iZombie: Two Fan-Favorite Characters Die in "Dead Lift"

Tonight's episode of iZombie, titled "Dead Lift," ratcheted the tensions between humans and zombies significantly. After last week's bombing at a Fillmore-Graves checkpoint, this week saw two named characters meet their untimely end (along with a lot more insanity). It was a hard night of TV for fans of the series, which will have 11 episodes left after tonight before it is gone for good. Spoilers ahead for "Dead Lift," tonight's episode of iZombie. Don't keep reading unless you want to know.

You can't say you weren't warned: last week ahead of the season premiere, series star Robert Buckley shared a photo of himself with Rose McIver and Rahul Kohli on Instagram with the caption, "Tomorrow night's season premiere of iZombie is one of the few episodes where a major character doesn't die."

Jordan Gladwell first appeared in the season four premiere, "Are You Ready For Some Zombies?" and despite a confrontational attitude and open contempt for Fillmore-Graves, she spoke to Major's innate desire to help kids in trouble, and he took her under his wing. In recent weeks, as other members of the Fillmore-Graves community have questioned Major's leadership skills, Jordan has been one of his strongest supporters -- and she was doing that just moments before a sniper attacked her team. After another man was injured, Jordan was killed trying to get him out before he could be shot to death by human separatists.

Jordan was first recruited to Fillmore-Graves because Chase Graves brought a bunch of homeless kids into the building and offered them brain tubes to listen to his proposal. That ended up being turning them into child soldiers to help keep order on the streets of New Seattle. It was a plan that did not sit well with Major, but he ultimately agreed that preventing a zombie/human war was more important. During that initial meeting, Jordan stole extra brain tubes from the Fillmore-Graves vending machine to bring home for her siblings. Those characters have not been seen onscreen up to this point, but assuming their future now seems in question.

The second death came shortly after: Baron, one of the coyotes who has been working with Liv since the days of the original Renegade. The actor, who plays Eli 'Weevil' Navarro on iZombie showrunner Rob Thomas's Veronica Mars, was killed by a group of armed humans who were protecting the wall around New Seattle. Baron had been tasked with smuggling in a dying man, but his route had become compromised when it turned out two teenage girls were tagging along with him. He died protecting the trio, obstructing the self-proclaimed border guards who were trying to kill them. He first appeared in "My Really Fair Lady" last season and had only really had three appearances, but his familiarity to fans of Veronica Mars had made him an obvious candidate for a bigger part.

It is likely that he did not get one in part because of the revival of Veronica Mars at Hulu. During a recent interview, Thomas told ComicBook.com that he was unable to use iZombie actors on Veronica Mars because of scheduling overlap.

"We really couldn't do it, otherwise you probably would have [seen them in Veronica Mars], because I love that cast," Thomas explained. "The iZombie crew wrapped right around the same time as we started shooting the finale for Veronica Mars, so for most of the season they were overlapping. The only roles left in Veronica Mars, because season finale, all the main characters are in play, were three-line roles. If I were going to do something with it, I'd want to offer them something bigger and better. So, no, unfortunately there is no overlap there. I promise you, if and when I have a next show on the air, you'll see some of those cast members because I do adore them."

iZombie airs on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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