James Denton’s “Desperate Housewives” character Mike Delfino was shot 12 years ago, much to the dismay of many of the show’s fans. But when asked by People which episode of the series was his favorite, Denton immediately pointed to Delfino’s demise. “The one where I got shot,” he said. “It’s always fun to get chills on camera.”
Denton also told the outlet about the rigging and special effects that made the shooting death believable on camera. “You have one tube up one leg of your pants that has the blood to your chest, and you have a wire running down the other leg. This guy is out in the bushes with a detonator to set the blast off,” he explained.
The character is shot while defending his girlfriend Susan Mayer, played by Teri Hatcher. “Teri was so brilliant in that scene. I was lying in her lap, you know, bleeding out from the big crane shot up above,” Denton said. “It was before there were drones, obviously. She’s just sobbing uncontrollably. And she did it all day long. And it was so hard for me not to break up and cry because she was so heartbreaking.”
The series was marked by a lot of deaths — in fact, the show killed off 56 characters in total, Denton also told People. “[We] were always joking about who was gonna be the last man standing,” he added. “‘Can we just survive another season?’ [Then] they actually called me in to talk about killing Delfino off — which I thought was very respectful of them — and said, ‘We wanna do something big before the finale that doesn’t involve the women.’”
In 2023, “Desperate Housewives” showrunner Bob Daily told TVGuide that the character’s death gave the show an opportunity to have a truly memorable ending. “We thought, ‘Well, maybe one of the most beloved characters dying would be a very interesting way to end the season,’” he said.
“We kind of went through everybody in the cast at one point, just trying to see who made the most sense,” he continued. “I think one of the reasons we choose Mike Delfino is because he is so beloved by the audience. We thought it would really have a maximum impact. It’s easy to kill a character that the audience isn’t quite so much in love with.”
