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| 6 | [[quoteright:350:[[VisualPun https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_hinder_bus.png]]]] |
| 7 | [[caption-width-right:350:And to top it off, [[{{Retirony}} he had only just retired]].]] |
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| 11 | |
| 12 | ->'''Poochie:''' I have to go now. My planet needs me.\ |
| 13 | [screen displays "Note: Poochie died on the way back to his home planet."] |
| 14 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E14TheItchyAndScratchyAndPoochieShow The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show]]" |
| 15 | |
| 16 | When Bob is PutOnABus, that means he's being written out of the show in such a way that he could logically return. Audiences have come to expect that the [[TheBusCameBack bus will come back]] someday with Bob on it, even if it's [[BackForTheFinale only for the last arc or episode]], or even a quick cameo or EasterEgg. So one of the cruelest subversions of that expectation is for the writers to show us the bus bringing Bob back again and then wreck it just as it comes into view. That is, they mention Bob only to show us that he's ''not'' coming back. [[DroppedABridgeOnHim A bridge fell on him]] while he was [[KilledOffscreen off-screen]]. Or, as ''Series/{{MASH}}'' once employed to great effect, we learn of Bob's death within minutes of receiving the news that he went away. This is doubly shocking in situations where the main plot is a dangerous place and getting on the "bus" means escape and safety. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | This is manipulative on many levels. It allows an angry writer to kill a character from beyond the grave, as it were, and after the "real" reason for the actor's departure has faded from public memory -- thus avoiding appearing as mean-spirited as a typical case of ActorLeavesCharacterDies. It allows the writer to do a TonightSomeoneDies without sacrificing a current cast member. It allows him to get the requisite UsefulNotes/{{ratings}} boost from bringing back departed characters without actually bringing them back, and it triggers a much more convincing ItsPersonal episode as our heroes avenge one of their own. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Contrast CharacterOutlivesActor (where it's the ''actor'' who dies, but the character is kept alive off-screen), TheCharacterDiedWithHim (where the character dies because the actor has) and BackForTheDead (where the character returns just long enough to be killed off). In DistractedFromDeath, a character will die offscreen, but only because the action was focused on another character who needs a few minutes to notice what's happened. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Sometimes, when a character is put on the bus and the actor later dies, the character is stated to have died (typically the same way the actor did) out of respect for the actor. However, since there's obviously no planning for this, existing scripts must be (minimally) tweaked to work it in, so it tends to be less of a heartfelt tribute and more of a bizarre "I got [[BreadEggsMilkSquick bread, I got eggs, Don got hit by a train, and I got milk]]." "That sucks. [[MoodWhiplash Anyway]], about that ZanyScheme on Friday..." scenario, after which Don is never mentioned again. ''Don't'' expect to find these moments listed under SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Note: this trope is not for when a bus ''actually'' crashes onscreen; those go under SurpriseCarCrash. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | !!As this is a {{Death Trope|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]]. |
| 27 | ---- |
| 28 | !!Examples: |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 33 | * Mamoru Chiba in ''Anime/SailorMoon'' was last seen in the seventh episode of the Sailor Stars season boarding a plane to the United States. [[PutOnABus His fate was uncertain]] all the way until the GrandFinale, when it was revealed in a flashback that Galaxia had killed him after intercepting the plane he was on during that very episode. By that point, though, most of the main characters were already dead, and Mamoru got his ResetButton treatment along with the others. |
| 34 | * In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' it's stated that Tim Marcoh was killed by Gluttony relatively late in the series. And by "relatively late in the series", we mean toward the end of the ''penultimate episode''. His death is heavily implied the last time we see him, however, as Gluttony asks for permission to eat him just before the cutaway. |
| 35 | * ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': |
| 36 | ** Yusuke forcibly enlists the help of Murota, a {{Muggle}} who gained a Territory power as a side effect of [[FallenHero Sensui]]'s actions. He disappears after the fight with [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr.]] [[AxCrazy Kamiya]], and no one gives this a second thought... until the gang comes up against Gourmet, and he starts using Murota's unique ability. Gourmet's Territory is completely within his stomach, and he gets to steal the powers of anyone he eats. |
| 37 | ** Subverted with Gourmet himself. Gourmet eats Elder Toguro very early in the arc, and then doesn't appear again until Sensui kidnaps Kuwabara. When Kurama decapitates Gourmet for eating Murota (and because he's still pissed that Sensui forced him to kill a little kid), you find out that the nigh-immortal Toguro has actually [[GrandTheftMe taken over Gourmet]] and, for all intents and purposes, already killed him. He's also notably the only one of Sensui's Seven (other than the boss himself) not to be revived or given the chance to pull a HeelFaceTurn after the arc's completion. |
| 38 | * A rare example of this happening onscreen was Franco and Flanca in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' (though you don't find this out until ''much'' later, when Cristiano breaks the news). |
| 39 | * Maria and Mamoru in ''Literature/FromTheNewWorld.'' Mamoru believed that he was going be killed by their [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]] elders, so Maria accompanied him to leave the village. After they had a child, [[{{Irony}} they were killed by Yakomaru]]. A double-subversion of sorts: Yakomaru told Saki he would ''fake'' their deaths to make the adults stop hunting them, but it eventually comes out that the skeletons the adults recovered were examined to the genetic level and undoubtedly genuine, so he must have killed them. |
| 40 | * Jude Heartfilia from ''Manga/FairyTail'' is introduced as Lucy's neglectful and WellIntentionedExtremist father early in the series, but is put on a bus when she disowns him for inadvertently causing the guild war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. Later, he comes back in an attempt to make up to her, and he sort of manages. Cue putting him on a bus again. ''Much'' later (seven years in-universe and more than 100 chapters), Lucy herself realizes that he wasn't that bad and she wants him to pay him a visit. She finds out from his workplace that [[KilledOffscreen he just died]]... |
| 41 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 42 | ** When Bellamy, the ArcVillain of Jaya, reappeared in Dressrosa, he mentions that he visited Sky Island some time during the TimeSkip. However, he states that he lost the rest of his pirate crew during the trip. |
| 43 | ** Absalom was one of the villains in the Thriller Bark arc, who kidnapped Nami to make her his bride before getting the crap kicked out of him by Sanji. Although he didn't make further appearances in the flesh, he's been offhandedly mentioned a couple times, until the Wano arc revealed that the Blackbeard Pirates captured and killed him to get his Devil Fruit. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 47 | * ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'': Many characters returning from the other DC eras will not survive the event. The Justice Riders are killed at the beginning of the ''Convergence: Nightwing/Oracle'' series. |
| 48 | * ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': In ''ComicBook/Daredevil2022'', Matt's ex Kirsten is leaving the city in the first issue, and Daredevil's racing to say goodbye to her. He doesn't get there before her train leaves. And then, some way down the track, the train explodes. However, after Matt confronts Goldy, it's subverted - he discovers that Kirsten hadn't gotten on the train yet, and is still alive. This confirms for Matt that he's a danger to Kirsten and strengthens his resolve to leave the city with Elektra. |
| 49 | * ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'': |
| 50 | ** During John Arcudi's run, Dorothy Spinner was revealed to be in a coma since the events of Rachel Pollack's run. When Robotman learned of her condition, he decided that it would be better for her if he pulled the plug, and thus she died. |
| 51 | ** Ted Bruder/Fast Forward winds up in a coma during his comeback in Keith Giffen's run. The possibility of his recovery is brought up, but it is later confirmed he died when he appears among the ghosts of deceased Doom Patrol members haunting Robotman in ''DC's Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun''. |
| 52 | * ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour1961'' #226, the team meets up with the former pilots of the team the ComicBook/ShogunWarriors, who piloted ''Marvel Universe'' versions of the super robots Anime/CombattlerV, Anime/{{Raideen}} and Anime/PlanetRoboDanguardAce. While the pilots lived, it was revealed their robots were destroyed prior to their reappearance by a fourth Shogun Warrior, an unfinished unit called the "Samurai Destroyer." This was likely for legal reasons, as ''Shogun Warriors'' was a licensed comic [[MerchandiseDriven based on a toy line]] featuring imported Japanese anime robots. When Creator/{{Mattel}} cancelled the line and eventually lost the various licenses, Marvel was able to keep the human pilots (who were created exclusively for the American comics and did not originate in the Japanese cartoons), but had to [[ExiledFromContinuity get rid of the robots]]. |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/GodzillaRulersOfEarth'': Mothra was badly injured helping Godzilla defeat Destroya and retreats to Infant Island to heal. Many issues later, it's revealed that Mothra was killed offscreen by Battra. |
| 54 | * ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DCComics}}'': When [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica "Justice League Detroit"]] was PutOnABus following their failure to take down Brimstone, most of the members of that team either retired from active duty or were killed off by Professor Ivo's robotic copies, with only J'onn J'onnz [[TheBusCameBack returning to the main mini-series]] to help what would become the new Justice League take down Glorious Godfrey and his Warhound minions. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/MarvelMysteryComics'': The series had this right out of the gate. The ''ComicBook/{{Human Torch|1939}}'' story in issue #1 introduced Professor Horton and his creation The Human Torch. At the end of the story The Torch is tired of everyone, including the professor, of using him for their own personal gain. As a result, he escapes Professor Horton's lab by burning a hole through the roof, leaving the professor behind staring in shock at what happened. The Human Torch story in issue #2 starts with recap of the events in the first story with the addition of us being told that Professor Horton was now dead, though apparently he still had the presence of mind to type up his experience while his house burned down around him. Though he would later be revived (briefly) in the 1970s, this would be his only living appearance during the Golden Age Timely/Atlas era. |
| 56 | * ''WesternAnimation/MegaManFullyCharged'': In the first issue of the comic, Breaker Knight is revealed to have been killed by Skull Man before events of the comic. |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': During the period where Jane Foster was generally OutOfFocus, she dated and married her new partner Dr. Keith Kincaid (only to eventually divorce him), and had a son with him named Jimmy. When Creator/JasonAaron brought Jane back during his run on ''Thor'', her family status wasn't addressed until a flashback in issue #704, where it was revealed that Keith and Jimmy both died in a car accident. |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim's martial arts instructor the Rahul Lama dies of old age off panel between Tim's visits to Paris, in a very mellow and peaceful death for a martial arts master in the DCU. |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': In the storyline ''ComicBook/TheStrangeRevengeOfLenaLuthor'', when Linda Danvers meets up with Lena, her friend mentions her husband Jeffrey Colby -who had not appeared on panel in years- has passed away. |
| 60 | * ''ComicBook/TimeRunsOut'': In the lead-up to ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', Creaftor/MarvelComics is cramming various elements of their main universes together to create a streamlined, merged setting. As they state outright they are taking many pieces off the board and sticking the remainder in a larger world, many characters and both the Ultimate and -616 universes will be Bus Crashed or KilledOffForReal, solely depending on if they show it "onscreen" or not. |
| 61 | * ''ComicBook/XMen'': ''ComicBook/XMenBlue'' revealed that [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]] and [[ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour The Maker]] weren't the only survivors of the destruction of the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe--[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen Jimmy Hudson]], Guardian, and Mach II, and the Ultimate versions of Quicksilver and Armor did, too. However, the Ultimate versions of Storm, Rogue, and Iceman did as well -- only for Miss Sinister to get them and kill them. |
| 62 | [[/folder]] |
| 63 | |
| 64 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 65 | * ''ComicStrip/GasolineAlley'', unlike many other long-running comic strips, had its characters get older as time went on, mostly averting ComicBookTime. And while Walt Wallet and Phyllis lived to be over a hundred before Phyllis finally passed away, it was considered not credible for their friends from the early days to have the same sort of longevity. So Walt's friends Doc, Avery, and Bill were phased out of the strip, and it was later said that Doc and Avery had died off-screen. |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 69 | * ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'' confirms that Admiral Stenz died during the battle against Ghidorah and Rodan at Washington D.C. in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. This is based on Stenz's UncertainDoom at the battle in the movie {{novelization}}'s expansion and a deleted scene for the film which would've explicitly confirmed Stenz's death. |
| 70 | * ''Fanfic/AlwaysVisible'': Delia's father gets into an accident off-screen, causing him to lose his ability to think and move. |
| 71 | * In the WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures fic ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'', we learn that Daolon Wong has died of old age in prison, with his death [[EvilPowerVacuum leaving a gap in the ranks of the dark forces]]. [[VillainProtagonist Jade]] was informed of this by the dark chi wizard's [[SmugSnake arrogant]] FORMER apprentice Lung (when he captured her in a plot to gain his master's former position and power). |
| 72 | * The second part of the ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' fic, the ''Fanfic/DevaSeries'', begins with Gil Graham's funeral. |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/MurderersRow'': At the end of Volume 2, Andy [[TheScapegoat becomes the scapegoat]] for a massive PrisonRiot that killed multiple guards and inmates (which he admittedly did participate in). The guards flatly deny his attempts to transfer to another prison to escape his inevitable retribution, and he's last seen being bluntly told that he's a dead man walking before vanishing from the plot. Several chapters into Volume 3, Grif offhandedly mentions that Andy [[NothingIsScarier "disappeared"]] between volumes and that he's almost certainly dead; [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole the only question is who killed him.]] |
| 74 | * ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'': The short [[DistantFinale epilogue]] story at the end reveals that [[TeamPet Zwei]] passed away peacefully in sleep at some point during the ten-year TimeSkip. |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 78 | * A literal example happens with Doc Hudson prior to the events of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', due to Lightning [=McQueen=] recently winning the "Hudson Hornet ''Memorial'' Piston Cup."[[note]]Hudson was voiced by Paul Newman, who had died in the interim.[[/note]] |
| 79 | [[/folder]] |
| 80 | |
| 81 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 82 | * ''Film/TheExpendables'' has Creator/BruceWillis character Mr. Church killed off by [[Film/TheExpendables3 the third film]]. Creator/HarrisonFord mentions a line to Barney Ross that "Mr. Church is out of the picture." This is due to [[ActorLeavesCharacterDies Bruce Willis having a salary dispute with the film's producers]]. |
| 83 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has had a few bus crashes: |
| 84 | ** Marla [=McGivers=], Khan's lover from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", was killed offscreen by the [[PuppeteerParasite Ceti Eels]] in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. While she appears in earlier drafts of the movie, her role progressively dwindled further into the writing process until director Creator/NicholasMeyer decided to kill her off to give Khan a stronger motivation for his revenge (''not'' [[https://www.facttrek.com/blog/rhue because of actress Madlyn Rhue’s multiple sclerosis,]] as popularly believed). Rather than simply wanting revenge on Kirk because "You defeated me," it now becomes "You killed my wife." |
| 85 | ** And rather more infamously, Picard's brother and his family are ''burned'' to death offscreen at the beginning of ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', just so Picard can be properly tempted by the Nexus. Goodbye to that optimistic episode ending about his nephew hoping to join Starfleet! |
| 86 | ** One of the major fan complaints about ''Film/StarTrek2009'' was the implication that the time-travel shenanigans in that film had done this to the ''entire original timeline'' (with Spock Prime being the only survivor). The ''Star Trek Relaunch'' series of novels shows that the Prime continuity still "exists" as a separate timeline. Because time travel is funny like that. There are clues in the movies to this effect: Scotty's exile posting being due to a transporter experiment causing '''Admiral Archer's''' dog Porthos the Fourth to be beaming... somewhere. Scotty says he'll be fine when he ''eventually'' rematerializes. (The novel of the movie has this happen on the Enterprise bridge in the epilogue.) On the face of that alone, it's clear the reboot is happening in the near-parallel timeline established in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. |
| 87 | ** Spock Prime finally does die between ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', with young Spock learning the news from envoys of New Vulcan, which prompts him to consider dropping out of Starfleet. This bus crash was necessitated by Creator/LeonardNimoy's [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim death the year before]]; this is the first ''Star Trek'' film/episode featuring Spock to not have Nimoy in it. |
| 88 | * Creator/SeanConnery didn't want to reprise his role as [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Henry Jones Sr.]] in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', so he was written out as [[KilledOffscreen having passed away of natural causes]]. However, the character in question would have been very old anyway, and the touching moment to show this piece of information seems to indicate that there wasn't any bad blood there. It kept nicely with the theme of passing generations as well, and with their needing to write out Indy's other older-boss figure, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim Marcus Brody]] (played by the late Denholm Elliott), who had been Henry Jones Sr's friend. |
| 89 | * In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'', Indy's illegitimate son Mutt Williams is revealed to have died in the Vietnam War between movies, despite ''Crystal Skull'' ending with a hint towards Indy PassingTheTorch to Mutt. May also qualify as PutOnABusToHell as Mutt's character was [[TheScrappy poorly received by fans]], and his actor Shia [=LaBeouf=] had caused behind-the-scenes friction by publically criticising the previous movie. |
| 90 | * Dawn Wiener, the protagonist of Todd Solodz's ''Film/WelcomeToTheDollhouse'', is reported to have died (under bizarre, tragic circumstances) in the opening moments of the semi-sequel ''Palindromes''. |
| 91 | * According to WordOfGod, most of the Howling Commandos from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' have died of natural causes by the time ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' takes place (although this is hardly unexpected, due to the huge time gap). To drive this home, an alternate opening for ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' would have shown Steve reading a newspaper headline about Dum Dum Dugan having passed away. |
| 92 | * Vin Diesel's character in ''Film/{{xXx}}'' is supposed to have died between the original film and the sequel ''Film/XXxStateOfTheUnion''. There's even a deleted scene where he is killed off. Vin Diesel likes to tell everyone that HesJustHiding. This is subverted when the third film came out in 2016, where Diesel's character is revealed to be alive, confirming Diesel's HesJustHiding theory. |
| 93 | * ''Film/AceVentura Jr'' establishes that the titular character is the son of Melissa and Ace... and that Ace Sr. vanished in the Bermuda Triangle while trying to save a flock of Canadian geese. |
| 94 | * ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': |
| 95 | ** Mystique discovers partway through the film that Angel Salvadore, Azazel, Emma Frost, and Banshee (Sean Cassidy) all died (and their bodies were used in experiments by Trask) during the TimeSkip between ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' and ''Days of Future Past''. |
| 96 | ** The [[AllThereInTheManual tie-in website]] reveals that Angel (Warren Worthington) and Beast from ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' were killed between ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' and the BadFuture of this film's opening. |
| 97 | ** When the younger Beast asks, Wolverine admits that Beast died at some point in the BadFuture. |
| 98 | * ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': |
| 99 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': |
| 100 | *** John Hammond has been dead for years by the time this film starts. The last we saw him in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'', he is clearly ill and bedridden, so it's somewhat of a ForegoneConclusion that he is dead 18 years later. Creator/RichardAttenborough was still alive during filming but had been retired for several years. He passed away a few weeks after filming wrapped up. |
| 101 | *** At the end of ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', a trio of ''Pteranodon'' are shown having escaped the Aviary and [[RidingIntoTheSunset flying into the sunset]]. The ViralMarketing website for this film reveals that they were killed over Canada that same year (2001) by [[BigBad Vic Hoskins]], whose skill and professionalism during the incident convinced Simon Masrani to hire him as head of security for the new park on Isla Nublar. |
| 102 | *** The ''Spinosaurus'' from ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' is never actually killed. As with the ''Pteranodon'', it's said to be put down offscreen. Its skeleton was preserved and can be seen in several shots of the Jurassic World park. |
| 103 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': The sick ''Triceratops'' is still sick the last time we see her in [[Film/JurassicPark1993 the original film]]. According to promotional material for this film, she died sometime afterwards, and her body was eaten by Rexy. |
| 104 | * Tom Hagen dies between ''Film/TheGodfatherPartII'' and ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'', as Robert Duvall demanded too much money to return as Tom for the third film. |
| 105 | * The ViralMarketing for ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'' reveals that in [[SequelGap the two decades since the]] [[Film/IndependenceDay War of 1996]], Creator/WillSmith's Captain Hiller got promoted to Colonel, and [[KilledOffscreen died testing a jet/alien fighter hybrid]]. The movie shows that Constance Spano has also died. |
| 106 | * In the course of ''Film/WallStreetMoneyNeverSleeps'', we learn that Gekko's son has died of a drug overdose during the nearly quarter-century since the original film. His mother was apparently so distraught by this she eventually had to be committed to a mental hospital; it's implied she may have passed on as well. |
| 107 | * ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' introduces a new character named Vivian Wembley, who is stated to be the last surviving member of the Witwiccan line. This implies that Sam Witwicky from the first three movies (as well as his dad) died or started FakingTheDead some time after ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon''. |
| 108 | * WordOfGod is that Lady Sif, Betty Ross, the actor playing Loki in the play shown in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', and the guy playing ''Galaga'' in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' were among those Thanos killed when he wiped out half the universe in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. Jane Foster, last seen in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' and Thaddeus Ross were also confirmed to have died off screen from the snap before their deaths were undone by Hulk in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. Of those, all but Betty and the guy playing Galaga later [[TheBusCameBack returned in future MCU instalments.]] |
| 109 | * ''Film/FinalDestination'': |
| 110 | ** Alex Browning is mentioned to have died offscreen in ''Film/FinalDestination2'', being crushed by falling debris. He was supposed to appear, but the filmmakers ended up in a pay dispute with Creator/DevonSawa, so they decided to just kill him off. |
| 111 | ** A deleted scene in ''Film/FinalDestination3'' shows a newspaper reporting the deaths of Kimberly Coleman and Officer Thomas Burke in a woodchipper accident. Again, they were supposed to appear, meeting Wendy Christensen at the train. Since the theatrical cut excises this, this means that, canonically, they are the only people on Death's List who have genuinely cheated death. |
| 112 | * ''Film/Scream4'': It's stated that Sidney Prescott's father, Neil, died of natural causes in the TimeSkip between the film and ''Film/Scream3''. |
| 113 | * In the climax of ''Film/{{Underworld|2003}}: Blood Wars'', Selene learns that her lover, Michael Corvin, was killed by Marius sometime before the film begins. Note that Michael has been a mostly non-entity since ''Awakening'', with FakeShemp being used as Creator/ScottSpeedman couldn't return. |
| 114 | * Subverted in ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol''. Ethan Hunt's wife, Julia Meade, is stated to have been killed during a holiday, seemingly undoing their happy ending from [[Film/MissionImpossibleIII the previous film]]. However, it turns out that Ethan merely faked her death then sent her to go into hiding. Julia is very much alive and even cameos in the ending. |
| 115 | * The 2010 remake of ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|2010}}'' ends with Io being resurrected and living together with Perseus. The sequel, ''Wrath of the Titans'', opens with Perseus visiting her grave, alongside their son, Heleus. This conveniently allows Perseus to end up with Andromeda, who is his canonical lover in the original myths. |
| 116 | * To explain why Creator/JamieLeeCurtis (by that point a Hollywood A-lister) didn't reprise her role as Laurie Strode in ''Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers'', the film revealed that Laurie had died in an accident a year before the events of the movie, with her daughter Jamie Lloyd, now being raised by the family of a girl who Laurie once babysat, serving as the film's main connection to the Strode family saga. (Laurie did eventually come back to the series, but in an AlternateTimeline.) |
| 117 | * ''Film/ClerksIII'': Becky Scott is revealed to have been killed by a drunk driver shortly after the events of ''Film/ClerksII'', along with her and Dante's unborn daughter. |
| 118 | * ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'' had T'Challa passing away offscreen in the beginning of the film due to a disease. This is because of Creator/ChadwickBoseman's untimely passing to cancer in 2020 and Ryan Coolger feeling wrong recasting such an iconic role. |
| 119 | [[/folder]] |
| 120 | |
| 121 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 122 | * In ''Literature/{{Aeon 14}}'', the Victoria colony that the ''Intrepid'' crew builds in ''Building Victoria'' ends up being glassed offscreen by vengeful Sirians during the FTL Wars, centuries after ''Intrepid'' leaves (but only days for the ''Intrepid'' due to a YearOutsideHourInside scenario). The same happened to much of the Sol system that they had originally launched from, including Tanis's birthplace on Mars (buried under a fallen docking ring). |
| 123 | * An in-universe example when a character in ''Literature/After2003'' disappears and is assumed by the other students to have been suspended, but later an announcement is made about her tragic death. |
| 124 | * {{Implied|Trope}} to have happened to Drumon, a senior Techmarine from the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' series. He's mentioned in ''The Greater Good'' to have volunteered to stay behind on the space hulk ''Spawn of Damnation'' as it reentered the Warp, and given that HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace, it's unsurprising that he is nowhere to be seen when his Astartes chapter the Reclaimers reappears in that book. |
| 125 | * In the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse, one of the Eighth Doctor's main expanded universe continuities involved this trope. Former companion Sam Jones is revealed, in the very last of the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures, (which is to say, the 73rd, or, [[ContinuitySnarl continuity-wise]], the 75th), to have died in her twenties. Fitz is terribly upset, but the Doctor, having TraumaInducedAmnesia, doesn't remember and therefore shows no response whatsoever, [[TheStoic not even to his best friend's distress]]. Fitz gets absolutely furious (and he's usually rather slow to anger). |
| 126 | * In the Literature/CalLeandros book ''Doubletake'', readers find out via flashback from Grimm that he killed Georgia awhile back. However, she did some MindManipulation on him to make sure he never told Cal what he did, and it seems somewhat implied that maybe things didn't end as Grimm thinks they did. |
| 127 | * Yukari in ''Literature/QualiaThePurple''. About 6 months after leaving Hatou's school for JAUNT, she's KilledOffscreen. |
| 128 | * In ''Literature/{{GONE}}'', and its four sequels (with a fifth and final sequel on April 2013), fans were excited when Mary Terrafino was revealed to be coming back in FEAR after a whole book of absence. She's present in one scene. Dead. |
| 129 | * Igor Karkaroff in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' goes into hiding at the end of the fourth book and is mentioned to have been killed a few chapters into the sixth book. Of course, [[BigBad Voldemort]]'s words at the end of the fourth book very heavily foreshadowed this, as he made it clear Karkaroff's days were numbered. |
| 130 | * In the ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' franchise, Gennaro, who survives in [[Literature/JurassicPark1990 the novel]] but dies in [[Film/JurassicPark1993 the film]], is mentioned as having died from medical causes in the sequel novel, ''Literature/TheLostWorld1995'', neatly bringing the novels and films somewhat more in line. |
| 131 | * In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Glóin the Dwarf tells the Council of Elrond that Balin, Óin, and Ori from ''Literature/TheHobbit'' are among the Dwarves who went to liberate Moria. Later, after the Fellowship fails to cross the Redhorn Pass, Gimli looks forward enthusiastically to going to Moria and meeting Balin and company there. Then they get to Moria... and find that the dwarf-colony was destroyed years before by Orcs and the Balrog, and Balin, Óin, and Ori are all among the dead. |
| 132 | * Madame Thénardier in ''Literature/LesMiserables''. She's put in jail after the Gorbeau robbery, never seen again, and it's mentioned much later that she died. Bear in mind she was a big, healthy, middle-aged woman. |
| 133 | * In ''Literature/PeterPanInScarlet'', the 2004 authorized sequel to ''Literature/PeterPan'', Michael Darling, the youngest of the three Darling siblings, is absent. It is revealed that he died in World War I. |
| 134 | * ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Hector; the Quagmire triplets; Captain Widdershins; Fernald; Fiona, in some interpretations: the human race. ''[[AmbiguousSituation Maybe.]]'' |
| 135 | * Mort and Ysabelle, after a turn as main characters in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', are given barely one scene in ''Literature/SoulMusic'', where they're not seen, and their carriage falls off a cliff. Intentional, as it proves to be a major part of [[TheGrimReaper Death's]] CharacterDevelopment: the realisation at just how fragile and short human lives are, and how randomly and easily they are taken. |
| 136 | * In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' canon, [[TheWatson Watson]]'s first wife (Mary Morstan) is revealed to have died during the Great Hiatus, but no greater explanation is made, nor is it shown in a story itself. |
| 137 | * In the Creator/DianeDuane novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', the plot reveals that Stonn died in between the novel and the last encounter with Spock, due to a risk the former character took to recapture a mate's attention. |
| 138 | * ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': |
| 139 | ** ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest'' introduced Chak Fel, one of Soontir Fel's sons and a pilot/officer who left at the end of the novel to head back to the Empire of the Hand, which was basically all of TheEmpire's strengths and almost none of its flaws. [[Literature/DarkNestTrilogy Later books]] not only somehow managed to confuse the Empire of the Hand with the Chiss Ascendancy (they are adjacent to each other, the Empire was formed by a prominent Chiss, and it really wants to open up friendly channels with its parent, but they're not the same), but later claimed that the Empire just sort of fell apart - and oh, by the way, Chak Fel died in a war that's over now. |
| 140 | ** The franchise did this to a whole species at one point. ''Literature/TheCrystalStar'' introduces the Firrerreos, a race of [[HumanSubspecies near-humans]] that were all but destroyed by one of their own, a Dark Jedi serving Vader. The survivors disappear into hyperspace after Leia revives them from [[HumanPopsicle cryogenic hibernation]] and are mentioned by ''[[AllThereInTheManual The Essential Guide to Alien Species]]'' to have been granted asylum on the planet Belderone. Happy ending, right? Not so fast: the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' book ''Remnant'' mentions offhand that Belderone was invaded by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] and that the Firrerreos are now functionally extinct. |
| 141 | ** Sten Thanas dies of an illness between ''Literature/TheTruceAtBakura'' and ''Literature/TheCorellianTrilogy''. |
| 142 | * In ''Literature/IslandOfTheBlueDolphins'', the protagonist's ''entire people'' seem to be PutOnABus when they emigrate from their island and accidentally leave her behind, but later it's revealed that the ship they were on sank during a storm and nobody survived. This was {{retcon}}ned for the eventual sequel. |
| 143 | * As befitting the setting, many characters disappear in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' trilogy only to be noted as dead later. Large examples include Cinna, Darius, Madge, the red-headed Avox, and the District 8 runaways. |
| 144 | * Happens several times in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' after timeskips: for instance, Rainwhisker's death is mentioned at the start of The Sight, killed between books by a falling tree branch. |
| 145 | * In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Grue was apparently PutOnABus, and quite a few people wondered why he hadn't done anything useful for a while. Then Tattletale mentions [[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/interlude-end/ he died]] back on the oil rig. Ouch. |
| 146 | [[/folder]] |
| 147 | |
| 148 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 149 | * ''Series/ArchieBunkersPlace'': When Jean Stapleton left her long-running role of Edith Bunker (which she originated on ''All in the Family''), she was written out as having died of a stroke off-screen. The resulting story was the 1980 season opener, where Archie -- in deep shock after Edith's sudden passing -- refuses to come to terms with the death until his bottled-up grief is triggered by spotting her slippers on the bedroom floor. |
| 150 | * In an overlap with SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome, the character of Young Mr. Grace, who had already been PutOnABus in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' (owing to Creator/HaroldBennett's ill health), has died before the beginning of the first episode of the sequel series ''Are You Being Served Again'' (also known as ''Grace and Favour''), and the episode involves the cast taking charge of his country manor and attending the reading of his will. |
| 151 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': |
| 152 | ** Talia Winters, played by Andrea Thompson, is kind of a complicated one. Herself a replacement character for an actress who was fired after the pilot, Thompson became very dissatisfied with her lack of screen time, despite a slowly building subplot of Talia developing powerful telekinetic abilities that would clearly have paid off soon. She was written off by having an evil "sleeper personality" become activated and effectively kill the real Talia, which was originally planned for ''another'' character that had been replaced after the pilot, but NOT the one Talia replaced. This still left the opportunity for Thompson to return as an antagonist, like Denise Crosby in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', but the next season, it was strongly suggested (though by a character known for his dishonesty and enjoyment of jerking others' chains) that she had been killed and dissected off screen. And after all that, her replacement character was actually the same character Talia herself had replaced, and who then required a [[TouchedByVorlons Vorlon upgrade]] to match Talia's implied new power level. Whew! |
| 153 | ** The actress who played Na'Toth left between Seasons 1 and 2 due to problems with the prosthetic make-up, so a new actress was brought in. The new actress only appeared in two episodes of Season 2 due to her desire to reinterpret the character instead of sticking with what had already been established. JMS got so annoyed with her he just had her vanish halfway through Season 2, and later revealed she'd gone back to the Narn home world to join the war against the Centauri and been killed in the Centauri assault later in Season 2. However, the original actress was willing to come back for a one-off guest appearance in Season 5, so JMS retconned it that Na'Toth had survived. |
| 154 | ** Possibly the highest-profile one from the show: Lennier vanishes towards the end of Season 5 having left Sheridan to die in an accident. Riven by guilt, he vows not to return until he has redeemed himself. His character is later referred to as dead. It is eventually explained in the Babylon 5 books series that Lennier died during the Telepath War, alongside Lyta Alexander in an explosion that destroyed Psi Corps Headquarters. |
| 155 | ** General William Hague was introduced in the second season as a ChekhovsGunman who was intended to become an important ally to the protagonists later on during the Earth Civil War arc. However, when the pivotal episodes rolled around, the actor had been booked to ''[[DuelingShows Deep Space Nine]]'' instead (Robert Foxworth's agent apparently screwed up and double-booked him). The character was promptly Bus Crashed. JMS freely admitted he did this out of spite. |
| 156 | ** In a first-season episode, Londo falls in love with a beautiful slave named Adira. After gaining her freedom, she leaves to further herself, with a promise to return to him someday. Several seasons later, she does return... but only her cloth-draped corpse makes it onto the station. She was poisoned off screen as part of a BatmanGambit to shock Londo into [[FaceHeelTurn joining back up with the Shadows]]. |
| 157 | ** In season 2's "The Geometry of Shadows" a group of [[{{Magitek}} techno-mages]] pass through the station, led by a man named Elric. They're traveling beyond known space to avoid having their arts harnessed for the upcoming Shadow War. In the second episode of ''Series/{{Crusade}}'', Elric was said by Galen to have died soon after the techno-mages reached their hiding place. This was eventually explained in the licensed novel ''The Passing of the Techno-Mages: Invoking Darkness'' (he is killed by a techno-mage working for the Shadows, but manages to stop her from revealing the hiding place). |
| 158 | * After Creator/RubyRose departed from the show, ''Series/{{Batwoman|2019}}'' was retooled with a new protagonist, while Kate Kane is stated to have gone missing in a plane accident sometime after the Season 1 finale, seemingly playing this trope straight. Then it's revealed that Kate survived but was given a MagicPlasticSurgery, neatly explaining why she is played by TheOtherDarrin. |
| 159 | * ''Series/BeingHumanUK'': |
| 160 | ** The werewolf who turned George, Tully, appears in one episode in the first series, and is then not heard from again until an important piece of graffiti by him in the finale of the second series, in which one of the characters mentions him as dead. |
| 161 | ** Daisy Hannigan-Spiteri, a vampire who appears repeatedly in the second series, is left behind when the group moves to Wales, and a vampire-hunter later refers to her as one of his kills. |
| 162 | * Jenna in ''Series/BlakesSeven'' was launched out of the spaceship in an escape pod at the end of the second series. In the [[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E13Blake final episode]] of the series, Blake states that she has died but it's left ambiguous if he's telling the truth or not. The [[AudioPlay/BlakesSeven Big Finish audios]] later revealed he was indeed telling the truth. |
| 163 | * In ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}'', Beth's mother Elizabeth dies off-screen between seasons one and two, apparently from some sort of stress-related illness. |
| 164 | * In the Season 5 premiere of ''Series/{{Community}}'', Pierce is stated to have left the school after being banned for sexual harassment. Later in the episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics", the remaining members of the group find out that Pierce has passed away. |
| 165 | * Handled very well with Blanche Hunt in ''Series/CoronationStreet'' whose actress died. The writers [[PutOnABus put her on a bus]] to Portugal for a holiday temporarily while they worked through their current storylines. Once they were ready to handle it properly, Blanche's daughter Deirdre got a phonecall that Blanche had died in Portugal. She was given a full funeral and wake in The Rovers. |
| 166 | * In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', [[TeamDad Jason Gideon]], having left the BAU in "In Name and Blood" in Season 3, becomes the VictimOfTheWeek in Season 10's "Nelson's Sparrow" when the [=UnSub=] murders him in his cabin. It counts as this trope instead of BackForTheDead because the actual murder is never shown onscreen; all we see of Gideon in the episode is his corpse. |
| 167 | * ''Series/CrossingJordan'': A show that had only its original core group as the regulars with added characters who were in and out, ''Crossing Jordan'' was not afraid of writing a character off, doing this at least once if not twice. One died in a plane crash and the other died semi-on-screen from really bad food poisoning. |
| 168 | * ''{{Series/CSINY}}'' crossed it with StuffedInTheFridge with Aiden. Mac fired her at the beginning of Season 2 for starting to tamper with evidence. Near the end of the season, her return in "[[Recap/CSINYS02E23 Heroes]]" was hyped, but she was only seen onscreen in flashback, having been killed and left to incinerate in a burning car for the team to find. |
| 169 | * Jock Ewing was written to have died in a helicopter crash to start the fifth season of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' because actor Jim Davis had died before production of the season began. |
| 170 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 171 | ** This was the situation of the Eighth Doctor, played by Paul [=McGann=] for many years. He was never seen again after the 1996 TV movie (aside from the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'', which continued unabated, even using Paul [=McGann=] in the audio dramas). The Eighth Doctor's regeneration had been intended to be shown in the official comic series, but ExecutiveMeddling resulted in it being changed when the decision was made that the Ninth Doctor's comic strip adventures should be strictly tied into the TV continuity. The Eighth Doctor's regeneration was finally shown in the pre-50th anniversary webcast teaser "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor The Night of the Doctor]]", in which he regenerated into [[Creator/JohnHurt someone quite different]] from whom the fans had assumed that he did for years... |
| 172 | ** "The Empty Child" demonstrates that the Eighth Doctor isn't the only character to have died in the planetary BusCrash that was the [[GreatOffscreenWar Time War]]. |
| 173 | ---> '''Dr. Constantine''': Before this war began I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither, but I'm still a doctor.\ |
| 174 | '''The Doctor''': I know the feeling. |
| 175 | ** When Steven Moffat was asked if he would bring the popular Time Lady character Romana back now that the Time Lords had been resurrected, he [[WordOfGod announced that he assumed she was dead anyway]]. |
| 176 | ** TheBrigadier dies this way, due to TheCharacterDiedWithHim. |
| 177 | * ''Series/EarthFinalConflict'': The main character of the series was replaced after the first season and PutOnABus. He came back for two episodes of the final season, where he resolves a few plot threads, then leaves again. In the GrandFinale it's mentioned in passing that he was killed (then again, the series had essentially decided that {{everyone dies|Ending}} at that point). |
| 178 | * On ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' Mycroft has a bounty put on his head by a powerful organized crime group and goes into hiding, unable to contact Sherlock in any way without risking both their lives. A few seasons later, Sherlock discovers that the mob bosses hunting Mycroft have all been killed in a MobWar a few months back and is quite upset that Mycroft has not contacted him yet. He finally decides to track down his brother and discovers that eight months earlier Mycroft suffered a brain aneurysm and died in an Australian hospital under a fake name. |
| 179 | * ''Series/TheExpanse'': Anderson Dawes is killed off-screen between season 5 and 6. This is, in a sense, a long time coming given that his last in-person appearance was all the way back in season 2, due to Creator/JaredHarris's extremely busy schedule preventing him from returning to the show since. |
| 180 | * ''Series/FallingSkies'' has the character of Uncle Scott killed between seasons 1 and 2. Viewers aren't even shown his grave, it's only mentioned in passing that he died. |
| 181 | * In ''Series/Fallout2024'', they do this with ''an entire faction''. The New California Republic, who is a major faction from ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' gets destroyed and dismantled offscreen with little fanfare, earning a lot of longtime fans' ire. Similarly, New Vegas itself seems to be abandoned, leading many of the same fans to think that Bethesda and/or the writers had something against ''New Vegas''. |
| 182 | * In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' the “Liars, Guns, and Money” trilogy brought back a ton of villains from the first season, many of whom were BackForTheDead. One villain, Commander Kraccic, the leader of a group of SpacePirates Moya's crew had encountered, is revealed to have been murdered by Durka offscreen some time ago. |
| 183 | * ''Series/TheFlash2014'': |
| 184 | ** It's less that he was PutOnABus and more that he only appeared in a few episodes, but Cisco’s brother Dante was revealed to have died offscreen in Season 3, in an almost literal version of this trope as he was killed by a drunk driver. |
| 185 | ** Cisco’s love interest and interdimensional traveller Gypsy was put on a bus after Season 4. In Season 6, her father Breacher showed up and revealed she had been murdered in cold blood by one of her targets. |
| 186 | * ''Series/AFrenchVillage'': Sarah gets deported along with other Jews to Poland. Later it turns out that she died in Auschwitz of typhus. |
| 187 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': |
| 188 | ** When Jon reconnects with Qhorin after being sidetracked by Ygritte, he learns that the rest of their party were killed by the wildlings off-screen. |
| 189 | ** Shaggydog's decapitated head is shown to prove that Rickon is a real Stark to Ramsay Bolton. |
| 190 | ** Violet is revealed to have died offscreen, two seasons after her first and only appearance on screen. |
| 191 | ** Smalljon observes that the Greatjon died at some unspecified time before Season 6. |
| 192 | ** Galbart Glover hasn't been seen since the end of the first season. His brother confirmed that he died during Robb's campaign. |
| 193 | * Happened twice in ''Series/{{Glee}}'': |
| 194 | ** Jean Sylvester, Sue's sister and a recurring character, dies off-screen in season 2 ("Funeral" dealt with exactly what you think it did). The actress who played her was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and was no longer able to work. |
| 195 | ** Finn Hudson's death. The character had been PutOnABus at the end of Season 4 due to his actor having gone to rehab, but he died in between seasons due to a drug overdose. Season 5's third episode, "The Quarterback", is a heavily emotional tribute to him. Since Finn was the show's deuteragonist, he wasn't forgotten after this episode. On the contrary, he was remembered until the very last moment. |
| 196 | * In ''Series/GoodTimes'', patriarch James Evans was PutOnABus to Mississippi, "looking for work". In the season four premiere, Florida gets a letter that says James was killed in a car accident on his way back to Chicago. [[note]]The out-of-universe reason for this was that James' actor, John Amos, got into a contract dispute with the producers, leading to Amos leaving the show. [[ActorLeavesCharacterDies The producers killed James off in retaliation.]][[/note]] |
| 197 | * The final episode of ''Series/GreenWing'' opens at the funeral of Angela, who had left to pursue an acting career. It is said that she was killed by a moose. |
| 198 | * In ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', George gets hit and killed by the bus that he was going to take to leave the hospital and go join the Army. His character wasn't coming back anyway as the actor ended his contract, hence the in-universe result of him wanting to join the Army, but this is still a pretty harsh way to go. Though, in this case it was also a HeroicSacrifice, as he pushed away the person about to get hit. |
| 199 | * In the second episode of the last season of ''Series/HaltAndCatchFire'', Joe mentions that his father died sometime in the previous year. |
| 200 | * On ''Series/{{Hollyoaks}}'', Kurt Benson was PutOnABus to get his head together, but sometime later, it was revealed he'd been killed by, of all things, a jet-ski. |
| 201 | * ''Series/HomeAndAway'': |
| 202 | ** The show had Beth leaving Summer Bay to visit some other members of her family. In the episode in which she was supposed to come back, she ends up getting involved in a crash with a lorry and ends up dead. |
| 203 | ** And, one season later, Dan died on a rock-climbing trip in America. |
| 204 | ** Vinnie Patterson was an interesting example. In early 2002 he was sent to prison. At the end of the year he was killed, off screen, in a fire. In 2004 he was resurrected and in the Witness Protection Program, but was only seen in a bear costume at his son's birthday party. In early 2010, he was killed off again. |
| 205 | * ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'': |
| 206 | ** The show did it to Daniel Baldwin's character, Beau Felton. He left with several other cast members, allegedly on administrative leave after some bad behavior at a police convention, but turned up as the VictimOfTheWeek a few seasons later. A shotgun blast to the head even obviated the need to have Baldwin play his own corpse. |
| 207 | ** Likewise, Creator/JonPolito's character, Steve Crosetti, took a holiday for the first three episodes of season three, then drowned himself. |
| 208 | * In ''Series/{{JAG}}'', Lt. Loren Singer was transferred from the Judge Advocate General's office (AndThereWasMuchRejoicing)...and a few months later [[Series/{{NCIS}} Naval Criminal Investigation Services]] arrested Commander Rabb for her murder. So they lost a hated character, and gained a much-loved spin-off. |
| 209 | * ''Series/LawAndOrder'': |
| 210 | ** A fairly literal example happens in one episode. ADA Claire Kincaid was in a car crash with Lennie Briscoe in the Season 6 finale - this was originally intended to write out actress Jill Hennessey, who would be revealed to be paralyzed in the Season 7 premiere and then PutOnABus. But when Hennessey declined to return for one more episode, Claire was instead killed off. |
| 211 | ** Lennie Briscoe also got this treatment after Creator/JerryOrbach died. Briscoe was originally written out as retiring. Then he was seen working as an investigator for the DA's office on "Trial By Jury". After he died, all references to him in "Trial By Jury" were removed, and after that series was cancelled, references to his death were peppered into scripts for ''Criminal Intent'' and the Mothership. Somewhat subverted in that these mentions only arose from his former colleagues during personal crises. |
| 212 | ** In a minor example, Detective Curtis left the show in part because of his wife Deborah's worsening multiple sclerosis (Deborah had appeared in only a couple of episodes because at the time, the series paid little attention to the personal lives of its characters). Curtis returned for one episode for his wife's funeral. |
| 213 | ** Executive ADA Ben Stone was written out after Season 4 because his actor, Michael Moriarty, began to behave erratically after NBC executives asked for more female characters on the show, accusing the then-Attorney General Janet Reno of trying to censor TV. At first he was simply said to be away, and then stopped being mentioned at all, but ''twenty-four years later'', ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' showed the character's funeral. |
| 214 | * Another strange one: Kahlan's sister Denee from ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' was the focus of an episode after Kahlan learned that she was still alive, having apparently been killed in the pilot episode. The episode in question involves the main characters going to great lengths to save her and her newborn baby, only for their deaths to be off-handedly mentioned towards the end of season one. Denee is eventually brought back in a new body, and that's all we hear of her. |
| 215 | * Zig-zagged in the fourth-season opener of ''Series/TheLibrarians2014'', where Flynn reveals that Nicole Noone, his first guardian, died sometime after the events of ''Film/TheLibrarian Quest For The Spear''... only for her to turn up alive in a secret dungeon in the Library. |
| 216 | * In the final Murdoc episode of ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'', [=MacGyver=]'s ArchEnemy Murdoc mentions that his sister was killed in a skiing accident, which is partially what prompts his return to a life of supervillainy. This makes the previous Murdoc episode, in which he and [=MacGyver=] went to an enormous amount of trouble to save her, something of a ShootTheShaggyDog. |
| 217 | * The remake ''Series/{{MacGyver|2016}}'' also used this trope, when actor George Eads left the show mid-season 3 over an ongoing disagreement about the show's shooting location. His character Jack Dalton was called back to help hunt down a terrorist who he thought his team had killed years earlier. In Season 5, episode 5 (perhaps in response to frequent fan demands for the production team to bring him back), he is stated to have been killed in the attempt, and the rest of the episode deals with the team attempting to complete the mission as a memorial. |
| 218 | * ''Series/{{MASH}}'': |
| 219 | ** In the Season 3 finale, Lt. Col. Henry Blake (Creator/McLeanStevenson) leaves the 4077th because his tour of duty is up; he has enough points for an honorable discharge and can go home. At the episode's end, Radar O'Reilly comes in to inform the cast that Henry was killed when his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. To keep the rest of the episode sad about Col. Blake leaving, but [[WarIsHell happy about him going home]], the only cast member told about this before the episode started shooting was Alan Alda; everyone else ([=McLean=] Stevenson himself apparently wasn't even told) instead believed that Henry was merely going home. The final sad scene was filmed last, and the actors were only told of Henry's fate just before then (the notion that they ''weren't told at all'' prior to filming the scene is an {{Urban Legend|s}}). It's said that the traditional wrap party was canceled because of the gloomy mood after the scene was shot. Apparently, while there was some resentment from the production crew over Stevenson's leaving the show, the official reason for the shocking twist was to hammer home the [[AnyoneCanDie capriciousness of war]]. Showrunner Larry Gelbart explicitly said in an interview soon after that he didn't want Blake going back to Bloomington because "a lot of guys didn't get back to Bloomington." |
| 220 | ** Stevenson got a small measure of revenge that Saturday night, as on Music/{{Cher}}'s variety show (he had already been booked as a guest), the opening bumper had Stevenson dressed as Henry Blake on a raft waving his arms and shouting, "I'm OK! I'm OK!" Some fanfiction writers picked up on the raft sketch and worked out explanations for why Henry hadn't contacted the 4077th after being rescued. |
| 221 | * ''Series/McMillanAndWife'': Thanks to a contract dispute between Susan Saint James and Creator/{{Universal}}, Sally [=McMillan=] was killed in a plane crash after the fifth season. Without the chemistry between Sally and her husband, most viewers lost interest, and the show was cancelled a few episodes later. |
| 222 | * Matt Fielding left ''Series/MelrosePlace'' after several seasons as the [[TokenMinority token gay]]. His death by car crash is reported a season or so later. |
| 223 | * Due to Peter Capaldi becoming the next ''Doctor Who'', writers for ''Series/TheMusketeers'' had to kill off Cardinal Richelieu between seasons one and two, having him die of some unspecified heart problem. The real Richelieu died of a long, debilitating illness. |
| 224 | * In the final series of ''Series/MyFamily'', Susan's mother Grace is revealed to have suddenly died offscreen - supposedly from falling into crocodile-infested waters after her cord snapped during a bungee jump. |
| 225 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000:'' In [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S07E06Laserblast "Laserblast"]], which [[SeriesFauxnale the showrunners thought would be the final episode]], Dr. Clayton Forrester's story arc turns into an {{homage}} to ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ending with him reverting to a baby. His mother Pearl declares she's going to raise him again, and do it right this time. Then the series got renewed, but Clayton's actor Trace Beaulieu decided not to return. So, in the first episode of the new season, [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E01RevengeOfTheCreature "Revenge of the Creature"]], Pearl reveals that Clayton grew up to be just as bad as he was before, so she [[VorpalPillow smothered him in his sleep with a pillow]]. |
| 226 | * ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': |
| 227 | ** Special Agent Laura Macy was originally was the leader of the Los Angeles Team in the pilot of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', but did not appear in the actual show. She was later found dead. |
| 228 | ** The season 13 finale also did this to former NCIS agent Ziva David, killed in a bombing of her family home two seasons after leaving the show under already-{{bittersweet|Ending}} circumstances. |
| 229 | * ''Series/TheOC'' had an on-screen example, with Marissa Cooper at the end of the third season - her father invited her to live with him in Maui, only for Marissa to die in a car crash after her ex-boyfriend ran her off the road. The death was especially shocking, as not one piece of hype for the episode teased a death. |
| 230 | * A rather aggravating example from ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' with Sarah Paige. At the end of season 3 she says she's come up with an idea to rescue Conor, Abby and Danny from the past but she's conspicuous by her absence at the start of season 4. Becker then mentions "when Sarah was killed" and apart from Abby asking where she is, she's never mentioned again. |
| 231 | * On ''Series/StElsewhere'', [[PutOnABus Bobby Caldwell]] contracted AIDS, moved to a care facility in California, and left the show. In a much later episode, the staff hears that he had succumbed to the disease. |
| 232 | * Creator/JohnRitter played JD's father in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. When Ritter died some time after his last appearance, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim his character had a fatal heart attack.]] Various other forms of death tropes happened to a number of Ritter's other characters for the same reason. |
| 233 | * ''Series/SesameStreet'': When Will Lee died of a heart attack in December 1982, so did his character, Mr. Hooper. Usually in children's programming, this would be addressed by [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome simply erasing the character from existence]], [[TheOtherDarrin getting another actor for the role]], or even [[CharacterOutlivesActor stating that he had moved out]]. Not here; the show broke the trend, and actually tackled Hooper's death head-on in a segment to teach children about death. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOvmSxvpGnA It can be viewed here.]] |
| 234 | * Subverted by ''Series/ShamelessUK''. Debbie Gallagher left to join the army at the end of Series 6, and later sent a letter saying she was in Afghanistan. In the first episode of Series 8, an army officer tells Frank that Debbie was killed in action, but it turns out to be a malicious prank by his ex wife. |
| 235 | * ''Series/TheShield'': |
| 236 | ** Assistant Police Chief Ben Gilroy appears in a number of Season 1 episodes, but [[PutOnABus is smuggled into Mexico]] by Vic Mackey after he commits a number of crimes. In season 4, he shows up... dead, from cirrhosis of the liver. |
| 237 | ** The same thing happens to Tigra (the woman Lem was involved with after he rescued her brother in Season 1). In Season 5, Kavanaugh mentions her name when he runs down the list of criminal informants who died over the course of the series (and which many fans missed because the statement isn't immediately clear until he clarifies it). |
| 238 | * ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': |
| 239 | ** Whitney is put on a literal bus in a season finale when he joins the armed forces, and he dies in an overseas war a little bit later. In fact he dies [[NotHimself a bit sooner than the audience thinks he does]]. Eric Johnson returns as Whitney for this episode, and it shows the real Whitney being blown up overseas in the teaser. So it's BackForTheDead and NotHimself. |
| 240 | ** General {{Fanon}} agrees that Lex had his brother Lucas Luthor murdered sometime before Season 7. |
| 241 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'': |
| 242 | ** After Jonas Quinn departs he comes back for one season 7 episode, then doesn't appear again. In season 10 his home planet is mentioned as falling to the Ori, and "their allies" on the planet could not be contacted, implying that they were killed. Though not stated on the show, [[WordOfGod one of the producers stated in an interview]] that Jonas was part of [[LaResistance an underground movement set on resisting the Ori]]. |
| 243 | ** Another example from ''SG-1'' is the Tollan Omoc, who appears for exactly one episode in ''Enigma'', the first episode in which the Tollans are introduced. He is then stated to be an influential member of the Tollan government, until ''Between Two Fires'', which opens with his (off-screen) death and funeral. And then the entire Tollan race is exterminated. (The writers ignoring, for the entire rest of the franchise, the fact that [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts there were almost certain to be at least a few off-world Tollans]].) |
| 244 | * ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': |
| 245 | ** Ford becomes addicted to Wraith enzyme at the end of season one and goes AWOL. He returns in season two, helping the team off a Wraith Hive ship that's about to explode, but stays behind to buy them time. Sheppard however, remains confident that he survived (given that his enemies always seem to consistently do so). Ford never appeared in the show again save for an ImagineSpot, but is never confirmed as killed either. |
| 246 | ** One episode of ''Atlantis'' had the team save a human civilization whose homeworld was about to be devastated by a supervolcano eruption, and relocate them to another planet. A later episode reveals that they had all been killed by [[BigBad Michael]] to provide DNA for one of his SuperSoldier projects. |
| 247 | ** In the final episode of ''Atlantis'' it is revealed that General Hammond, who got promoted out of the show after series 7 of ''SG-1'' and from then on had occasional guest appearances, died of a heart attack [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim (just like Don S. Davies)]]. They promptly rename a spaceship in construction after him. The operational spaceship appears in ''Series/StargateUniverse''. |
| 248 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 249 | ** After his only appearance in the Season 9 midseason finale, [[Characters/SupernaturalAngels Malachi]] is mentioned near the season's end as having been murdered by Gadreel at some point. |
| 250 | ** Krissy Chambers' father [[Characters/SupernaturalHunters Lee]] who appeared in her debut episode. It's revealed when Krissy reappears in "Freaks and Geeks" that he's been killed since we last saw the two of them. |
| 251 | * In the Creator/BigFinish ''Series/{{The Tomorrow People|1973}}'' line, viewers are told that Kenny, one of the early Tomorrow People, has been killed by an assassin. |
| 252 | * ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'': Creator/CharlieSheen, who plays [[TheDanza Charlie Harper]], was causing massive production delays on set and pissed off showrunner Chuck Lorre. In the show, Charlie Harper was revealed to have died when he was pushed in front of a Paris train by his new wife Rose. The series finale has Charlie brought BackForTheDead ([[FakeShemp sort of]]). |
| 253 | * Rachel Gurney worried about getting {{typecast|ing}} as upper-class matriarchs in period dramas; so at the beginning of the second season of [[TheEdwardianEra Edwardian]] domestic drama ''Series/UpstairsDownstairs'', Lady Marjorie goes to visit some family in America... ''[[ForegoneConclusion on the Titanic]]''. |
| 254 | * CD Parker in ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger''. His actor, Creator/NobleWillingham, left the show to run for a seat on the United States House of Representatives, but came out unsuccessful. CD's death occurred in "[[Recap/WalkerTexasRangerS9E4TheAvengingAngel The Avenging Angel]]", supposedly from heart failure, but in the GrandFinale, "[[Recap/WalkerTexasRangerS9E23AndE24TheFinalShowDown The Final Show/Down]]", the villain of the latter episode reveals he is responsible for murdering him, prompting a second autopsy that confirms that CD's cause of death was due to poison. |
| 255 | * ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': |
| 256 | ** In Season 1, the group comes across a group of Hispanic men protecting elderly people at an Atlanta retirement home. Season 2 was supposed to open with the CDC survivors discovering that they had all been murdered off-camera by unknown assailants, and this scene was filmed and included in the DVD release, though it was cut from broadcasts - leaving behind a WhatHappenedToTheMouse. |
| 257 | ** In Season 4 the main characters get separated and escape from the prison in their own ways whilst all of the extraneous hangers-on get away in a literal bus. Eventually some of the main characters catch up with the bus and find that all of the people on board are now dead or undead, removing them from the plot with minimal effort on the part of the writers. |
| 258 | ** The Season 5 premiere, "No Sanctuary," brings back the character of Sam (played by Robin Lord Taylor), whom we met in Season 4's "Indifference." His throat is slashed by the residents of Terminus, and he bleeds out. |
| 259 | * ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' was fairly good about giving characters who'd been important on-screen deaths -- up until the mid-fifth season. Amarice, who had been Xena and Gabrielle's companion for a good run of episodes earlier that season and a few in the previous, was unceremoniously killed off screen during the teaser for the episode "Lifeblood." It's said that she died during an attack that viewers didn't see onscreen (by then the actress, Jennifer Sky, was starring in ''Cleopatra 2525'', but Amarice's character arc ended with her being happily left with a tribe of Amazons, so mentioning her again just to say she was dead seemed, well, kind of mean and pointless). |
| 260 | * Literal bus crash with ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' -- a bus they're driving crashes through a poster of Cliff Richard, then tumbles off an ''actual'' cliff. Normally they'd be back next episode, but this was the series' final show. |
| 261 | ** The closing credits, which usually said "The Young Ones are", followed by the lead actor's names, instead reads "The Young Ones ''were''", followed by the names of all the people who worked on the show, behind and in front of the camera. |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 265 | * As of February 2016, the Tomb Kings and were discontinued in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', with the models going on the "Last Chance to Buy" part of GW's online store and they will not show up in ''Age of Sigmar'''s new Death faction. A bit of an odd example since they had been destroyed "on-screen" in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerTheEndTimes'', but so had every other faction. The Bretonnians got it even worse, since they were denied even that dignity and just sort of wandered off in the middle of the story before getting discontinued. |
| 266 | [[/folder]] |
| 267 | |
| 268 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 269 | * OlderThanSteam Shakespeare examples: |
| 270 | ** Falstaff, a supporting character in the two ''Henry IV'' plays, does not appear in the sequel ''Theatre/HenryV'', and his friends are first seen discussing his [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome illness and death]]. (One theory has it that writing Falstaff out was because the actor, William Kempe, had left the Lord Chamberlain's Men. [[ActorLeavesCharacterDies Killing him was because Kempe joined a rival troupe, Worcester's Men.]]) |
| 271 | ** In ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', Lady Montague. She has a fairly important role in the first scene of the play, then disappears and is never mentioned again until the last scene when Montague mentions that she died. (In an early text, this is Benvolio's fate as well.) |
| 272 | ** In ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', Desdemona's father, Brabantio, is seen only in the first act, and not mentioned again until Act 5, where someone comments on his recent passing. |
| 273 | ** The first scene of ''Theatre/PericlesPrinceOfTyre'' is all about Pericles escaping from an evil king and princess, and Pericles goes on the run to escape their assassin. Much later, at the end of Act 2, two minor characters have a conversation that basically amounts to "Hey, what happened to the evil king and princess from scene 1?" "Oh, didn't you hear? They got hit by a meteor and died." |
| 274 | %% * Happens to the title character of ''Literature/MisterRoberts''. |
| 275 | * Zigzagged for [[Theatre/HMSPinafore Josephine]] from production to production of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's ''Utopia Limited'', depending whether or not the stage director puts in a thorough PairTheSpares; Sir Captain Corcoran, KCB was raised under the name Ralph Rackstraw. |
| 276 | [[/folder]] |
| 277 | |
| 278 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 279 | * One of the reasons that ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' received a lot of ire from the fans was that it heavily implied this for several of the main cast members from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' -- none of whom we'd seen get ''on'' the bus. |
| 280 | ** Canonically, ''something'' happened to Lucca, but we don't know if she actually ''died'', and we have no idea what happened to Crono and Marle when Guardia fell. People saw ghost-like children resembling the three -- but younger even than they were in ''Chrono Trigger'' -- toward the end of the game and jumped to conclusions. |
| 281 | ** Very reasonable conclusions, given the way the game presents what little info it does about the previous game's protagonists. Worse for Western fans, as the interim game ''VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers'' never made it to U.S. shores until more than two decades later, so a vast amount of stuff simply happened offscreen between the two main games, including the main trio's possible Bus Crash. |
| 282 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}: The Lost Chapters'', the hero can either marry Lady Grey (The Mayor of Bowerstone), or reveal to the world that she killed her sister for the seat of power. Assuming the player chooses the latter, Lady Grey will become enraged with you and leave. Then, in ''VideoGame/FableII'', you discover that Lady Grey was accused of being a witch, hunted down, killed, and cut into pieces. Bus Crash, indeed. |
| 283 | * In ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'', a short conversation between characters reveals that Indrick [[MemeticMutation "Spess Mahreens"]] Boreale, an [[TheScrappy extremely unpopular]] character from the first game's ''Soulstorm'' expansion, had died shortly thereafter and was considered a failure by everyone. Specifically, it was revealed that the Space Marines canonically lost the Kauravan campaign and that Boreale fell with them. |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'': |
| 285 | ** In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact'', [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Chan Agi]] mentions [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gihren Zabi and Kishiria Zabi]] were assassinated off-screen in the intermission after scenario 10 "Cruel Fairy Tale". However, since these two characters died in their original series, hitting them with this trope isn't as big as it is with other notable examples within the franchise. |
| 286 | ** In a similar vein, the ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ Second Super Robot Wars Z: Hakai-hen]]'' allowed something players had been asking for since the dawn of the series: [[Manga/GetterRobo Musashi Tomoe piloting the Shin Getter-3]], no strings attached. Since ''Hakai-hen'' follows the plot of ''[[Manga/GetterRobo Getter Robo Armageddon]]'', however, and the bridge from ''Hakai-hen'' to ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ Saisei-hen]]'' takes the TimeSkip from episodes three to four into account, poor Musashi is confirmed to have died off-screen, [[TheyKilledKennyAgain yet again]]. |
| 287 | ** [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Filio Presty]] in the ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Second Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]''. The prologue states he succumbed to sickness and has died ''before'' the game begins: the slightest hint about him ever being ill was loosely implied in the previous games (''[[TheAnimeOfTheGame The Inspector]]'' reveals he was on medication, confirming the status). Considering this is the man who reprograms the Dygenguard to save VideoGame/{{S|uperRobotWarsAlpha}}anger [[MemeticBadass Zonvolt]] ''in a span of three minutes'', this was a waste of life. |
| 288 | * ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': |
| 289 | ** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', Lorenzo de' Medici is not seen again after Ezio goes to Venice. If you know your Renaissance history, you'll know that he died in 1492, a year not depicted onscreen. |
| 290 | ** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'': In-game example. Caterina Sforza's last appearance is her riding into the sunset with the intent of reclaiming rulership of Forli. Desmond asks WhatHappenedToTheMouse and Shawn replies that Caterina's petition was rejected, she got pneumonia, and died in 1509. |
| 291 | * ''Ultimate VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' has a stage based on the famous ''Days Of Future Past'' storyline, Complete with a large "Apprehended/Slain" poster with the X-Men replaced by characters from ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2''. ''Only VideoGame/{{Mega Man|Classic}}'' is still alive and free...[[FridgeBrilliance presumably because, as a robot, the Sentinels aren't designed to track him.]] |
| 292 | * In ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', Otacon's mother Dr. Strangelove was never seen again after her introduction in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker''. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', we learn the reason is that she was murdered by her HatedByAll husband, [[DirtyCoward Huey]]. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/{{Soul|Series}}'' series: |
| 294 | ** According to official sources for ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburV'', Sophitia passed away between the events of ''IV'' and ''V'' sacrificing herself to save her daughter, Pyrrha. This kinda-sorta gets undone in ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburVI'' by means of ContinuityReboot, though only in regards to [[AlternateContinuity the new timeline's]] Sophitia. |
| 295 | ** Maxi gets ''two'' shots for this trope in ''Soulcalibur'' and ''Soulcalibur III'', but he's still alive as of ''Soulcalibur V''. |
| 296 | ** Given the nature of his ending in ''Soul Edge'', Li Long was considered this trope for a long time, but he turned up alive and well for ''Soulcalibur III''. |
| 297 | ** Most of the cast during the sixth game is just gone (as in "missing in action", PutOnABus, or ending up a SequelNonEntity) or retired. Kilik was thought to have died due to his status as an "ill-fated character", but it turns out that he's also alive during ''SCV''. |
| 298 | ** Amy is said to have gone missing after ''Soulcalibur IV''. All signs point to her becoming the amnesiac fortune teller known as Viola, though nothing is conclusively stated in-game or [[AllThereInTheManual elsewhere]]. |
| 299 | ** An interesting zig-zag comes from Raphael, one of a handful of vets to return in ''Soulcalibur V''. WordOfGod states he died during the events of ''SCIV'' and [[AllThereInTheManual additional supplemental materials]] all but say that he, or at least his body, is being used as the host for the new Nightmare, Graf Dumas. However, because [[ChristmasRushed time constraints]] and [[ExecutiveMeddling slashed budgets]] led to 3/4 of the planned story being left out of the final release, it's unclear if Raphael is some kind of revenant or spectre in ''V'' or if he's alive due to Soul Edge but otherwise being controlled by the cursed sword for most of his screen time. |
| 300 | * Daggoth suffers this fate in between ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}}'' and ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', the only explanation from [[WordOfGod Chris Metzen]] being that he and the other Cerebrates can't survive without the Overmind. |
| 301 | * Alis(a) in the ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' series. ''Phantasy Star Gaiden'' revealed that she was alive and headed for Algol as a set-up for what was then the plot of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV''. Later, they decided to go with a different premise, and to [[LeftHanging "resolve"]] this plot point, they simply imply she died off-screen at some point between ''Gaiden'' and ''IV'' with no real explanation of how or why. |
| 302 | * Also happens to Khalid and Dynaheir in the ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' game series, between games 1 and 2 (apparently killed in the fight which also resulted in the protagonist's capture: it being assumed as canon that the protagonist was travelling with Imoen, Khalid + Jaheira, and Minsc + Dynaheir, even if he completed the first game with a different party.) Khalid's fate is learned early on -- his body was used for experiments and is found in the opening dungeon. Apart from being confirmed dead, nothing is seen of Dynaheir again, presumably she was left where she fell. Both of the deceased characters' bereaved partners have to deal with the fallout in their own way. |
| 303 | * Ash's girlfriend Jenny died, quite fittingly, in a bus crash between the events of ''VideoGame/EvilDeadHailToTheKing'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/EvilDeadAFistfulOfBoomstick''. Now he is [[DrowningMySorrows drinking his sorrows away]]. |
| 304 | * ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'': Thomas Riker, the transporter clone of Commander William Riker from ''TNG'': "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E22SecondChances Second Chances]]" who was last heard of when he surrendered to the Cardassians in ''[=DS9=]'': "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E09Defiant Defiant]]" and then was completely forgotten about. In Episode "Cardassian Struggle", Mission "Badlands", you meet his son Joshua Riker and learn Tom's fate. With the Cardassians having been basically destroyed by the Dominion War, the prison camp where Tom was held was abandoned by the government, and the prisoners turned it into a settlement under Tom's leadership. Tom died of heart failure after rescuing his wife when she fell into a ravine. |
| 305 | * It's revealed in ''[[VideoGame/TimeCrisis Time Crisis 5]]'' that Christy Ryan, the DamselInDistress from the second game, was KilledOffscreen by [[BigBad Robert]] [[RogueProtagonist Baxter]] prior to the events of the fifth game while she was investigating a possible traitor within the VSSE. |
| 306 | * Several characters from the first ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' turn out to have died in the fifteen year TimeSkip before ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored 2}}'', which is only known due to tweets from the developers. Samuel was already in his sixties in the first game, so he dies of old age before the second. Meanwhile, Callista ends up lost at sea, and Piero dies of unknown causes. |
| 307 | * ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' brings back a few non-player characters from the first two games as corpses - for example, you find [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Laddersmith Gilligan's]] corpse in the Profaned Capital, the Darkmoon Knightess is found dead in a hidden room in Anor Londo, while the Giant Blacksmith is out in the open, and the Fair Lady's body is in the Demon Ruins in Smouldering Lake. And Aldrich, Devourer of Gods, is found in the middle of absorbing Gwyndolin's corpse, which he uses as a weapon throughout his boss fight. |
| 308 | * ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'': Neither [[PlayerCharacter Nomad]] nor [[LivingMacguffin Helena Rosenthal]] are mentioned after surviving the events of the first game. The latter is completely forgotten about, and the only reference towards Nomad in either sequel is the fact Prophet affixes the dog tags of the three fallen members of Raptor Team (only two members die on screen in the original) to his bow towards the end of ''Crysis 3'', even though Nomad’s tag is never seen directly. The comics reveal both were killed by the CIA shortly after the events of the first game. |
| 309 | [[/folder]] |
| 310 | |
| 311 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 312 | * In ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', Tiberius's fate after his sendoff was left uncertain for a while after Vox Machina discover the fall of his home country. The end of episode 64 hits everyone with the reveal that the Dragonborn was killed fighting Vorugal. |
| 313 | * Aydin from ''Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers'' is reported by a newspaper to have committed suicide in a Cornova, TX convenience store. The heroes find out about it from a local newspaper. |
| 314 | * In the ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' version of "The World's Strongest", the heroes are able to give Dr. Wheelo a new body and allow him to live a happy life (though, with a humongous brain). The very next movie, "Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan", as they're listing off all the villains they could be fighting instead of Broly, it's mentioned that Wheelo died of brain cancer. |
| 315 | * ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'': A year after Vikkstar and Lazarbeam's last appearance on the server, their absence was finally explained: Dream had trapped them both in a ResurrectionDeathLoop to test out the revive-book, and then [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade permanently killed them off afterwards to keep the book's existence a secret]]. |
| 316 | * In the Season 1 finale of ''WebAnimation/GenLock'', unit leader Leon, voiced by series creator Gray Haddock, performs a HeroicSacrifice that ends with him in a coma. In the first episode of Season 2, Leon's comatose body gets some attention before he unceremoniously dies -- as Haddock was found to have embezzled money and overworked the staff in order to finish Season 1, it's not surprising that they quickly removed the possibility of his return. |
| 317 | * Poor Patricia in ''WebVideo/KateModern'' -- vanished from the series in Season 2, only to be killed off in the episode immediately before GrandFinale. Worse yet, her death is only mentioned in a barely-legible, blink-and-you-'ll-miss-it shot of a headline in a newspaper that Sophie is reading. None of the characters appear to notice it, and nobody draws attention to it. |
| 318 | * In older ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' episodes, there was a character named Mr. Pig who [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanished from the series after 2014]]. About three years later in "Jeffy Breaks his Helmet!", Mario off-handedly mentions that Mr. Pig is dead. |
| 319 | * ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' v4 has an example with the escape group gathered by STAR. According to a broadcast by the terrorists, they all died in the attempt. However, subverted! They turn out to be alive and well, currently in a hospital somewhere in Canada. This was also believed to be the case in v3 when a large number of characters, including v1 winner Adam Dodd, suddenly disappeared and were declared dead. After a while, it was revealed that they got their collars off and were plotting an escape. |
| 320 | * In ''WebVideo/YandereHighSchool'', Sam and Taurtis read Hidden's journal, and in it, it indicates that Jts died in the war when he went back to Denmark. |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 324 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': |
| 325 | ** Season 7's "Stew-roids" has Joe inform Peter that his son Kevin Swanson, who mainly appeared in the first 3 seasons, has died in the war in Iraq. Creator/SethMacFarlane [[WordOfGod commented]] that they did it because they thought he was a boring character and they didn't want to use him anymore. However, he re-appeared in Season 10's ''Thanksgiving'', revealing he actually faked his own death and went A.W.O.L. Now it seems Kevin is back for good. |
| 326 | ** In Season 14's "Candy, Quahog, Marshmallow", it is revealed Dee Dee-Donna's estranged mother who appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''-committed suicide by gunshot; in the final episode of the latter series, Dee Dee and Donna's ex-husband Robert had adopted a Chinese baby, and her death effectively cancelled out any chances of this storyline going further. |
| 327 | ** In Season 18's "Coma Guy", Brenda Quagmire returns from Season 10's "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q" as one of the spirits on the boat in Peter's coma. This leads to some [[FridgeHorror disturbing implications]], given what happened in that episode. |
| 328 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' |
| 329 | ** Amber, the Vegas showgirl Homer was accidentally "married" to, was later said to have died off screen in a later season. The family attends a funeral service for her at the beginning of an episode. |
| 330 | ** Poochie, [[TheScrappy the much-hated third character]] from ''[[ShowWithinAShow The Itchy and Scratchy Show]]'', is to be removed through ExecutiveMeddling because the viewers hate him. After a passionate speech by Homer (Poochie's voice actor) to save the poor dog, he is nevertheless literally pulled out of the cartoon with the deadpan "I have to go, my planet needs me," followed by a scribbled note that "Poochie died on the way back to his home planet" ''and then'' Krusty comes up stating that they have made a legally binding contract to make sure Poochie never, ever returns. That didn't stop him from making a cameo in another ''Itchy and Scratchy'' episode during Scratchy's funeral, though. |
| 331 | ** Dr. Marvin Monroe was believed to have died in this manner (disappeared from the series, a 'memorial' hospital named after him, a tombstone for him shaped like a psychiatrist's couch, an explicit statement he died in a retrospective), but he suddenly reappeared alive and well at a book signing, much to Marge's surprise. He reveals that he's just been very sick. |
| 332 | ** Parodied with Shary Bobbins who flies off after helping the Simpsons. The kids ask if they'll see her again and Homer says he's sure they will just moments before she's sucked into a jet engine. Like Poochie and Marvin Monroe, she's since made a reappearance, in this case in a Treehouse of Horror special. |
| 333 | * ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': |
| 334 | ** Played out quite literally in the Season 6 premiere "100 A.D." which began with the promise/threat that 100 characters were going to die off for real. It ends up teased several times where a major character will narrowly avoid a horrific death, until a literal ''busload'' of minor side characters who had been introduced over the previous seasons all went over a cliff together, accounting for 96 of the 100 deaths (even though [[WritersCannotDoMath less than 50 characters were on the bus]]). |
| 335 | ** Cassandra Dawson, Francine's birth mother met a similar unceremonious fate as Dee Dee Tubs (Donna's mother) from ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''. She and her husband Nicholas first appeared in the Season 3 episode "Big Trouble in Little Langley" and would only appear one other time in a non-speaking cameo in "Shallow Vows" two seasons later. When Nicholas returns many years later in Season 13's "Family Plan" we learn that Cassandra ultimately killed herself via hanging after a long drawn-out "Joke" full of fake-outs over other possible ways that she might've died with the reveal of her suicide being the "Punchline". |
| 336 | * Poor Huffer from ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' was confirmed dead when his coffin was shown on the Autobot Mausoleum in "Dark Awakening," presumably because someone mistook him for Brawn, who had died in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie''. This becomes hilarious in the episode "Carnage In C-Minor" where due to an art error, both Huffer ''and'' Brawn accidentally make a cameo appearance despite both having been dead for months in the canon. |
| 337 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': |
| 338 | ** Bill's ''entire extended family'' (except for one survivor) met this fate. In one episode, you learn that Bill is of New Orleans ancestry, and his family turns out to be a colorful bunch of backstabbing rich Cajun layabouts. Bill gets caught up in their intrigues a couple of times, and then they aren't heard from again until the final season, when Bill's cousin Gilbert turns up to rather casually inform him that they all caught bad fevers and died. Their deaths are given little attention and essentially just serve to set up a plot where Bill worries about his own mortality. |
| 339 | ** Cotton's war buddy Topsy suffered this fate and may have died from old age or sickness. He and Cotton are often shown together in episodes before his death. An episode showed that Cotton inherited his money and instead of using it for Topsy's funeral, he cremated him and used the rest trying to buy a timeshare in Mexico. |
| 340 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Professor Zei is last seen deciding to stay in Wan Shi Tong's enormous library as it sinks into the desert sands. Seventy years later, in SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Jinora comes across his mummified corpse, still sitting among the scrolls and books. |
| 341 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheLongLongHoliday,'' Fernand, a Jew, is arrested halfway through the series for going outside without a Star of David on his clothes. In the closing narration of the last episode, we learn that he died in Auschwitz. |
| 342 | * When Creator/{{Toonami}} came back, it came back with a version of TOM 3, TOM 3.5, hosting and no sign of TOM 4. Sometime later, though TOM 4 made a brief appearance, making it clear he and TOM 3.5 were separate entities, but outside of a mention of a story happening between them, that was it--until ''WesternAnimation/TheIntruderII'' where WesternAnimation/TheIntruder comes back and gloats about killing TOM 4. |
| 343 | * Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs 2020}}''. The Warner Siblings discover that a hunter had hunted down, killed and mounted all the past cast members, suggesting this is why so few cast members were returning. When it's revealed that Chicken Boo was in fact the hunter, his KarmaHoudiniWarranty suddenly runs out when it turns out said cast members survived and they want the chicken's head. |
| 344 | [[/folder]] |
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