Late Actor Adan Canto Honored in 'The Cleaning Lady' Season 3 Premiere

The Cleaning Lady premiered its third season on Tuesday night, marking the first new episode since star Adan Canto died earlier this year.

Canto, who portrayed Arman Morales on the show, died after a private battle with appendiceal cancer in January. He was 42.

At the beginning of the Tuesday, March 5, episode, Fox showed a title card reading “This season is dedicated to our beloved friend Adan Canto.”

Ahead of the premiere, co-showrunners Miranda Kwok and Jeannine Renshaw spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about how the series chose to honor Canto and how his death changed the trajectory of the season.

Most Shocking Celebrity Deaths of All Time

“It was still a shock to us when it happened, but we knew that he was struggling, and we also knew that he really did not want people to know the reasons [he was unable to work],” Kwok said. “It was a challenge for us, because we had to balance knowing what we did and having to figure out how to move forward with that, and be sensitive to him and his family.”

The showrunners revealed that the original plan was to temporarily write Canto’s character out of the show while his illness prevented him from working in December 2023. They hoped they could bring him back later on.

“We were already going to have his parents and family come onto the show,” Kwok said. “When we had to shift, we realized that we still wanted to create this space for Arman to return. We decided to continue with the story line surrounding his backstory so that we were all able to explore his character through Thony and Nadia, and learn about Arman in a different way.”

Canto’s death presented some logistical challenges, however. In the premiere episode, for example, Canto’s face briefly appears. Kwok explained that she had discussed with the late actor how he would want to be portrayed while he could not work and that the crew had to resort to some “movie magic.”

Celebrity Deaths in 2023: Stars We Lost

“He was on board with that,” Kwok said. “He, of course, was heartbroken that he couldn’t continue this journey with us, so he wanted to support us as much as he could.”

Renshaw added that while Canto had kept production in the loop on his condition, they were still surprised when he passed.

“We were as shocked as anybody when we lost him,” Renshaw said. “There was never the inkling [that he was not going to make it]. Although, as showrunners, he had brought us in and we had been part of the process [to determine] what he was able to do.”

The Cleaning Lady airs on Fox Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.