Call Me Kat returns from its holiday break tonight, and the new episode will address the exit of the late Leslie Jordan’s character.

Starring Mayim Bialik, Swoosie Kurtz, Kyla Pratt, Cheyenne Jackson, and Julian Gant, the FOX sitcom follows a woman (Bialik) who uses the money her family set aside for her wedding to open a cat cafe. Jordan played her friend and baker, Phil.

Bialik said the following about how Jordan’s exit will be handled on the FOX series, per EW:

“When it came to the episode that is essentially his tribute, the cast felt very strongly and completely unanimously that the thought of doing a funeral episode while we are actively grieving our friend — it felt like a hurdle we weren’t sure we all wanted to jump together.

I think Leslie Jordan was known so much for being Leslie, and while we also love him and know him as Phil, he’s such a beloved personality, truly larger than life. To try to encapsulate that felt challenging in ways that I don’t know would’ve been healthy for us as a cast or a production.

So, we found a way for him to live forever. His character will live forever, and he can have whatever adventures we all imagine. And because we break the fourth wall anyway, we were able to use that convention to say simply, we gave this character a happy ending, but there’s a lot more going on here.”

Vicki Lawrence guests on the episode as Phil’s mother, Lurlene. Lawrence and Jordan previously starred in The Cool Kids, a one-season FOX sitcom. Are there plans for Lurene to replace Phil at the cafe and become a regular character? Bialik said the following:

“If there are, I haven’t yet been looped in. Obviously, we loved having Vicki and I think there’s so many more stories to tell with her. We also have some other casting surprises coming up. We’ve got something really, really fun coming up in the new year. There’s no capturing Leslie’s spirit, but we miss him, we miss his humor, and we miss what he brought to the show. So I think there will be other ways we try and bring that [energy].”

What do you think? Are you planning to watch Call Me Kat on FOX later tonight? Will you miss seeing Jordan on the show?