How ‘Kevin Can Wait’ killed off Donna in the season 2 premiere

“Kevin Can Wait” didn’t go into the gory details of Donna’s death during the season 2 premiere Monday night.

In fact, the CBS show barely gave any details at all.

Instead, the comedy picked up “over a year” after Erinn Hayes’ character died. The first mention of the Gable family matriarch came when Kevin (Kevin James) received a postcard for her gym saying they missed her.

“So do I,” he said.

Later in the episode, just before Kendra (Taylor Spreitler) and Chale (Ryan Cartwright) got married, Kevin says the ceremony is “just missing one thing.”

"I know, I wish Mom was here too," Kendra replied.

In August, CBS programming chief Thom Sherman revealed that Hayes’ character would be killed off to make room for Leah Remini to join the cast as a series regular.

Remini and James played a married couple on “King of Queens” from 1997 to 2007.

“The goal was to give Kevin’s character a real drive and a real predicament (involving) how a family comes back together (after tragedy),” executive producer Rob Long told TVLine.

“Also, out of respect for the character of Donna — and certainly the way that Erinn Hayes portrayed her — it seemed like the only right and fair way to treat her character.”

CBS president Kelly Kahl also teased that James and Remini, who plays a detective who used to partner with James’ retired cop, will eventually have a romance on the show.

His character will join a new security firm run by Vanessa during season 2.

After news broke, Hayes took to Twitter to say goodbye.

"True, I've been let go from the show," she wrote. "Very sad, I had a great experience season 1. Thank you for all the support from our wonderful fans."