James Denton loves the Desperate Housewives episode where Mike died

Desperate wives fans were not thrilled with the episode where Mike Delfino was shot, but James Denton he actually had a blast filming his character’s death.

Denton, 61, was asked about his favorite episode of the series, which he said People on Sunday, December 29. “The one where I was shot. It’s always fun to get chills in front of the camera.”

During season 8 Desperate wivesMike was killed in a drive-by shooting outside his fictitious home on Wisteria Lane. Denton broke down what caused the scene to life, which included special effects and tubing equipment to mimic blood.

“On one leg of your pants you have one tube that has blood on your chest, and on the other leg you have a wire. The guy is out in the bushes with a detonator to set off the explosion,” he recalled. “And you can only do it about two or three times and that it’s all day.”

Denton credited his stage partner – and on-screen love interest — Teri Hatcher for helping sell the moment. (Mike pushed Hatcher’s character Susan out of the way to save her life from the shark’s bullet.)

“Teri was so great in that scene,” Denton continued. “I was lying on her lap, you know, bleeding from the big crane shot above. Obviously this was before there were drones. She just sobs uncontrollably. And she did it all day. And it was so hard for me not to break up and not cry because she was so heartbreaking.’

Desperate wiveswhich aired on ABC from 2004 to 2012, followed a group of women living in the fictional town of Fairview as they overcame a barrage of personal problems over the course of 15 years. Hatcher, 60, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria and Nicolletta Sheridan made up the main cast.

While Mike’s death hit hard, he was one of countless characters killed off during the show’s eight-year run.

“It was a lot of death,” Denton noted. “The guys were joking the whole run, ‘Who was going to be killed?’ because for all the talk about housewives being so lecherous, there wasn’t that much sex—but there was a lot of murder. We killed off 56 characters.”

Denton praised the creator Marc Cherry to consult him on Mike’s death, as the stars of the show were never given full scripts during Desperate wives‘last season.

“We always joked about who would be the last man standing,” the actor revealed. “Can we survive another season?” (Then) they actually called me to talk about killing off Delfino — which I thought was very respectful of them — and said, “We want to do something big before the finale that’s not about women.”

Denton was ultimately “very happy” with Mike’s “big goodbye”, adding: “I love that (the fans) are really nice, almost everyone I talk to comments on the fact that they cried when Delfino got shot, but it was set up. great from writer Matt Berry and Marc. (They) really set people up emotionally, which is not very fair.”

Despite Wisteria Lane he experiences so much deathCherry, 62, hasn’t ruled out a comeback – with a twist.

“I probably would have wanted to implement the idea maybe in an earlier decade. Because the character I miss writing the most is actually Wisteria Lane,” the producer said People last month. “That was the funnest playground anyone has ever had in the history of television because we owned the whole street. “I know that street like the back of my hand. When someone shoots a commercial on that street, I recognize it immediately because I know all the houses, I know the geography. It was such a fun place to write.”

Cherry teased that thoughts came to mind from packaging Desperate wives.

“I feel like if I ever got the chance to do the show again, I would be better at the job. I learned so much,” he explained, before revealing that thousands of people have asked him about a potential reboot. “The truth is, I have a few ideas about how to do it. There are still things that need to be said.”

Cherry added: “If you’re going to do a reboot, you have to have a really good artistic reason for it. And at some point I’ll sit down with someone and say, ‘OK, let’s talk about whether there’s a good enough ‘why’ to do this.”

Desperate wives currently streaming on Hulu.