overseas is fresher,” Hoffman explained on Tuesday. “Things are happening like that all the time around productions that are either just getting going or are making a move, or whatever they can do to hold on to things and keep the costs down. So a little bit of that wink was a part of that decision.”

Hoffman praised Short, 75, and Streep for the emotion they brought to Oliver and Loretta’s last scene.

“I just love the two of them together. Marty and Meryl and Oliver and Loretta dancing and talking and Loretta realizing, ‘I don’t know how I do this. I don’t know how I take you away from this.’ All that felt really sweet,” he continued. “And the whole idea of an unconventional relationship, and her sensing, ‘You’re going to come to New Zealand and this could very well be the end of this beautiful marriage.’ Her knowing that about him and saying, ‘Let’s roll with this.’ It’s a beautifully sweet and heartbreaking scene. It is very adult to make a call like that.”

Earlier this month, Hoffman opened up about how much Oliver and Loretta’s romance meant to him and the cast.

“I remember one night we were shooting on the ferry in episode 5 of season 3. We shot until about two in the morning on the most gorgeous night in Manhattan,” Hoffman recalled to Decider on Thursday, October 24. “I got off to gangplank there and Meryl was waiting, and she had tears in her eyes, and she said, ‘I just had to wait here for you to get off the boat to say thank you.’”

He added: “I was like, ‘What?’ and she said, ‘I just got to play a scene I really thought that the likes of which I wouldn’t have a chance to do. To play romantic scenes at this age with this band in this way, it’s just the greatest thing ever.’”

Streep and Short have since inspired their own romance rumors. Despite being spotted on multiple outings, a rep for Short denied in a January statement that they are dating.

Only Murders in the Building is currently streaming on Hulu.