Did Janine Die in 'House of Payne'? Fans Need to Know

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 10, Episode 22 of House of Payne.

The Season 10 finale of House of Payne took fans on quite the rollercoaster ride. Janine's (Demetria McKinney) future has been up in the air for quite some time now, and the new episode has teased a potential ending for her narrative arc.

At the end of "Payneful Suffering," the family prepares for Janine's return, but a police officer appears at their door instead, seemingly to deliver some bad news. Did Janine die? What happened to Janine?

Previous episodes of House of Payne touched on Janine's history of substance abuse. As loyal fans will tell you, she accidentally burned down the family home while under the influence of drugs.

Janine's complicated life story has long concerned fans — and the Season 10 finale of House of Payne is bound to add fuel to the fire. A growing number of fans suspect that she has died off-screen and that the police officer who came to their door delivered the bad news. But that's all speculation at this point. It's just like House of Payne to leave fans with quite the cliffhanger!

On the show, Janine starts off as a responsible and dedicated mom. Later, she becomes dependent on drugs and is even revealed to be the person who burned down the family home. Later on in the series, Janine is able to work on herself and her relationship with C.J., but her character arc was pretty intense.

Being that House of Payne focuses on the comedy but also the drama of the family, it's no surprise that Janine went through a ton. But the way she went from one extreme to the other with almost no warning was a surprise to many fans. And now that the show was revamped on BET, other fans are wondering why Janine isn't as central of a character anymore.

While Janine the character was changing and evolving over the course of the series, so was Demetria McKinney, the actress who played her since the very beginning. It seems likely that one of the reasons why Janine was so underutilized in Season 10 might be because in real life, Demetria had a full plate of other TV projects. And honestly, it's not a bad thing.

Outside of House of Payne, Demetria has also been in Motherland: Fort Salem, A House Divided, and American Soul. She was also, however, in the spin-off The Paynes, but even her role in that series was limited.

It's not like Janine isn't an important character on House of Payne anymore. It just appears that Demetria has been able to expand her acting portfolio in the best way.

As of right now, it's unclear if House of Payne will be renewed for yet another season. But the fact that BET picked up the series after it had been off the air for several years bodes well for its future on the network.

The viewership numbers for Season 9 hovered near 1 million, and sometimes lower than that per episode. If Season 10 performs similarly, then getting Season 11 shouldn't be too difficult.

Watch House of Payne on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on BET.