Died During Production / Western Animation

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Died During Production in Western Animation.

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Shows with their own pages

• The Simpsons

Other

• King of the Hill:
  • Just barely avoided by Hank and Peggy's niece and major character Luanne Platter when the series originally ended in September 2009 (even though there were four episodes that Fox didn't air, these ended up being shown in syndication) - her voice actress, Brittany Murphy mysteriously died of pneumonia three months later, meaning Luanne will have to either be Put on a Bus or be recast with another voice actress for the upcoming revival.
  • The fate of Luanne's husband Lucky is also uncertain in the revival since his voice actor, Tom Petty, died in October 2017.
  • Johnny Hardwick, who voiced Dale Gribble, died during production of its fourteenth season in August 2023, even if he was originally slated to return. It was confirmed by voice actor Jaydan Libran that Hardwick did record the first six episodes of the new season just before the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike occurred.
  • Also previously averted with Victor Aaron, the original voice of John Redcorn. Aaron's only appearances as Redcorn were in the Season 1 episodes "Order of the Straight Arrow" and "Luanne's Saga". Aaron died in a car accident shortly after recording his lines. As a result, "Order of the Straight Arrow" was dedicated in his memory and the crew decided to hire another voice actor (Johnathon Joss) for John Redcorn rather than drop the character (as he was too important to drop at the time; after all, he was the guy who was dating Dale's wife, Nancy).
• In the Portuguese dub of Duncanville, Ana Lucia Menezes, the voice of Jing, died of a COVID-related stroke in April 2021. Starting with season 2, she was replaced by her daughter, Bia Menezes.
• Kathleen Freeman, the voice of Ms. Gordon in As Told by Ginger, died before she finished her role in the episode "No Hope for Courtney." As a result, the character she played passed away instead of getting out of retirement as originally planned (the whole episode was dedicated to her).
• Mary Kay Bergman, who originally voiced most of the female characters on South Park (including Sharon Marsh, Sheila Broflovski, Carol McCormick, Liane Cartman, Mayor McDaniels, Wendy Testaburger, etc.) died of suicide after years of being plagued with depression and an anxiety disorder (which she mostly hid from her loved ones) just after finishing recording her parts for the show's third season. "Starvin Marvin In Space" and "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" were dedicated in her memory. She was replaced by Eliza Jane Schneider and Mona Marshall for future episodes (and Schneider herself was replaced by April Stewart later on, though not for tragic reasons).
  • She also finished recording her role of Daphne in Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders only weeks before her death. The completed film came out almost a year later and was also dedicated in her memory. The DVD even has a behind-the-scenes featurette of the voice recording sessions, and what may be Bergman's final interview. She was replaced by Grey DeLisle for future media.
  • Likewise, she was also the original voice of Timmy Turner in The Fairly OddParents! shorts on Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Once the show became a full-fledged Nicktoon in 2001, Mary was replaced by her friend Tara Strong as the voice of Timmy.
  • She was also the original voice of Jay Jay the Jet Plane's eponymous character. Two actors have voiced Jay Jay since then: Debi Derryberry and Donna Cherry.
  • For a time, she was the official voice of Disney's Snow White. After her death, Carolyn Gardner replaced her.
• The death of Mako in 2006 left two of his iconic characters—Aku from Samurai Jack and Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender—without a voice. Both have been doubled by Greg Baldwin. While there are differences, they're not too noticeable and don't detract from quality much. Rather eerily, Avatar's creators had planned in advance for Iroh to not speak at the beginning of its third season, which ended up giving them some extra time to find a replacement.
• Acclaimed comic book writer Dwayne McDuffie died during the early production stages of Ben 10: Omniverse, which resulted in a new series producer in Derrick J. Wyatt, who proceeded to undo a number of both McDuffie's and franchise creators Man of Action Studios' creative decisions (such as demoting Gwen and Kevin to extras, unceremoniously sinking the base-breaking Ben/Julie ship, etc.).
• Bill Scott was the voice of Gruffi, Toadwart, and Sir Tuxford in Adventures of the Gummi Bears. When he died after season 1, Corey Burton took over as both Gruffi and Toadwart while Roger C. Carmel became the voice of Tuxford. When Carmel died at the end of the second season, Brian Cummings was given the role.
  • Scott also voiced Moosel in The Wuzzles, which was cancelled after one season.
• A sidekick to Space Ghost was proposed to be in Space Ghost Coast to Coast during pre-production, and the producers were in negotiations with Fantasy Island star Hervé Villechaize to portray the sidekick. Sadly, Villechaize committed suicide before the negotiations could continue, resulting in Zorak moving into a Paul Shaffer position as bandleader/sidekick.
• DuckTales (1987) had the characters Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold played by Hal Smith, Mrs. Beakley played by Joan Gerber, and Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck played by Hamilton Camp. Hal Smith died in 1994, Joan Gerber in 2011, and Hamilton Camp in 2005. Because DuckTales: Remastered was made long after their deaths, all of their characters had to be recast. (Chris Edgerly played Gyro, Eric Bauza was the new Fenton/Gizmoduck, Brian George was chosen to play Glomgold, and Wendee Lee was the new voice for Mrs. Beakley.)
  • Any future DuckTales-related product will have to deal with the absence of Alan Young, the most famous voice of Uncle Scrooge, who passed away in 2016. Luckily, David Tennant was able to take over for the 2017 reboot, while John Kassir continues voicing him in Mickey Mouse (2013).
• The creator of Oggy and the Cockroaches, Jean-Yves Raimbaud, died of lung cancer the very year of its debut.
• In the German dub of SpongeBob SquarePants, the original voice actors for Squidward (Eberhard Prüter), Plankton (Thomas Petruo) and Mr. Krabs (Jürgen Kluckert) passed away in 2014, 2018 and 2023 respectively. they were replaced with Joachim Kaps (Squidward), Sebastian Christoph Jacob (Plankton) and Alex Lutter (Mr. Krabs).
  • On the English side of things, Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway, the voices of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy respectively, died in 2012 and 2019 respectively. Ernest's passing resulted in both characters being Demoted to Extra at the request of the series' producers.
• Tex Avery died one year before his last creation, The Kwicky Koala Show, even aired.
• Inverted in-universe in Justice League, when some of the League members end up in an alternate reality where Green Lantern's boyhood comic book heroes, the Justice Guild, are real. It is surmised that the writer of that comic had a telepathic "link" with this world, allowing him to chronicle the Guild's adventures. That comic was cancelled long ago, but not because the author died; the WORLD did, with the Guild being annihilated by a nuclear bomb, and (almost) everything the League has seen was an illusion created by a mutated Reality Warper.
• Captain Murphy, the mentally-unhinged captain of Sealab 2021 was Put on a Bus after the death of his voice actor, Harry Goz. Fandom consensus seems to be that Murphy was a critical member of the crew, and his replacement didn't have the same impact. The show continued for another few seasons, but it wasn't the same.
• Played straight, averted, and occasionally played straight again regarding Mel Blanc and his replacements for voicing the Looney Tunes characters. Blanc's final work as the classic characters was a 1989 car commercial featuring his son Noel; he died shortly after its completion (though it did leave his work on Jetsons: The Movie unfinished, as seen above). He's had many replacements over the years, but now we have to deal with the absence of actors Greg Burson (who voiced characters like Bugs Bunny and Foghorn Leghorn in the '90s on shows like Tiny Toon Adventures) and Joe Alaskey (one of the longer-tenured Daffy Duck voices, who voiced him and Bugs in Looney Tunes: Back in Action; also remembered as Plucky Duck on Tiny Toons and Blanc's replacement as Yosemite Sam in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when Blanc couldn't voice him anymore). However, Jeff Bergman has been voicing Bugs and Daffy again since The Looney Tunes Show, and Eric Bauza has been alternating roles with him since Looney Tunes Cartoons.
  • When Arthur Q. Bryan passed away in 1959, so further Elmer Fudd shorts had Hal Smith take his place. However, it was glaringly obvious that the voice changed, so eventually they retired the character theatrically (which is also why Elmer didn't speak at all in his final cartoon). Hal continued to voice Elmer in commercials for The Bugs Bunny Show, however.
  • Any future Looney Tunes project will have to deal with the passing of June Foray, the longtime voice of Granny. The last LT work to feature her was the aforementioned Looney Tunes Show. Fortunately, Candi Milo would voice Granny starting with Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production.
  • Milt Franklyn died of a heart attack in 1962, leaving his score for The Jet Cage unfinished. Bill Lava scored the rest of the short and continued to score the Looney Tunes cartoons until the studio shut down in 1969.
• Family Guy:
  • Carrie Fisher had the recurring role of Peter's boss Angela until she suddenly passed away in December 2016. "Passenger Fatty-Seven", the first episode to air in January 2017, was dedicated to her. Seth MacFarlane stated that Carrie had done two more episodes before her passing, but had yet to decide what should happen to Angela afterwards. In July 2017, it was announced that Bryan Cranston would play Peter's new boss in the 2017-18 season. The December 2018 episode "Pawtucket Pete" established that Angela had died, and showed Peter delivering the eulogy at her funeral. And then it's revealed that he's at the wrong funeral.
  • Frank Sinatra Jr. was retired as a guest star following his death in early 2016.
  • Seth MacFarlane himself famously avoided this fate; he had bought a ticket for one of the flights hijacked on September 11, 2001. A combination of his travel agent giving him the wrong departure time and him having too much to drink the night before resulted in him missing his flight.
  • After Adam West passed away from leukemia in 2017, the episode "Adam West High" aired nearly two years later and addressed his passing, both in-universe and in real life; in the episode, the town of Quahog votes for a new mayor and renames the town's high school in his honor. The new mayor would eventually end up being a new character named Wild Wild West, portrayed by Sam Elliott.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Donna Tubbs-Brown was voiced by Toni Rodriguez. After Rodriguez passed away from cancer in April 2021, Donna's role was recast for the rest of the series.
• In 2017, Nickelodeon announced the TV movie Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, a spin-off of the fan-favorite Nicktoon. However, Lucille Bliss, who played Miss Bitters in the original show, died in 2012. Candi Milo had previously voiced Miss Bitters in the 2008 video game Nicktoons: Globs of Doom, owing to Bliss's failing health, while the special itself would ultimately have her make a silent cameo in a fantasy sequence.
• Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling premiered over twenty years after the original series' conclusion, with Kevin Meaney (who provided the voice of Widow Hutchison) passing away in 2016 in the meantime. The actual special has Widow make a silent cameo in a crowd shot during the scene where the characters attend the premiere of the reboot of The Fatheads.
• If the third season of Toad Patrol is ever Saved from Development Hell, Mistle Toad will need to be recast since his voice actor, Long John Baldry, died in 2005.
• Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor both died when productions involving Mickey Mouse were in production (with Wayne's death happening during the production of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Russi's happening during the production of both Mickey and the Roadster Racers and Mickey Mouse).
  • Taylor had also recorded all but two of her character's lines for the Walt Disney World Halloween fireworks show Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks and Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in 2019. After her death, the remaining lines were recorded by another, unidentified actress. The Halloween Dance Party Mickey's Trick & Treat Dance Party Show at DCA were all recorded by an unidentified actress. She barely averted this by having recorded all of her dialogue for the Disney On Ice show Road Trip Adventures, which premiered a month after her passing. Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway is also her final performance as Minnie Mouse. Kaitlyn Robrock has since taken over the role of Minnie.
• Richard Williams sadly passed away in August of 2019, meaning his final, ambitious project tentatively called I Hope I Live To Finish This remains incomplete with Prologue released in 2015.
• J. Michael Mendel, the producer of Rick and Morty died on September 22, 2019, two months before the show's long-awaited fourth season was to premiere. The first episode of the season ended with a short animation along with a memorial dedication.
• Caillou: In 2003, the titular character's second voice actor, Jaclyn Linetsky, died in a car crash on the way to the taping of an episode of 15/Love (see Live-Action TV) while new episodes were still in production. Caillou has had a new voice actor since this incident, with the change in voice actors also resulting in a change in his personality in the series proper.
  • Linetsky was also voicing Lori on What's with Andy? at the time. After her death, Lori was recast when the show returned for its third season three years later.
• Bubble Guppies:
  • The original series ended in 2016 because Mr. Grouper's voice actor, Tino Insana, was diagnosed with terminal cancer that would eventually kill him. When the show came back for Season 5 three years later, Fred Tatasciore took over the role.
  • Laurel Griggs, who did several one-off character voices for this show, including a character named Stella, was only thirteen years old when she died of an asthma attack just as Season 5 began airing. Ultimately, these minor characters were retired.
• Little Bill had this happen twice: first with Madeline Kahn, who died a few days after recording lines for Mrs. Shapiro's debut episode, and with Gregory Hines, the voice of Big Bill. Mrs. Shapiro was Put on a Bus after her voice actor's death (Kathy Najimy voiced her in her final appearance). The show ended six months after Gregory Hines, who voiced Little Bill's father, died.
• While Life with Louie was still in production, Mary Wickes, the voice actress for Louie's maternal grandmother, died of anemia. "The Thank You Note" was subsequently produced in memory of her, wherein Louie's grandmother died as well.
• Andrea Arruti, who had three roles in Latin American dubs of cartoons at the time (Sid Chang on The Loud House, Star Sapphire in DC Super Hero Girls (2019) and Poppy in Trolls: The Beat Goes On!), suddenly died at the age of 21 on January 11, 2020, of pneumonia.
  • Another The Loud House voice actor, Fred Willard, who played Pop-Pop, died 6 hours after having a heart attack on the day "Tough Cookies", which featured that character, aired. Christopher Swindle voiced Pop-Pop in "Resident Upheaval" and was replaced by Piotr Michael in future episodes of the show.
  • Mikołaj Klimek, the Polish voice of Flip on The Loud House, suffered a fatal heart attack on July 12, 2020.
• Caio Cesar, the Brazilian voice of Boots in Dora the Explorer, was shot in the line of duty in September 2015, just as the show's final episodes were slated to be broadcast in the country. He was replaced by Allan Arnold.
• Jack Burns, the voice of Sid the Squid in Animaniacs, died in January 2020 while the show's reboot was in the production process. In the segment "Good Warner Hunting" from Episode 5, it should be noted that Sid the Squid wasn't mentioned in the list of absent characters, unlike Walter Wolf and Beanie the Brain-Dead Bison (also Stinkbomb D. Bassett from "Smell Ya Later", although his voice actor Jonathan Winters died as well).
  • Chick Vennera, the voice of Pesto and the Godpidgeon, died on July 8, 2021, during the production of the second season of the reboot.
• Eartha Kitt, the voice of Yzma in The Emperor's New School, died on Christmas in 2008 after losing her battle with colon cancer. The show was still in production at the time she died, but this event led to any future episodes being scrapped and thus the show's cancellation.
• John Ritter, the voice of Clifford the Big Red Dog, died of an aortic dissection he suffered on the set of 8 Simple Rules while the third season of Clifford was in the planning phases, including a Grand Finale where Clifford got married and had puppies. Rather than recast the role, the show wound up getting the kibosh and was spun off into Clifford's Puppy Days. His final role was Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up, which came out two years after his death.
• Mexican voice actor Luis Alfonso Mendoza was murdered by his tenant in 2020 while New Looney Tunes, Milo Murphy's Law, Thomas & Friends and Danger Mouse, which he had roles in as Bugs Bunny, Kyle Drako, Winston and Count Duckula, respectively, were still in production. He also died two days after The Invisible Man, which he provided dub work for, was released in theaters.
• The original Japanese dub of Peppa Pig ended when Shinichiro Takakuwa, the dub director, died at the age of 82. 7 years later, the dub would be continued as part of TV Tokyo's Kinder TV block.
  • The Brazillian voice of Suzy Sheep, Ana Lucia Menezes, passed away in April 2021. In My Friend Peppa Pig, Bia Menezes (the second voice of Peppa) replaced her mother as Suzy.
  • José Lavat, who voiced Grandpa Pig in the Mexican Spanish dub, died in May 2018 during the dub of Season 5. He was replaced by César Arias, who died in December 2020 after the dub of season 6. He was then replaced by Eduardo Tejedo.
• Ernie Coombs (known to most Canadians as Mr. Dressup) had a fatal stroke while recording narration for the Cinar version of Simon In The Land Of Chalk Drawings. As a result, the series wound up ending after 65 segments were recorded.
• Florence Henderson, who played Grandmum on Sofia the First, died four days after the episode "Elena And The Secret Of Avalor" aired. She would only appear in 2 more episodes afterwards, one of them being an unvoiced cameo in Forever Royal.
• Rob Gibbs passed away while working on the Disney+ series Monsters at Work. He was the father of Mary Gibbs, who voiced Boo in the series' predecessor Monsters, Inc. as well as toddler Riley (albeit via archived recordings) in Inside Out.
• As Season 7 of Garfield and Friends was being produced, Pat Buttram, voice of Cactus Jake, died of kidney failure. He would have no further appearances in the show.
  • With the death of David Lander in 2020, it is unknown if Doc Boy will be written out or recast, should he appear in this upcoming series.
• Rugrats (1991):
  • David Doyle, the original voice of Grandpa Lou, had a fatal heart attack during the production of the fourth season. He was replaced by Joe Alaskey in later episodes. Due to Alaskey's own passing in 2016, Grandpa Lou was voiced by Michael McKean of Better Call Saul fame in the 2021 reboot.
  • Jack Riley, who played Stu Pickles, succumbed to pneumonia in the summer of 2016. He was replaced in the 2021 reboot with Tommy Dewey of The Mindy Project fame.
• DreamWorks Animation employee Kelly Asbury died at the age of 60 from stage 4 cancer while he was working on several projects, among them the Ugly Dolls TV series. Asbury having to take a break as a result of his condition might explain why that series was in Development Hell at the time. This also might affect the casting of the voices of some of the minor characters that were voiced by him, but given that most TV series based on movies with Celebrity Voice Actors, such as most of DreamWorks's Netflix originals, usually get recast, that would probably be the most likely scenario.
• The passing of Carl Reiner may mean that his Ink-Suit Actor rhinoceros character in Forky Asks a Question will have to be Put on a Bus or recast if the short gets a second season like their other short-form programming such as One Day At Disney (the ending of the final episode of season 1 makes it clear that there's more planned), or that the series will be cancelled altogether. This also applies to Betty White and her Ink-Suit Actor tiger character following her passing in December 2021. It's likely been Quietly Cancelled, considering the fact that there has been no word on another season since the first one concluded.
• Joanna Cole, author of The Magic School Bus book series, passed away from lung disease as a third season of The Magic School Bus Rides Again was in the works, implied by the news being announced first by 9 Story Entertainment themselves.
• Teen Titans Go!:
  • Albert Jelenic, who was a minor character in several episodes of the show, died of natural causes in December 2019. He managed to finish his lines for Where Exactly on the Globe is Carl Sanpedro? before his death.
  • Robert Morse, who voiced Santa Claus, died in April of 2022. Currently, Santa is now voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
  • George Perez, who played himself in several episodes of the show, passed away in May 2022.
• Roberto Draghetti, the Italian voice actor who played Bentley Buzzard in DuckTales, Chef Hatchet in Total Dramarama, and Optimus Prime in Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, had a fatal heart attack on July 24, 2020, while all three shows were airing new episodes. Dario Oppido would become Chef's new voice in the later episodes.
  • Roberto Draghetti's death wasn't the first death in the Italian version of Total Drama. Laura Latini, who was Gwen's first voice, passed away from cancer in August 2012. Since All-Stars, Roberta De Roberto assumed the role of Gwen for the rest of the franchise.
  • For the Portuguese dub of Total Drama, Total DramaRama was in production when Ana Lucia Menezes (who voiced Bridgette in both the original series and the spinoff) passed away on April 20, 2021. As with Duncanville and My Friend Peppa Pig, she was replaced by her daughter.
    • Even more shockingly, Iara Riça, who was Courtney's first voice, passed away a week later on April 27. While Hannah Buttel was already voicing Courtney (Iara had retired from dubbing in 2020, because she was rejected from various dubbing studios), Bridgette's role would be recast for the rest of the franchise.
  • Geoff's first Dutch voice actor, Antonie Kamerling, died in October 2010.
  • Speaking of Total Drama, Pilar Gefaell—the voice of Eva in the European Spanish dub—died in January 2012 shortly after the first and only season was finished airing in Spain.
  • Chef Hatchet's Polish voice actor, Milogost Reczek, passed on at the age of 60 in December 2021.
  • Trent's Hungarian voice actor, Attilla Vári, passed away at the age of 50 in April 2021.
• The Brazilian dub of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) had to recast Leonardo halfway through season 3 once his voice actor, Antonio Akira, died of meningitis.
• Tiny Toon Adventures:
  • Tiny Toons Looniversity saw some voice actors come back to reprise their roles while others were recast. David Errigo Jr., in particular, now voices Hamton and Plucky due to Don Messick's death in 1997 and Joe Alaskey's death in 2016.
  • In the Japanese dub of the original series, Hamton's first voice actor, Yo Yoshimura, passed away in 1991 due to complications from a subarachnoid hemorrhage. He was replaced by Junichi Sugawara.
• Kirby Morrow passed away from complications from substance abuse in November 2020, while Ninjago was still in production. However, LEGO confirmed that he had lines recorded for upcoming episodes of the former before his death. Beginning in October 2021, Andrew Francis replaced Morrow in Ninjago.
• Zootopia+, an animated series based on Zootopia, was announced on December 10, 2020, the same day veteran actor Tiny Lister, who played Advertised Extra Finnick, passed away. Ultimately, Finnick was relegated to a silent cameo in the first episode.
  • With the 2023 announcement of Zootopia 2, it remains to be seen how it will handle Finnick.
• Bob's Burgers:
  • The main character designer, Dave Creek, died in a skydiving accident over the weekend of New Year's 2021.
  • Dale Baer, who was working on The Movie, passed away as it was in post-production.
• Joanne Rogers, chair of the board of Fred Rogers Productions and Mr. Rogers' widow, died on January 14th, 2021, while Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, a show the company worked on, was still airing.
• F is for Family:
  • David Richardson, the producer, died on January 18th, 2021 of heart failure, just as production was wrapping up on its final season.
  • Another writer, Marc Wilmore, died of coronavirus complications on January 30, 2021.
• Anton Yelchin had recorded two seasons' worth of voice work for Netflix's Trollhunters before he died tragically in June 2016 during an unfortunate automotive incident. Both of the seasons he'd starred in were released posthumously, and his character Jim would be played by Emile Hirsch for the remaining season. The differences are nearly unnoticeable.
• Archer:
  • George Coe who played Woodhouse fell seriously ill shortly before production of Archer Vice which led to the crew replacing him with Tom Kane for the character's few brief appearances that season. Coe eventually passed away shortly after the sixth season aired, with Woodhouse stated to have gone missing. Archer Dreamland opens with the characters attening Woodhouse's funeral.
  • Ron Leibman who voiced Malory's husband Ron passed away during the break between seasons 10 and 11. The second episode of season eleven was dedicated to him.
  • Jessica Walter, voice of Malory Archer, passed away in her sleep on March 24th, 2021 while the twelfth season was still in production. The season ends with Malory deciding to retire to the tropics with Ron, providing a touching send-off for both Walter and Leibman who were married in real life. The finale is also dedicated to her.
• Strawberry Shortcake: Huckleberry Pie's second voice actor in the 2003 series, James Street, died after a skateboarding accident. As a result, Daniel Canfield, his original voice actor, came back to reprise the role.
• Miraculous Ladybug:
  • Philece Sampler, who played several minor characters and Sabine Cheng, suffered a fatal heart attack on June 30, 2021, while the show produced new episodes.
  • Jesus Barreda, the European Spanish voice of Cat Noir, passed away on April 21, 2023, during the production of season 6.
• The Disney+ Up Spin-Off Dug Days suffered from this when Ed Asner, who played Carl in the original movie, suddenly passed away in his sleep. He was scheduled to appear at an event to promote the series days before his death.
• The creator of Bolts & Blip, the prominent Canadian animator Andy Knight, passed away in 2008, two years before the show made its world debut on Teletoon.
• Vince Guaraldi died hours after recording the score to the Peanuts special It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown; it aired six weeks after his death.
• David Rappaport died during the production of season 1 of Captain Planet and the Planeteers, where he voiced MAL (Dr. Blight's computer). MAL was voiced by Tim Curry for the rest of the series.
• When the French dub of The Fairly OddParents! moved from Belgium to Paris, Doug Dimmadome was voiced by Pascal Renwick in his first appearance. Renwick died a few months later, and he was replaced by Georges Caudron.
• Bram Bart, the voice of Mojo Jojo in the Dutch dub of The Powerpuff Girls (1998), passed away in 2012. He would be replaced by Joop van den Beucken in the reboot. He also voiced several characters in Bob the Builder, but those had been recast by the time he died.
• Jack Angel, who played Val in Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, died on October 19, 2021, while new episodes were still in production.
• Seymour Kneitel, who directed hundreds of cartoons for Paramount's animation department, died on July 30, 1964. At the time of his death, he had completed nine shorts which were all released by year's end. He was working on "Space Age" which would not be seen in theaters until February 1966.
• With the passing of Norm Spencer on August 31, 2020, Ray Chase was cast as Cyclops in X-Men '97, Marvel Studios’ upcoming revival of X-Men: The Animated Series. The death of David Hemblen on November 16, 2020, also necessitated Magneto to be recasted, with Matthew Waterson taking over. Likewise, with David Fox dying days after the revival was announced, Eric Bauza took over as the voice of the Sentinels.
• Mickey Mouse Funhouse: Will Ryan, who played Willie the Giant, died on November 19, 2021, after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. He would be replaced by Brock Powell beginning with "Tooth or Consequences!".
• Cyberchase experienced this twice, with both Len Carlson (original voice of Buzz) and Gilbert Gottfried (long-time voice of Digit since the series' premiere in 2002), who passed away from a heart attack and fatal ventricular tachycardia on January 26, 2006 and April 12, 2022 respectively. After Carlson's death, Buzz was recast with Philip Williams. As for Gottfried, Ron Pardo would replace him as the new voice of Digit afterwards.
  • Carlson was also working on Atomic Betty, in which he had voiced Minimus P.U, at the time of his passing. He would be replaced with Dwayne Hill (also the voice of Atomic Roger) for the remainder of the series. The Season 2 finale, "Takes One to Know One" is dedicated to Carlson's memory.
• Molly of Denali: Taran Kootenhayoo, who voiced Molly's cousin Randall, passed away on New Year's Eve 2020. For Season 2, Randall was recast with Jared Ager-Foster. The episode "Sea Lion Crooks and Halibut Hooks" is dedicated to Kootenhayoo's memory.
• Wallykazam: J.R. Horne, who voiced Stan Of The Swamp, died on January 14, 2016, due to complications from an operation. The episode "The Bathmobile" was dedicated in his memory.
• Shirt Tales: Bob Ogle, the voice of Digger Mole, died in February 1984, while the second season was in production.
• Kevin Conroy, the long-time voice actor of Batman since Batman: The Animated Series, passed away on November 11, 2022, from intestinal cancer while the latest Batman cartoon to have him as the starring role, Batman: Caped Crusader, was still in production. Even if the show does get Saved from Development Hell, it's unknown how much of his lines Kevin was able to record prior to his passing.
• Invincible (2021): Storyboard artist William Ruzicka suddenly passed away on February 1, 2023, while the second season was still in production.
• Felix the Cat (Otto Messmer): In 1933, after a hiatus brought on by the failure of their previous sound cartoons (which were actually silent cartoons with sound added retroactively), Pat Sullivan approved the production of more Felix cartoons in sound, only to die the same year, putting the studio's plans on ice. Three years later, Van Beuren Studios took over and produced three shorts.
• Ted Bastien, director of PAW Patrol, died of cancer while its tenth season was in production.
• Roger C. Carmel's death from congestive heart failure would also affect production of the third season of The Transformers, which led to Motormaster and Bruticus being phased out of the show altogether along with Jack Angel taking over the role of Cyclonus starting with "The Return of Optimus Prime".
• Samantha Weinstein, the voice of Clara in Dino Ranch, died of ovarian cancer in May of 2023, months before season 3's scheduled premiere.
• Coolio, who voiced recurring character Kwanzaabot in Futurama, died on September 28, 2022 from a heart attack during production of its eighth season. Fortunately, it was confirmed by David X. Cohen that he managed to record lines for "I Know What You Did Next Xmas", and was dedicated to his memory.
• Spanish series Poor Devil suffered from this when Verónica Forqué, who voiced Rose, took her own life in December 2021.
• Keith Knight, the voice of Moldy Van Oldy in Erky Perky, died of brain cancer in August 22, 2007, during production of its second season. The character was ultimately retired after.
• Lee Woo-Ri, the Korean voice of James in Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go, passed away in March 2024, while the show was still running.

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