‘It’s Always Sunny’ Honors Lynne Marie Stewart the Only Way It Knows How

Danny DeVito is 81 years old. That’s up there! It may not make as much of a difference in some as it does in others. For instance, my Dad is in his early 70s, and I certainly could not see him spending another decade filming movies and a TV show. While DeVito has seemed to be in good health and working regularly, there’s still that level of concern. He’s not going to live forever, and I’ve wondered before, “What would they do on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia if he dies before the show is over?” Well, I think we kind of got an answer.

Lynne Marie Stewart, an accomplished comedic actress, played Charlie Day’s character’s mom on the show from the first season until her unfortunate passing in 2025. Her last appearance was in the finale of season 17. She was hilarious on the show, appearing in almost 20 episodes and matching the show’s freak, to say the least. Her character was often at the whims of DeVito’s Frank Reynolds, who used to refer to her as his “bang maid.” She was game for all of it, and the show honored her in the opening two episodes of season 18 in hilarious, insane ways.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY PREMIERE

When Charlie Day’s Charlie Kelly burst onto the premiere with an urn in his hands, it was immediately clear what was going on, and the show elicited an audible gasp from me (not the last, and not in a bad way). Charlie quickly reveals that it’s his mom in the urn, making a meta bit out of Marie Stewart’s actual death, something that, given her time on the show and long-term friendship with Paul Reubens, she probably would have loved. It culminates in Charlie singing about his dead mother while Carol Kane’s character’s corpse is marched down the aisle to marry Frank.

But they didn’t stop there! The second episode of the season found Charlie planning a big funeral for his mother and attempting to remodel and sell her house with assistance from the Shriners and Mummers. Eventually, they throw a big parade-style funeral and fire Kane’s character’s corpse out of a cannon while a giant cutout of Marie Stewart’s face looks on, smiling, and Mac accidentally gets his uncle sent to prison in place of his dad. It was insane, and it felt like a proper sendoff worthy of Lynne Marie Stewart’s talents.

They also just didn’t shy away from making that part of the joke. I don’t think Sunny has much gas left in the tank, based solely on the fact that everyone involved seems to be doing so much else. Hopefully, DeVito lives a lot longer, and his passing doesn’t happen while the show is still being made. But if that were to happen, it certainly doesn’t seem like the Gang would shy away from talking about it. I wonder if they’d go as far as throwing him in the trash, as his character requested so many years ago. Honestly, there’s a non-zero chance.