The Funeral In 'Firefly Lane' Season 1 Finale Isn't For Who You Might Think
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Netflix’s Firefly Lane debuted in 2021, and it totally blew up on the streaming service. So it makes sense that Netflix is dropping the second season this week on Dec. 2. The romantic and slightly soapy drama follows the story of BFFs Tully Hart (Katherine Heigl) and Kate Mularkey (Sarah Chalke) from their teens to their forties—with plenty of bad wigs along the way.
Well, with all the drama happening in the lives of Tully and Kate, there’s even more that went down in the season 1 finale. The last episode features a funeral, leading fans to question whether Tully died somehow. And ahead of the second and final season, fans are scratching their heads trying to figure out what really happened.
The series, like the Kristin Hannah novels it’s based on, hops around in time, from the 1970s to the 2000s. The funeral episode takes place in 2005, and there’s a scene where Kate and her daughter Marah (Yael Yurman) talk as though Tully is gone.
So…did Tully die in the show’s first season? Here’s what you need to know before you start watching season 2.
**Warning**: Major spoilers for Firefly Lane season one ahead.
The funeral is actually for Kate’s dad.
While the show makes it seem like the funeral could be for Tully, she goes to the funeral later in the episode. So...no, she didn't die. And, fans find out, it’s Kate’s dad who has passed away.
Okay, but did Johnny die?
If you’ve watch the first season all the way through, you know that Kate and her husband Johnny (played by Ben Lawson) started to see each other again after signing their divorce papers in 2003. Johnny, who is a war correspondent, went to Iraq. That leads to one pivotal scene where he's lying unconscious wearing a blood-splattered vest, next to a newly-exploded landmine.
Johnny wasn’t in the funeral scene for Kate’s dad and you’d think he’d be there (unless, maybe, he couldn’t get away from work?). So, that's unclear at this point.
Someone definitely does die at some point in the series.
But it’s Kate—at least, in the book, Firefly Lane. Kate and Tully are in a weird love triangle, where Kate can’t get over the fact that Johnny once loved Tully and that the two actually slept together at one point. Even though Kate and Johnny ended up getting married and having kids together, Kate is plagued with a fear that Johnny might still be in love with Tully.
The two end up fighting but make up when Kate is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Kate eventually passes away and leaves behind her three children with Johnny: Marah, William, and Lucas. In Fly Away, the sequel to Firefly Lane, Tully helps raise Kate’s children.
Of course, the series didn't quite make it there in season 1, and it's unclear if the TV show will follow the books or if there will be a massive shift in the plot line in season 2. But the show is going to end after that point, with no further seasons in the works, so it's likely viewers will get all these questions answered soon.
Plus, everyone will *finally* learn what Tully did to Kate, leading to the end of their friendship, per People.
TL;DR: No, Tully doesn’t die in the season 1 finale of Firefly Lane, but it's likely that Kate won’t be on the show forever.
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