Lynn Whitfield as Alicia in 'The Chi' finale. Sandy Morris/ Paramount+ with SHOWTIME Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Nobody's safe on The Chi. And season seven was yet another reminder that anything can happen at any time on the long-running series about life on the South Side of Chicago that Lena Waithe created as a love letter to her hometown. One of season seven's most surprising deaths got an early reveal back in episode seven when Jada (Yolonda Ross) - a fan favorite since the very first episode aired on Showtime back in January 2018 - found out that her victory over cancer back in season four was not on repeat for season seven. Related Stories Movies 'It's Dorothy!' Review: 'Wizard of Oz' Protagonist Gets a Deep-Dive Cultural Analysis in Wide-Ranging if Overstuffed Appreciation TV 'The Chi' Renewed for Season 8 at Showtime As unexpected and sad as Jada's pending death initially was, it wasn't a surprise in the finale. Telling her husband Darnell (Rolando Boyce), son Emmett (Jacob Latimore), along with others, was incorporated into her season seven storyline. Darnell, on the suggestion of a grief counselor, gave Jada a living funeral so she could receive her flowers while she was still living. And though her final death was not a surprise, it was still an emotional kicker. Alicia Daniels Lafayette's (Lynn Whitfield) murder, however, or at least her murderer, was a shock to most. Her quest to find out who really killed her son Rob (one-time NBA player Iman Shumpert) had not gone well. On the word of silent kingpin Nuck (Cortez Smith), whom she knows killed Douda (Curtiss Cook) - who she also wanted dead for killing her brother Quentin "Q" Dickinson (Steven Williams) - she killed Zay (Aaron Guy), Nuck's cousin who worked for him without realizing it was Nuck who actually killed Rob. Before Alicia's murder, she crossed paths with Bakari (Ahmad Nicholas Ferguson) whom she gave a scholarship to college to give him a second chance. Not knowing Bakari's loyalty to Nuck, she took his bait intimating that Reg (Barton Fitzpatrick) - middle brother of Victor aka Trig (Luke James), the oldest, and Jake (Michael Epps), the youngest - who, despite being presumed dead after an ambush in season two, showed up alive in season seven, really killed her son. The chickens have a strange way of coming home to roost on The Chi. So it wasn't her pursuit of Reg, which she ended up involving the law, namely Detective Toussaint (Crystal Anne Dickinson), who could get her own son out of prison if she brought him down, that led to her death. Instead, amid Alicia dealing with her house being robbed and making plans to see her newborn grandson and his mother Tiff (Hannaha Hall), Douda's wife Roselyn (former Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss) showed up to avenge Douda's death - on the word of Nuck! Now going into The Chi's groundbreaking season eight on Paramount+ with Showtime, Shaad and Victor are being arrested for Alicia's murder. Whitfield, who won her eight NAACP Image award for her portrayal of Alicia earlier this year, tells The Hollywood Reporter she didn't learn of Alicia's death until "somewhere mid-season, maybe the fifth episode or so." Playing a character who dies violently, she believes, hadn't happened to her since she was Rae in the 1985 film Silverado. "It was really an interesting journey for me," she says, "because so often I am playing that strong character that finds a way [and] that learns a lesson. And I honestly felt there was a possibility for [Alicia] to learn something, particularly with her grandson coming." Knowing who the killer would be came down to the wire. "We didn't know until the last episode who was going to do it. I would like to have been in the writers room [as] they were deciding." Kandi Burruss as Roselyn with Lynn Whitfield as Alicia before her death. Sandy Morris/ Paramount+ with SHOWTIME Alicia's relationship with the younger Shaad (played by Jason Weaver) was an entertaining topic during their panel discussion that also included Luke James at the Hollywood House at this year's Essence Festival of Culture. While Weaver spoke of their romantic interaction, referencing his admiration for her since her co-starring role with Martin Lawrence in the 1996 film A Thin Line Between Love & Hate and gushed over all he learned from working with the legendary actress, Whitfield went straight for the meat. "It was so funny because, at the end of season six ... I don't know if you all saw it, but we have this really impassioned kind of (pause) kiss," she shared. "Jason was being so polite because it appears that Alicia really likes being choked off a little bit so Jason, you, wouldn't do it. He was like 'you okay?'" Weaver finished by telling the crowd that Whitfield said, "'Fuck the bullshit, excuse my la