History Main / McLeaned

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TV Industry jargon: When an actor leaves a show and the character they play is then KilledOffForReal, they've been [=McLeaned=]. As for why a TV show might do this rather than simply [[PutOnABus putting the character on a bus]], there are generally two reasons:

* '''For Drama''': The odds of the actor returning to the show are next to nothing, and killing them off gives the writers a chance to inject the series with some drama.

* '''For Revenge''': [[HostilityOnTheSet Relations between the actor and the show people are somewhat contentious]], often as a direct result of the actor leaving, and the writers kill the character off either as an act of "revenge" more final than being PutOnABusToHell, or as a way of preventing the actor from ever being able to return to the role (though it could still fail to do so if the situation changes, due to the FirstLawOfResurrection).

The trope is named for Creator/McLeanStevenson, and the death of his character Colonel Henry Blake after he left ''Series/{{MASH}}''. This event was not primarily about retaliation, although the production staff was annoyed by Stevenson's leaving even while co-star Creator/WayneRogers was wriggling out of his own contract.[[note]]Ironically, Rogers' character, "Trapper" John [=McIntyre=], was merely PutOnABus, being sent home between seasons, despite Rogers leaving on worse terms with more animosity between him and the production staff. Apparently, Rogers held out his final decision up until the series entered its hiatus between seasons, which is what spared his character from suffering a similar fate to Col. Blake.[[/note]] The main reason was to bring home the idea that war can take anyone at any time and to evoke [[EnforcedMethodActing a strong and unrehearsed response from the cast]], most of whom would first hear of the character's fate minutes before the scene was being shot. This isn't to say that the exact ''manner'' of Blake's death wasn't just a bit vindictive.

If the death is particularly awkward, anticlimactic or mean-spirited, it's a case of DroppedABridgeOnHim. When it happens off-screen (especially after the character was already written out in a non-deadly manner), it's a BusCrash. If the actor specifically requested to be killed off rather than written out in some less permanent way, it's KilledByRequest.

If the actor has not simply left the show, but life altogether, then this becomes TheCharacterDiedWithHim and the way the character is written out [[DueToTheDead is generally very respectful]]. The opposite of CharacterOutlivesActor.

'''As with all DeathTropes, ''beware of unmarked spoilers.'''''

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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* The ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|2010}}'' remake has Io being resurrected at the very end to live HappilyEverAfter with Perseus...only for ''Film/WrathOfTheTitans'' to open with him at her grave. Creator/GemmaArterton did not want to return for the sequel and rather than creating TheOtherDarrin for a second lead character (Creator/RosamundPike had to replace Alexa Davalos as Andromeda), they just killed her off.
* Nurse Mary Lamont, in ''Film/DrKildare's Wedding Day'' (1941). Laraine Day, who'd played the character in several films, told Creator/{{MGM}} she was tired of the role and asked to be written out of the series. So they had her die in a car accident after marrying Kildare.
* This wound up happening ''twice'' to Laurie Strode in the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' films.
** First, when Creator/JamieLeeCurtis (by then a successful 'mainstream' actress) declined to return for ''Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers'', Laurie was written out and mentioned as having died in a car accident.
** When ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater'' declared everything after [[Film/HalloweenII1981 the second film]] to be [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]], they were able to bring Curtis back to reprise her role as Laurie... on the condition that it be a GrandFinale without a SequelHook. Since longtime ''Halloween'' producer Moustapha Akkad's contract barred him from letting the writers permanently kill off Michael Myers, this naturally led to a sequel, ''Film/HalloweenResurrection''. Curtis, who was contractually obligated to appear in the film and was not at all happy about that, insisted that Laurie be KilledOffForReal [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome in the opening]]. The producers obliged this request, and thus a new protagonist named Sarah was used for the film after Laurie’s death.
* WordOfGod is that Creator/WillSmith's character from ''Film/IndependenceDay'', Steven Hiller, died in an accident with the alien-tech fighter jets before the events of ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence''. (Will Smith didn't want another Sci-Fi Father-Son story after ''Film/AfterEarth''.)
* In a very odd version of this trope, with the character's creator being the reason for a character's humiliating death rather than the actor leaving acrimoniously, the bad blood between Kevin [=McClory=] and the ''Film/JamesBond'' producers caused them to kill off Blofeld...by dropping him down a factory smokestack. Sort of. [[note]]Due to legal issues with the estate of Ian Fleming, the film series could no longer use either Blofeld or SPECTRE, so it is never explicitly stated the man in the wheelchair was Blofeld.[[/note]]
* Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme refused to return in the ''Film/{{Kickboxer}}'' sequel because he wanted to do other projects and the money wasn't right enough to change his mind. In response, his character Kurt was killed off by franchise villain Tong Po in the opening of the film, setting the stage for another martial arts actor, Sasha Mitchell, to play the role of the youngest and last remaining brother out for revenge.
* In ''Film/MenInBlack3'', it's mentioned near the beginning that Zed had passed away, and the other characters attend a memorial service. The reason Zed was killed off was that Creator/RipTorn had been arrested for drunk driving. And also broke into a bank with a loaded firearm. [[note]] Despite this, however, Torn did appear in the film, albeit under heavy makeup and [[UncreditedRole uncredited]] as one of the aliens at Zed's funeral [[/note]]
* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' is the last film on the contracts of Creator/RobertDowneyJr (Iron Man) and Creator/ChrisEvans (Captain America) for the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Iron Man dies using the Infinity Gauntlet to kill Thanos and his armies, and Captain America goes back to the past to be with Peggy Carter, returning to the present by TheSlowPath as an elderly widower.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': Sarah Connor, Creator/LindaHamilton's character, was killed off off-screen, in between ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' and ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', due to her preferring not to be involved in future sequels since she felt ''Terminator 2'' was how it was supposed to end. However, about 25 years later she changed her mind and returned in her most iconic role in ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', a heavily [[TimeSkip time-skipped]] but direct sequel to ''Judgment Day'' that renders all other installments from ''Rise of the Machines'' onward [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]].
* The actor who played Fox in ''Film/TheWarriors'' had such tense relations with the director and the rest of the cast that the role of TheHero was given to Swan, and a FakeShemp being used for his death scene, in which he's run over by a train.
* ''Film/XXxStateOfTheUnion'' has Augustus Gibbons calmly acknowledge the news of Xander Cage's death and then nobody mentions him for the rest of the film. [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated This has been retconned now that]] Creator/VinDiesel reprised his role. An alternate opening (included with the DVD as a short film) shows Xander (who is {{Fake Shemp}}ed using a stunt double) being blown up by the film's villain, with a bloody piece of skin showing his trademark "XXX" tattoo as the only thing left. The villain proceeds to insult the departed Mr. Cage and comment on how much of a moron he was, making it seem like a bit of a TakeThat.
* When Creator/SeanConnery decided not to come out of retirement for ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', it was decided Henry Jones, Sr. had died in the years since ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''.
* ''Film/TopGunMaverick'': Creator/MegRyan didn't return as Carole Bradshaw from ''Film/TopGun''. Carole is simply mentioned to have died from cancer in-between the two films.
[[/folder]]

%%The Live-Action TV folder has been alphabetized. Please keep this in mind as you add entries.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/The100'': Prior to season three, Creator/AlyciaDebnamCarey and Creator/RickyWhittle had been cast as leads on ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'' and ''Series/AmericanGods2017'' respectively, which would have necessitated reduced screentime if not their characters written off entirely. Both their characters were effectively murdered during the season, closing the door on future-season guest spots. The former appeared briefly in the season finale, which served as a character sendoff.
* Creator/EricBalfour had only signed up the sixth season of ''Series/TwentyFour'', and since it was already planned for the following season to be a ReTool that was going to get rid of most of the characters anyway, he [[KilledByRequest asked the producers to kill him off]]. This led to his character Milo getting shot in the face late in the season.
* After Creator/ErnestBorgnine left ''Series/{{Airwolf}}'', the writers decided to kill off his character by way of showing Ernest's stunt double - [[FakeShemp filmed only from behind, natch]] - being killed in a helicopter explosion (using StockFootage from [[SpecialEffectFailure an entirely different episode, filmed in an entirely different location]]).
* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': this was just barely averted in the case of Creator/CarrollOConnor. Contract disputes with O'Connor led to Archie being absent for a number of episodes during the fifth season - in case they weren't able to reach a negotiation, an episode where it was discovered that Archie had been murdered was filmed which would have led to a ReTool of the series.
** The ReTool in question would have involved Archie's best friend, the frequently-mentioned but rarely-seen Jerome "Stretch" Cunningham, moving in with the Bunkers to look after them in Archie's memory and becoming the show's new lead. Stretch was played by Creator/JamesCromwell, who much later revealed that his own character's death was for revenge. Understandably, O'Connor wasn't thrilled with the continued on-set presence of the man who very nearly replaced him, and demanded to the producers that he be fired; they acquiesced, and the show got a classic episode out of it.
* ''Series/ArchieBunkersPlace'': After ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' ended, the writers struggled to explain Edith Bunker's constant absence in the spinoff. Eventually they wrote an episode entitled "Archie Alone" that explains that Edith had died of a stroke, and Archie was actively in denial and trying to keep news of her death from reaching his friends. This was for drama, as Jean Stapleton merely wanted to pursue other options instead of returning to occasionally guest star as her sitcom character.
* Series/{{Arrowverse}}:
** Creator/VictorGarber decided to leave ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' when Season 3 started, wanting to go back to theater. His character, [[ComicBook/FirestormDCComics Martin Stein]], ended up performing a HeroicSacrifice during the ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'' crossover.
** A strange example with Creator/EmilyBettRickards. She left ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' after Season 7 ended, leaving her unavailable for the show's final season. In the Season 7 finale's 2019 narrative, Felicity Smoak survives, but gets PutOnABus. In the 2040 narrative, however, she takes a one-way trip to a NostalgiaHeaven, where she is reunited with her husband. Consequently, it's possible for Felicity to return in the present narrative (and indeed, she did, returning for the ''Arrow'' GrandFinale), but not for anything set after 2040.
** ''Series/{{Batwoman|2019}}'''s Creator/RubyRose, who portrayed the title character, left the show after the first season, citing trouble coping with the work load. As such, Season 2 opens with Kate Kane [[NeverFoundTheBody going missing, presumed dead]] in a plane crash. Kate later returns, but portrayed by Creator/WallisDay, the in-universe explanation being that Kate had her face reconstructed after the crash mangled it.
** In ''Series/Supergirl2015'', the supporting character Jerimiah Danvers is killed off midway through season 5 as Creator/DeanCain was involved in a few too many controversial tirades on social media. Interestingly, they avoided a convenient recast due to a [[CosmicRetcon result of the multiverse being rebooted]], as was the case for Sam Lane, who would be played by a different actor in ''Series/SupermanAndLois'' from the one in this series. However, this does become a significant plot point when it's revealed [[spoiler:his death was orchestrated by Lex Luthor as a ploy to gain the trust of his pre-Crisis ally]].
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' is unique in that Creator/JMichaelStraczynski went out of his way to prepare these ahead of time. While planning the whole series out ahead of time, JMS acknowledged the very real possibility that actors might want or need to leave the show. As such, he prepared what he called a "trap door" built into each character's storyline, a way to discretely end their arc and fill their intended role with somebody else. Luckily, these trap doors only needed to be used a few times:
** Andrea Thompson, who played the telepath Talia Winters, got a bit demanding on the set. Notably, she wanted to appear in more episodes than she was, in fact in more episodes than most of the regular cast but the lead. She left the show in the ensuing discussions, and was [[PutOnABus taken back to Psi Corps headquarters]] by Bester. In a later episode, Al Bester lets slip that they found out things about the crew in the course of her debriefing and dissec...er ''examination''. This one's notable in that Talia was always intended, right from the start to be sent back to Psi Corps. They even wrote in the mechanism that would enable her to return. The only thing that changed is that unlike the original plan, she never came back.
** This was also done with the recurring character General Hague. He had played a major role in season 2, and it was anticipated he would show up in a major episode of season 3. When that episode was about to be taped, he was unavailable. Because of the circumstances, J. Michael Straczynski killed off General Hague--partly out of vindictiveness and partly to add drama -- and put Hague's subordinate in charge. One {{Hilarious Outtake|s}} puts the situation best:
--->'''Captain Sheridan:''' Where's General Hague?\\
'''Major Ryan:''' General Hague...is doing ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]''. Apparently he was double-booked by his agent and there was nothing to be done. So you'll have to deal with me, sir.
** B5 also had one of the most insane cases of this with a very important and critical role to the plotline. [[spoiler: Namely the role of the temptress to lure the protagonist to Z'ha'dum at the climax of Season 3. At first, the role was given to the character of Carolyn Sykes in "The Gathering" but Sykes' actress, Blaire Baron, then declined to join the series as a regular. JMS course corrected by saying that Sinclair and Sykes had broken up and introduced Catherine Sakai, played by Julia Nickson-Soul, who played the role throughout Season 1. However, at the end of Season 1, Sinclar was written out of the show because of Michael O'Hare's mental illness so Sakai could no longer be the temptress as the person she was tempting was, of course, no longer the lead character of the show. Enter John Sheridan as his missing, presumed dead wife, Anna Sheridan. Anna in her first appearance was played by Beth Touissant, who was unable to reprise the role of Anna, and thus, JMS cast Bruce Boxleitner's actual then-wife, Melissa Gilbert to play the role throughout Season 3 through to her character's intended death at Z'ha'dum.]]
* In the 2004 rendition of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', Billy Keikeya's actor Paul Campbell wasn't under contract and was constantly unsure whether he wanted to stay on the show, preventing his character from being involved in any significant plot arcs. The writers eventually got fed up with this and killed off his character. Unfortunately, because the build-up of the third leg in the LoveTriangle, involving Billy's love interest (Dee) and TheAce (Apollo), kept ending up as deleted scenes, this came across to many viewers as an especially abrupt MurderTheHypotenuse in favor of the pretty boy over the awkward geek; with Dee dumping him out of nowhere and suddenly jumping into a relationship with Apollo all in the same episode where Billy got shot (perhaps marking the beginning of the HateDom which grew for Dee's character).
* Creator/AidanTurner's character in ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'' was killed off when he was casted for ''Film/{{The Hobbit}}''.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'':
** Jan Chappell was both unable and unwilling to return for season four. It was planned that she'd return for the first six episodes, then three, then finally just the first, in which Cally is hastily killed in an explosion without ever appearing onscreen.
** Gareth Thomas actually insisted on this as a condition of coming BackForTheFinale, hence the unusually graphic blood effects used when Blake gets shot. In the end it turned out to be academic, as the mooted fifth season never happened.
** Speaking of the finale, the series ends with the characters being shot in slow-motion. The actors were told that if they wanted to stay on for the next season, their character would be stunned and if they didn't, then their character's dead. Josette Simon, Stephen Pacey and Creator/GlynisBarber all later said that they wouldn't have returned for a fifth season, so we can presume that Dayna, Tarrant and Soolin are dead.
* ''Series/BlueBloods'': it's not entirely clear why [[spoiler: actress Amy Carlson]] left the show, but [[spoiler: Linda Reagan was killed in a helicopter crash between seasons 7 and 8]].
* In ''Series/{{Bones}}'':
** [[spoiler: Mr. Nigel-Murray]] was shot and killed by Sniper Broadsky to add drama which led to the wham ending for the sixth season. The actor left to be a main character on ''Series/{{Alphas}}''.
** The death of [[spoiler: Sweets]] in the [[spoiler: tenth season's premiere]]. Drama: the actor has a burgeoning behind-the-scenes career, and the writers believed that having the character just leave DC didn't feel like a satisfying conclusion.
* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Averted twice (on the original series and again with ''The Bradys''), both thanks to the series being canceled:
** With the original series, rumors abounded about Creator/RobertReed's status on the show after the end of Season 5, after he refused to appear in the season finale, "The Hair-Brained Scheme." That, plus his ongoing feud with Sherwood Schwartz and his son, Lloyd, and overall unhappiness with the show meant that, according to several sources, including the book ''Growing Up Brady'' by Barry Williams (Greg), Reed was about to be fired, and one of the scenarios seriously considered to explain Reed's departure was killing off Mike Brady. The aversion came when ABC stepped in and decided to fire everybody.
** With ''The Bradys'', Reed's feud with the Schwartzes continued unabated, and when the Schwartzes got wind that a frustrated Reed was complaining directly to [=CBS=] about the scripts, Sherwood Schwartz and Paramount Studios considered that a serious breach of protocol. Williams wrote that had the series been renewed for the fall 1990 season, Reed would definitely not be asked back ... and again, killing his character off was among the scenarios that were on the table. There was a scenario where Mike, who had gotten into politics and been elected City Councilman, was going to go up in a helicopter to check out the damage to his district after an earthquake, only for the chopper to crash.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'' killed off Tuco Salamanca in "[[Recap/BreakingBadS2E2Grilled Grilled]]", concluding a four-episode arc, because Creator/RaymondCruz had difficulties portraying such a volatile character. Cruz did return to reprise the role in ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', a prequel taking place before his death. Even there, he appeared for only three episodes before [[PutOnABus Tuco is sent to prison]].
* The 1980s BritCom ''Brush Strokes'' did this when Gary Waldhorn, who played the protagonist's PointyHairedBoss Lionel Bainbridge, left the show at the end of the third season. The first episode of the fourth series described how he had died in embarrassing circumstances during a drunken hazing ritual of his BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats, which apparently involved climbing out of an upper window while beating himself over the head with a tin tray.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': A very weird example occurred in the ''last'' [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen episode]]. [[spoiler:Creator/EmmaCaulfield]] wanted to take her career in other directions so explicitly asked to be killed off so that [[spoiler:her character Anya]] could never be used in any of the {{spinoff}}s.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'':
** A show in which every major character has been killed, some as many as nine times over eight years (including Prue once, she was brought back by a genie), explained that Prue was "dead for good" when Creator/ShannenDoherty was kicked off the show. (And unavailable as a SpiritAdvisor, unlike every other female member of the Halliwell family who was still dead.) Death was suddenly tragic, to the characters at least. The {{Handwave}} for Prue's unavailability is that her death is still too recent for her sisters. For the several years worth of time the rest of the shows takes place over. The comic continuation, of course, has no actor availability problem, so Prue is able to appear as a spirit advisor.
** Rumoured to be the reason for Andy's death in the Season 1 finale. A major rumour was that Creator/ShannenDoherty didn't get along with TW King and wanted him off the show. Another said that he wanted to pursue other projects. A third camp says that he wanted more screen time but writers had no ideas for him.
* ''Series/ChicagoPD'': Detective Alvin Olinsky is brutally murdered at the end of Season 5 because producer Rick Eid, the writers, and ultimately, Olinsky's actor Creator/EliasKoteas, mutually agreed that they had reached the creative end of Olinsky's story arc and having him killed off as a somewhat direct result of Sgt. Hank Voight's taking the law into his own hands two seasons earlier would be a fitting end given the two characters' close relationship.
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' did it with Jay Thomas's character Eddie [=LeBec=], Carla's (Rhea Perlman) husband. Hollywood legend has it that Jay Thomas mouthed off about Perlman on a radio show, Perlman later went to the writers and wanted him gone. Eddie was later killed by a Zamboni at an ice show.
* ''Series/ChinaBeach'' when Nan Woods' character Cherry White was killed off in 1989.
* Yuki Yajima, the actress who played Mika Koizumi, the original Yellow Four in ''Series/ChoudenshiBioman'', abruptly left the show after only nine episodes due to circumstances that are yet to be known. After one and half (the actress was gone by the second half of episode 9) episodes of the character appearing in suit only and having her voiced dubbed by [[FakeShemp another actress]], Mika was killed off by one of the villains in Episode 10 (even being buried in her uniform!), leading to the introduction of the second Yellow Four, Jun Yabuki.
* When Creator/ChevyChase left ''Series/{{Community}}'', he returned for a single scene in the Season 5 premier, where it was explained why his character Pierce Hawthorne was PutOnABus. A few episodes later, MoodWhiplash ensues when Shirley informs the group that Pierce has died. The following episode at least proves to be an oddly touching sendoff, rather than a spiteful one which also [[spoiler:set up Troy's LongBusTrip (in this case the bus is a boat)]] during the reading of Pierce's will. %%Remove spoiler tag two weeks after Troy's departure episode%%.
** Although often presumed to be for revenge based on Chase's [[CreatorBacklash vocal dissatisfaction with the show]] and his [[CreativeDifferences public feud with Dan Harmon]], Harmon stated [[http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/mega-community-interview-with-dan-harmon-part-1/3 in an interview]] that he and Chase had buried the hatchet before Chase had quit the show. However, the terms of Chase being released from his contract apparently forbid him from ever returning to the ''Community'' set under any circumstances.
* After a reboot of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' was cancelled due to racist remarks Roseanne Barr made about former [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Obama Administration]] staffer Valerie Jarrett, the series was {{ReTool}}ed as ''Series/TheConners''. John Goodman announced that Barr's character will be killed off. The first episode revealed that Roseanne Conner had died due to an opioid overdose.
* ''Series/{{Cracker}}'': DCI David Bilborough and DS Jimmy Beck were killed off when Creator/ChristopherEccleston and Loran Cranitch wanted to leave the series.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** An interesting retroactive example with the show's original main character, Jason Gideon. This trope was originally not the case, as when Creator/MandyPatinkin left the show due to being disturbed by its content in Season 3, Gideon was just PutOnABus but very clearly alive, despite Patinkin quite obviously having no intention of returning. Seven seasons later, he undergoes a BusCrash and the team investigates his murder for a purely "Drama" example.
** After Thomas Gibson's RoleEndingMisdemeanor resulted in him being fired in the middle of Season 12, Damon Gupton was hired by the network to replace him as SSA Stephen Walker. Walker was intended to remain on the show for Season 13, but when Gupton decided to leave the series, his character was killed off in the Season 13 premiere in another "Drama" example.
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had one that was a subversion: Vanessa Ferlito left, and Aiden Burn was fired by Mac for starting to tamper with evidence. But near the end of the season, she was StuffedInTheFridge.
* Creator/RoryCochrane's character Tim Speedle was killed off on ''Series/CSIMiami'' when he wanted to leave.
* Warrick Brown on original ''Series/{{CSI}}'' was not killed as many believe because of Gary Dourdan's arrest, but the actor's personal issues had led to Warrick's death being planned just before it happened, and played out just after.
* ''Series/{{Dallas}}'':
** When Creator/PatrickDuffy left for a film career in 1985, the producers killed Bobby Ewing in an auto accident. When they had to bring him back to save the show, [[ExecutiveMeddling they decided]] that the accident and the ''season's worth of episodes that took place after it'' were AllJustADream.
** The trope also almost could've been called "Hagmaned". During the famous "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger after the second season, Creator/LarryHagman went into protracted renegotiations, holding out for more money. He ultimately re-signed, but they could've easily killed J.R. off if he didn't.
* Happens to [[spoiler:protagonist Inspector Richard Poole]] at the start of series 3 of ''Series/DeathInParadise''. It served double duty as a callback to to the first episode -- [[spoiler: the first case Inspector Poole was involved with on the island was the death of a British detective, and so was the last. It was just that this time he was involved as the ''victim''.]] In this case it was because the actor wanted to leave to spend more time with their family.
* When Ryan Cooley wanted to return to school, the writers on ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' decided the best way to do this was to have J.T. Yorke (his character) stabbed in the back and killed. Driving several characters to different forms of depression over it. This wasn't out of animosity; the death of a friend was not a trauma the series had properly covered yet.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': After the highly public disputes between Creator/NicolletteSheridan and Marc Cherry, he decided to kill Edie off in an over the top manor. After discovering her new husband's devious intentions against the neighbors of Wisteria Lane, Edie in a fit of anger and tears storms out of their house, after being physically assaulted by Dave, wrecks her car after swerving to miss a man, Orson Hodge, in the middles of the street, and is electrocuted by a downed power line. To add insult to injury, he made Nicollette narrate the event, as the now deceased Edie took over the narration for that episode.
* On ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', [[spoiler:Creator/JulieBenz's character Rita]] is killed off at the end of season 4. In what may have been a surprise move, [[spoiler:Benz]] stars in a new show, ''Series/NoOrdinaryFamily,'' which started the season after [[spoiler:Rita]] was killed. You're left to your own opinion about the artistic choices, but there was no hint of antagonism between [[spoiler:Benz]] and the crew, and she's made at least one flashback appearance so it's a pretty clear "drama" [=McLeaning=]. It certainly was dramatic.\\
The writers confirmed in an interview just after that finale that she was saddened by the news and definitely didn't want to leave, but understood why it was necessary plot-wise and handled it graciously. She then went on to poke fun at herself on ''Series/TheSoup'', pretending to be drunk and bitter about getting canned, but then getting a phone call with an offer to replace the lead on ''Series/{{Community}}'' because the first actor (Joel [=McHale=]) sucked so much.
* ''Series/DocMartin'': Aunt Joan was killed off after Stephanie Cole chose not to return for Series 5. The character was a fixture in the setting and Martin's life, so killing her off was probably the most plausible explanation for her sudden disappearance. It was for drama, as Cole has a personal preference for not staying with any show for more than four series.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The Sixth Doctor's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani regeneration]] into the Seventh was believed to be because BBC head Michael Grade hated Creator/ColinBaker's performance. The bad blood was apparently mutual, as Baker refused to do any kind of send-off. He was [[FakeShemp Shemped]] for the ColdOpen of Season 24, where he was offed by a mere [[DeathByFallingOver bonk on the head]]. Eventually, Creator/BigFinish gave him the sendoff he deserved. Though they couldn't outright undo the [=McLeaning=] itself [[note]]They only ''write'' stories about Time Lords, contrary to popular belief they're not Time Lords themselves...[[/note]], they were able to retcon the [[DroppedABridgeOnHim vindictively stupid manner of death]] into something more appropriately heroic.
** When the Ninth Doctor regenerated, Creator/ChristopherEccleston stated that behind-the-scenes politics played a role in him deciding to leave after only one season.
** The other Doctors have generally been regenerated for drama, with the character regenerating into a new actor when the incumbent chooses to move on to a new role. Exception being Creator/SylvesterMcCoy, who was brought back for a revival [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie TV movie]] to regenerate and was never expected to continue beyond it, and the Eighth Doctor, who was not brought back for the 2005 series as the producers wanted to start fresh, rather than any decision by the actor.
** Happened with Clara Oswald, but in a '''very''' unconventional way. When Creator/JennaColeman decided to leave ''Who'' to topline ''Series/{{Victoria}}'' (having stayed on ''Who'' longer than initially planned), Clara was KilledOffForReal at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven "Face the Raven"]], the opening episode of the three-part Series 9 finale, and she then briefly appeared as a figment of the Doctor's imagination in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent "Heaven Sent"]]. '''Then''', in the SeasonFinale "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]", the DrivenToMadness Doctor manages to pull her out of time at the moment just before she dies, rendering her OnlyMostlyDead but also risking a RealityBreakingParadox. At the end, she and the Doctor agree they must part ways for good (with him losing his key emotional/physical memories of her) and she decides to use a second TARDIS stolen in the course of events to return to her death "the long way 'round", having new offscreen adventures as a functional immortal, though her "Face the Raven" death remains a fixed point in time that she'll have to go through eventually. Two years later, though it was shot in a studio and green-screened in due to her ''Victoria'' commitments, Coleman made a cameo appearance as a Testimony avatar of Clara in the Twelfth Doctor's GrandFinale ChristmasEpisode [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]]. As the Testimony works off of the memories of the dead, this confirms Clara returning to her death.
* On ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', first [[spoiler:Lady Sybil died in childbirth, though]] she'd moved away, and then [[spoiler: Matthew died in a car crash]] after their respective actors decided to leave to pursue film careers. [[FanonDiscontinuity Fandom fury ensued]], particularly in the latter's case.
* ''Series/{{ER}}'': [[spoiler: Lucy Knight]] was murdered by a schizophrenic patient when her actress [[spoiler: Kellie Martin]] wanted to leave the show, wanting to pursue other projects as she'd never really fit in during her time on the show.
* ''Series/TheExpanse'': Cas Anvar, who plays main cast member Alex Kamal, was fired after the fifth season finished filming [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor for sexual misconduct]]. Though Alex is still alive in the books on which the series is based, there was no realistic way to non-fatally write him out of the series for the final season as the series was already done and no-one wanted him back on set to do re-shoots, so the writers adapated the death of a semi-important book character and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed him with a g-force induced stroke]] in the season finale, adding some drops of blood to a still image of Alex piloting the ship, and then using CGI to edit him out of the final scene of the season.
* ''Series/{{Fame}}'' had one of the more unusual examples. During Season 6; the show's writers were putting together a VerySpecialEpisode on drunk driving but felt there would be more impact with a main character at the center. Around the same time, Nia Peeples (who played the role of Nicole Chapman) was planning to depart to launch a music career, and Peeples agreed to have the writers kill off her character... which they did (and according to the 2009 book ''Inside Fame on Television'', they regretted doing so later).
* The character Zhaan from ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' died because her actress developed health problems due to the makeup they used, as well as several other outstanding issues.
* The third season of British drama ''Footballer's Wives'' opened with the funeral of major character Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe when actress Susie Amy didn't return to the series. Her character is mentioned to have died of anorexia in-between seasons.
* ''Series/FBIMostWanted'': In one that was a shock to viewers/fans of the show, Special Agent Jess [=LaCroix=] is [[DroppedAbridgeOnHim unexpectedly]] shot and killed while on assignment in the Season 3 episode "Shattered". Behind the scenes, [=LaCroix=]'s actor, Creator/JulianMcMahon, wanted to pursue other creative projects and requested that his character [[KilledByRequest die in the line of duty]].
* ''Series/ForeverKnight'' did this with Schanke, killing him in a plane crash so they could replace him with Tracy Vetter for more Fanservice. John Kapelos was offered a scenario of Schanke making captain, but he didn't want reduced screen time. In season 3, more characters died, a KillEmAll scenario.
* An in-show example takes place on ''Series/{{Friends}}''. In a parody of the ''Series/LALaw'' incident (see below), Dr. Drake Ramoray, the character played by Joey in the ShowWithinAShow version of ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'', falls down an elevator shaft (reluctantly) after Joey claims in an interview that he writes his own lines (he merely changes the wording of the lines at times in an inconsequential manner), with the in-show "tragedy" being that the only doctor who could have saved Drake was Drake himself. Years later, Joey was able to return to the show as Dr. Drake Ramoray when the character played by Creator/SusanSarandon's character was killed off in the [=McLean=] manner as well (in a horse-riding accident, even though the character was established to be afraid of horses), and according to soap-opera logic, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Drake received her brain]] and fully recovered. By the next "episodes", the brain transplant thing was dropped.
* A rare cameo example: Singer Music/EdSheeran appeared on ''Series/GameOfThrones'' as "Eddie" in the premiere of Season 7. Though the character was never intended to return, the Fandom's reaction was so negative that his fate is mentioned offhandedly by prostitutes in Season 8: His face melted off by dragon fire.
* When Creator/JohnAmos was fired from ''Series/GoodTimes'' in 1975 for complaining about the quality of the show in ''Ebony'' magazine, his character James Evans was promptly killed in yet another auto accident (this one was particularly tragic, since James was planning on moving to Mississippi).
* ''Series/TheGoodWife'' used this for maximum emotional impact when the ''de facto'' male lead Josh Charles wanted to leave. Although the writers initially considered writing his character, Will Gardner, out by [[PutOnABus having the ethically challenged attorney disbarred]], they instead killed him off when his unhinged client went on a shooting spree in their courtroom, about two-thirds of the way through Season 5. Between killing off arguably the most important male character and having no precedent for such violence on the series, it made for quite the WhamEpisode.
* Bart Bass was killed off on ''Series/GossipGirl'' when actor Creator/RobertJohnBurke wanted to leave. (He turned out to be [[HesJustHiding just hiding]].)
* Done three times in ''Series/GreysAnatomy'': George (T. R. Knight), Lexie (Chyler Leigh), and Mark (Creator/EricDane) all died in [[WhamEpisode season finales]]. Izzie was a subversion; she would have died in the same cliffhanger episode as George if Katherine Heigl decided not to appear again. She decided this later and the character was instead {{put on a bus}}. The finale of Season 8 was intended to be this: a few of the actors had not yet decided to renew their contracts, so there was a plane crash which would allow some characters to easily be killed off by [[TimeSkip the beginning of the next season]].
** A controversial fourth occurred when [[spoiler: Creator/PatrickDempsey]] decided to leave in season eleven. This resulted in [[spoiler: Derek]] getting hit by a truck, suffering heavy trauma that resulted in him being declared brain dead
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'':
** When Creator/DavidAnders left to film ''Children of the Corn'', Adam Monroe was quickly killed off to make way for a new villain. They brought him back for Hiro's dream trial a year and a half later when Anders was available.
** Bob Bishop was supposed to play a bigger role season three, but Creator/StephenTobolowsky was injured in a riding accident, so he was promptly killed off.
** When they brought the show back as ''Series/HeroesReborn2015'', a number of the original actors were unable to return thanks to commitments to other projects. Creator/HaydenPanettiere was among those not to come back, so Claire Bennett was KilledOffScreen and regulated to [[PosthumousCharacter Posthumous]] status.
*** Despite that not making narrative sense, as Claire's superpower was a ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} style HealingFactor, which had previously been shown to make her unkillable.
* When Alexandra Vandernoot wanted to leave ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' due to the commute between France and Vancouver and family issues, Tessa was killed off. The writers had established that she'd never leave Duncan while she was alive, but it appears they also saw it as a good chance for a WhamEpisode.
* ''Series/TheHoganFamily'': After a long dispute with producers over creative control and salary, Valerie Harper left the cast of ''Valerie''; her character was promptly killed in a car accident and replaced by Sandy Duncan, and the show was renamed twice, to ''Valerie's Family: The Hogans'' and finally ''The Hogan Family''.
* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'':
** Steve Crosetti. Originally Creator/JonPolito was PutOnABus because network executives felt he wasn't particularly photogenic and the cast needed more women characters, so they wrote out Crosetti and brought on Isabella Hofmann as Megan Russert. Then Polito said bad things about Creator/TomFontana and Creator/BarryLevinson, the show's producers. So they decided to kill Crosetti off instead.
** Creator/DanielBaldwin left (along with Creator/NedBeatty) in Season 4, so in Season 5 the producers chose to kill Beau Felton off for good.
* When Creator/KalPenn left ''Series/{{House}}'' to serve in the Obama administration, the producers had his character Kutner commit suicide. Though this was due to the first reason, not because of any friction with the rest of the cast. They just wanted some drama and a VerySpecialEpisode. The director later joked that if he'd left for another acting role, the death would have been [[EroticAsphyxiation autoerotic asphyxiation]].
* Actor Creator/KevinSpacey's VillainProtagonist character, Frank Underwood, was killed off-screen at the start of what became the Final Season of ''Series/HouseOfCardsRemake'', because of the actor being accused of sexual assault and other bad behaviors over the years had surfaced not long after the end of Season 5.
* ''Series/KevinCanWait'': Erinn Hayes who played Kevin's wife was fired after the first season. As such, the second (and last) season's premiere mentions that her character has been dead for over a year.
* ''Series/LALaw'': Creator/DianaMuldaur's departure resulted in her character Rosalind Shays walking into an open elevator shaft. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv3ifsSVl5k Muldaur didn't even know her character was being killed off before reading the script.]] It should be noted that this was not because of dislike of Muldaur, but rather because the writers hated the character, who was very harsh and bitchy, and they thought the character was ruining the show. Alternatively, however, then executive producer Creator/DavidEKelley claimed in an "Emmy TV Legends" interview that he actually loved the character very much, and actually had Rosalind killed off because he was actually leaving the series, and he didn't want her to get mishandled in the hands of another writer.
* ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'':
** Prosecutor Alexandra Borgia was kidnapped, brutally beaten, BoundAndGagged, locked in a car trunk, and choked to death on her own vomit. Rumor had it that her particularly brutal [=McLeaning=] is a result of Annie Parisse, who portrayed her, refusing to sleep with one of the show's writers, but this rumor has been debunked. WordOfGod says she wanted to leave so she could act in more movies, and the reason the writers [=McLeaned=] her is because it had been ages since they'd killed off a major cast member (as part of a crime, at least).
** When Creator/JillHennessey left the show, prosecutor Claire Kincaid was killed by a drunk driver hitting her car in the driver's door. This is a particularly interesting case, though, since the producers originally intended to have the character merely paralyzed, but changed it to killing her off when Hennessey refused to return for one more episode that would show this.
*** Kincaid's death was a result of miscommunication; Jill Hennessey claimed she was perfectly happy to reprise her role and was rather shocked to hear they actually killed off Kincaid. When the original series was still broadcasting, Hennessey also stated she wanted to come back to do 'weird flashbacks' but the producers (unfortunately) never took her up on her offer.
** There was Creator/GeorgeDzunda's Max Greevey, killed before he could testify against mobsters.
** Elsewhere in the L&O-verse, Captain Ross on ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' as a prelude to a cast shake-up.
** Across the pond, ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'''s Matt Devlin was killed in a drive-by shooting when Creator/JamieBamber finished his contract with the show. Much like on the other versions of ''L&O'', the writers probably wanted to kill off a major character, especially since Bamber was now the third actor to depart the series and the other two had left without much fanfare. It's a pretty classic example of Reason #1 -- the following episode was one of the series best as the team struggled to deal with their grief while doing their best to ensure that his killer was brought to justice. Still, one wishes it would have occurred to the writers that this would be the umpteenth of Bamber's characters to be killed off and find another way to write him out.
* Due to Clayne Crawford's behavior, he was fired from ''Series/LethalWeapon2016'' and season 2 ended with Riggs getting shot -- and season 3 opened with confirmation that Riggs died.
* When the actress who played Alice Garvey on ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' wished to move on to other projects, Alice ended up dying in a fire in the two-hour "May We Make Them Proud."
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** When Creator/AdewaleAkinnuoyeAgbaje left the show, Eko was killed off and the arc they had planned for him was mostly pushed onto other characters, with bits being lost forever.
** Caesar seemed to be an important character and was advertised as such, then was killed abruptly on his fourth episode without contributing anything critical to the plot. It was done because Creator/SaidTaghmaoui decided not to stay for the next season and the planned character arc was apparently passed on to Bram, who debuted just minutes after Caesar met his demise.
** Contrary to popular belief, Creator/MichelleRodriguez's character Ana Lucia Cortez was ''not'' killed off due to [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor her DUI arrest]]. According to WordOfGod, Rodriguez had only ever been interested in appearing in one season, so Cortez's brutal death was planned from the beginning.
** Creator/ElizabethMitchell left at the end of the fifth season to star on another Creator/{{ABC}} series, ''[[Series/{{V2009}} V (2009)]]''.
* ''Series/MadMen'' has only killed off one major character in its entire run: Lane Pryce, who hanged himself near the end of Season 5. Lane's death was admittedly the result of Jared Harris deciding he had to leave in order to honour his other acting commitments, particularly playing Professor Moriarty in ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', and the writers and Harris agreeing that the series could continue without Lane (his financial/management wizardry role being transferred to Joan). There were also no bad blood between him and the production, as he returned to [[DirectedByCastMember direct]] the 7th season Episode ''Time & Life''.
* ''Series/McMillanAndWife'': Sally, the titular wife, [[BusCrash dies offscreen in a plane crash]] between the fifth and sixth seasons thanks to a contract dispute between Susan Saint James and Creator/{{Universal}}.
* The fourth series of ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' was kick-started with the deaths of not one, or two, but ''three'' major characters, all of whom went on to star in other projects. All the departures seemed amiable enough and the deaths themselves were immensely dignified and fitting for the characters involved.
** Creator/EmiliaFox went first, with [[HumanSacrifice Morgause sacrificing herself]] to open the veil between worlds, (so that Fox could feature in ''Series/UpstairsDownstairs'' and concentrate on her regular role in ''Series/SilentWitness''). She returned for a posthumous appearance in the spirit world, but the scene was cut from the aired episode. ''Series/SilentWitness'' is still going strong.
** She was followed by Creator/SantiagoCabrera who also [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed himself]] in order to ''close'' the veil (so that Cabrera could take a role on ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}''). Cabrera's role on ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}'' was dropped, leaving him available to return for one more episode of ''Merlin'', which unfortunately seemed to veer into revenge given the circumstances: [[spoiler:Lancelot reappeared as a mindless tool of Morgana, manipulated into destroying the relationship between Arthur and Guinevere, and promptly killed off again]].
** In the next episode, Creator/AnthonyStewartHead's character King Uther was killed off by an assassin, so that Head could star in ''Free Agents''...which was cancelled after four episodes.
* Happened to Larry Zito in the ''Series/MiamiVice'' episode "Down for the Count," since John Diehl was sick of living in Miami, felt he was underused, and wanted to expand into theater.
* In ''Series/TheMusketeers'', Cardinal Richelieu was killed off by (probably) natural causes between the first two seasons, after Creator/PeterCapaldi left to play the Twelfth Doctor in ''Series/DoctorWho''.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': after Trace Beaulieu left the show, it was revealed at the beginning of Season 8 that his character Dr. Clayton Forrester was killed offscreen by his own mother. This was done as a sort of parody of the trope, and not out of any real bitterness - Trace continues to be good friends with much of the cast, including his Crow replacement Bill Corbett, to this day. They were able to set this one up in advance since they knew Beaulieu would be leaving; the finale of Season 7 has Forrester get turned into a [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey star child]] and his mother gushing over being given a second chance to raise him right. When Pearl shows up in Season 8, she remarks that despite her best efforts, Clayton still went evil, so she killed him.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': When Sasha Alexander wanted out, her character was shot between the eyes. Although she did spend the next season's two-part premiere dressing up like an idiot and bothering the not-dead cast, which is more than Lauren Holly got a few seasons later.
** When Creator/CoteDePablo left, her character was initially PutOnABus...only to be unceremoniously KilledOffscreen two years later to facilitate Creator/MichaelWeatherly's departure from the show. [[spoiler:And now she's back.]]
* When Creator/RickSchroder left ''Series/NYPDBlue'' to spend more time with his family, his character, Danny Sorenson, was killed off by a Mafia assassin.
* ''Series/TheOC'': Everyone knew Creator/MischaBarton was leaving the show at the end of the third season, and the episode had the plotline that she was going away to live with her dad. However, on her way to the airport, she was in a car accident and died. This was quite a surprising twist when it originally aired in the US. For some reason, the Australian station on which the OC was playing felt that instead of allowing the viewers to experience this shock twist, it should start having ads three weeks before the finale saying "MARISSA...WILL...DIE". [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil Thanks, channel 10]].
* ''Series/{{Oz}}'':
** Jefferson Keane is executed halfway through the first season because the actor portraying him, Leon, refused to commit to a series. When Leon asked Tom Fontana why he was being killed off, Fontana told him it was because he said he wouldn't commit to more than four episodes. Leon replied that he thought he'd been talked out of that and actually wanted to stay.
** Simon Adebesi was killed off when Creator/AdewaleAkinnuoyeAgbaje was cast in ''Film/TheMummyReturns''.
** Kareem Said was killed off when Creator/EamonnWalker was cast in ''Film/TearsOfTheSun''.
* ''Series/{{Plebs}}'' had the actor playing Stylax decide to leave in the gap between 3 and 4, so in the pre-credits sequence of the first episode of series 4 -with the aid of a little CGI and another actor in an unconvincing wig- they literally dropped a giant block of marble on the character; crushing him to death.
* In ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', Valerie Vernon was diagnosed with leukemia during filming, so her character, Kendrix (the Pink Ranger) was killed off by [[DyingMomentOfAwesome sacrificing herself to save another Ranger.]] Thankfully, her leukemia was cured in time for her [[DisneyDeath revival]] in the final episode. This is another example not inspired by ill will towards the actress, but rather because they weren't sure Vernon would even be ''able'' to return.
* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': At the end of Season 3, three of the main characters were trapped in the past, and Laila Rouass's character, Sarah, was the only one left from the main team (not counting military guy Becker). The first episode of Season 4 says that Sarah was killed on a previous mission, with a webisode showing part of it (using a FakeShemp of her voice). This is due to production moving to Ireland and Laila Rouass not wishing to leave her young daughter.
* ''Series/PrivatePractice'' did this [[spoiler: with Tim Daly's character Peter Wilder when he left the show in between the fifth and sixth seasons]]. It's revealed he died offscreen of a heart attack.
* ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'':
** Michael Praed left the show when he was offered a part in ''Series/Dynasty1981'', resulting in Myth/RobinHood being KilledOffForReal at the start of the third season and Jason Connery taking up the mantle.
** Alan-a-Dale was intended to be a recurring character, but the production team and regular cast considered the actor's performance to be very poor.
* Creator/StephenCollins' anchorman character in ''Series/{{Scandal}}'' was slated to return in a Season 4 episode. However, once the audio tape of Collins' admitting to several sexual abuse allegations was made public, Creator/{{ABC}} immediately pulled him from the series and announced that the footage of the episode featuring Collins would not be shown. Also counts as RoleEndingMisdemeanor.
* ''Series/SilkStalkings'': Series lead Chris Lorenzo is killed at the end of season 5, one episode before his co-lead Rita Lee Lance is also written off. The rest of the series focuses on SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute characters.
* ''Series/SleepyHollow'' did this with Abbie Mills at the end of Season 3, after Nicole Beharie asked to be released from her contract due to her unhappiness with the show's treatment of her character.
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' was notorious for this. When Creator/SabrinaLloyd wanted to leave the show, they [[spoiler:stuck Wade in a Kromagg breeding camp, then brought her back briefly as a brain in a jar]]. When Creator/JerryOConnell wanted out, they [[spoiler:had Quinn merge with an alternate-reality version of himself which erased his personality]]. When Creator/JohnRhysDavies... well, you get the picture. Getting out of ''Sliders'' was almost as bad as staying ''in''. Rhys-Davies was reportedly disgusted with the direction the show was taking, but he didn't want to leave, nor did he ever express total opposition to coming back. His departure was as much because the production staff (as led by David Peckinpah) loathed Rhys-Davies for his constant criticism. Rhys-Davies' story (he was credited as co-author) was greatly altered from its original version to the point where it's barely recognizable. While not naming names, Rhys-Davies did not ever want to work with a certain executive producer ever again and it was Peckinpah that stayed with the show until its end.
* ''Series/{{Spooks}}'' will usually either brutally kill or permanently exile the character of any actor who leaves the show. As early as the second episode, the show had established the fact that any character could be killed at any time - which makes for exciting viewing, because it neatly averts the "main characters are always safe" trope.
** Specifically, when the actress who played Fiona Carter had to leave due to pregnancy, she was kidnapped, tortured and then shot trying to escape. She died in her husband's arms.
** The actor who played Fiona Carter's husband later decided to move on. He was blown up by a car bomb.
* Jadzia Dax from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' got offed when Creator/TerryFarrell quit the show at the end of the sixth season. Interestingly though, only ''Jadzia'' was killed off; they could keep the Dax symbiont around in another actress (Nicole de Boer), TheNthDoctor-style, and run a new, more insecure, character, yet one that had some similarities to the original.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** Tasha Yar was killed off by a sentient oil slick when Denise Crosby left near the end of the first season. Although her character came back twice in later episodes, both times were due to time travel; the "original" Tasha was gone for good. On the ''other'' hand, it turned out she had an [[IdenticalGrandson identical half-Romulan daughter]] who served as a recurring villain, so the actress managed to come back a few times anyway. Had she known the series would be such a success and that every member of the crew got at least some CharacterDevelopment, she would've probably stayed. She originally left the show for fear she would be typecast.
** And ultimately averted in the case of Creator/PatrickStewart. One reason the famous "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds The Best of Both Worlds]]" cliffhanger at the end of season three was created was because it was unknown if he would renew his contract at the time, and thus this allowed things so that Picard could be killed instantly in the fourth season's premiere.
* When Creator/JensenAckles left ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' to begin filming ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', his character Jason Teague was killed in the former's cliffhanger meteor shower that occurred during the fourth season finale and fifth season premiere. Some broadcast versions actually have him dying offscreen.
* ''Series/StrikeBack'' had an interesting occurrence with leading actor Creator/RichardArmitage had his character John Porter killed off in the opening episode of Project Dawn. Due to Armitage's [[RealLifeWritesThePlot involvement with filming]] ''Film/TheHobbit'', Porter was [[DemotedToExtra reduced to a supporting role]] in order to facilitate Armitage's exit, considering that filming ''The Hobbit'' would be a very time-consuming project that required his full attention.
* ''Series/TeenWolf'':
** Gage Golightly was leaving the show, so the producers decided to have her character Erica killed off by Kali and created [[LongLostRelative Cora Hale]] to continue the storyline that was planned for Erica in the first place. She does return for a flashback sequence in season 3 though, so it's assumed that Golightly and the writers parted in good terms.
** Happened twice in season 3B. The Carver Twins were leaving the show, so the writers killed off Aiden and had Ethan leave town out of grief. More shocking was Crystal Reed's departure after playing one of the lead characters (Allison Argent) since Season 1. She gave the writer fair warning and co-wrote her own death scene, which as well as being a dramatic moment in itself and had lasting repercussions for the other characters in Season 4.
* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** In the fourth season, recurring character Don Geiss is killed off after Creator/RipTorn's alcohol abuse led him to break into a bank. Unlike most examples, it did not end up feeling rushed or unplanned, as the character's death had already been teased and it allowed the arc of Jack and Devon Banks competing to become his successor to progress.
** In a fictional example, Jack conspires to kill off his {{Telenovela}} {{Doppelganger}}, [[BeardOfEvil the Generalissimo]], in an effort to appease his Puerto Rican girlfriend's grandmother. It backfires when, in true live-taping Soap fashion, the Generalissimo dodges every bullet fired at him ''then drinks a potion that will make him immortal'' ("We really should have had someone who speaks Spanish on-set"). Jack and the actor compromise by reworking the Generalissimo character into an elderly Hispanic woman's MrFanservice.
* On ''Series/TopGear'', the original Stig (played by Perry [=McCarthy=]). According to [=McCarthy=], when his contract wasn't going to be renewed, they agreed to have the Stig go out with a bang "as much like a scene out of ''Film/JamesBond'' as possible." See the scene [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4x0Dz00csA here]] on the show's official Website/YouTube channel. Unusually for this trope, when the ''replacement'' Stig left the show on exceedingly bad terms with the rest of the team, breaking his non-disclosure agreement to write a tell-all book in which he said some very unflattering things about the other presenters, this trope was completely averted; although they did refer to him as "Sacked Stig" and shot up cardboard effigies of him in one special, they [[TheOtherDarrin put someone else in the costume]] the following series and, soon after "New Stig"'s debut, proceeded as if nothing had happened.
* Creator/JeffreyTambor was forced to leave ''Series/{{Transparent}}'' due to facing multiple sexual harassment allegations and consequently could not resume playing Maura Pfefferman (the titular trans parent) in the series' intended fifth and final season. As a result, the series was instead wrapped up with a FinaleMovie titled ''Musicale Finale'', where Maura Pfefferman was killed off and the rest of the family was shown dealing with her death.
* After his tumultuous exit, and his subsequent media war with producer Creator/ChuckLorre, Creator/CharlieSheen's character on ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' met a very permanent end. The season opener following Sheen's exit opened at Sheen's character's funeral, with the cast discussing his demise. Sheen's character was honeymooning in Paris when his new wife caught him with another woman in the shower. He got chased into the Metro, "slipped," and [[BloodyHilarious ended up as a "meat explosion"]]. As it is an American sitcom, the "explosion" occurred off-screen. Just to rub it in, the rest of the episode was spent giving Charlie the [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Chef]] treatment, making fun of his corpse, having [[AshesToCrashes wacky sitcom shenanigans with his ashes]], and the girl who very obviously murdered Charlie [[KarmaHoudini getting away with it unscathed]].
** The series finale took it a step further. Charlie, it turns out, was alive the whole time, kept prisoner by Rose. He escapes and sends threats to Alan and his replacement Walden, while giving away money to the other regulars. In the final moments of the show, Charlie (played by a stand-in seen from behind) approaches the front door... and is crushed to death by a falling piano. Then Chuck Lorre appears, smugly saying "Winning"[[note]]Sheen said he was "winning!" in one of his rants after leaving the show[[/note]] to the camera... [[SelfDeprecation and is himself also struck by a falling piano]].
* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'':
** Matt Davis as Alaric was killed in the Season 3 finale. The day after, CW announced it had picked up ''Series/{{Cult}}'', starring Matt Davis. Though, once ''Cult'' was cancelled, he returned, finally permanently in the Season 5 finale, and as a regular in Season 6.
** Interestingly, this also happened with a piece of set. The show lost the lease on the house used for the Gilbert house, so in the show, it was burned down.
* On ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', Dale was killed off after Jeffrey [=DeMunn=] requested to leave when showrunner Frank Darabont was axed.
* Lori Loughlin’s character, Abigail Stanton, was killed off in ''Series/WhenCallsTheHeart'' after she got indicted on federal charges in March 2019 for a college admissions scandal.
* This was the fate of Angela's character on ''Series/MrRobot'', which caused the fourth season to deviate significantly from Sam Esmail's original vision/outline for the series.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kempe William Kempe]], who appeared in some of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's plays in comedic roles, was perhaps best known as the original Falstaff in ''Theatre/HenryIV'' and ''Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor'', as well as Nick Bottom in ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream''. At some point, he was removed from Shakespeare's theatrical company, perhaps having had a falling-out with either Shakespeare or Richard Burbage. After Kempe's departure from the company, Falstaff died off-stage in ''Theatre/HenryV''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Bill from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' died shortly before the events of "The Passing" DLC for ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2''; Creator/{{Valve|Software}} had previously been unable to get his voice actor back to record new lines for the earlier ''Crash Course'' DLC (which the character appeared in, alive). Jim French (the voice actor) is a radio personality and was too busy to record lines for Valve. Seeing as Valve was unable to get new lines twice due to the VA's unreliability, they, unfortunately, decided to kill off the character.
** He came back, however, for "The Sacrifice", but since it was too late the result is a DoomedByCanon moment where someone makes the HeroicSacrifice. (Canonically, he's the one to do it.)
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Creator/AdamBaldwin, the actor who played Kal'Reegar in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', was not approached to voice any lines. Thus, in ''Mass Effect 3'', as you learn in an e-mail, he dies heroically when a turian communications relay falls under attack by the Reapers and Reegar and his squad sacrifice themselves to save the relay. Morinth gets a less dignified death: her voice actress, Natalia Cigliuti, was also unavailable for any more recorded lines, so her appearance in ''Mass Effect 3'' amounts to a single e-mail. She's eventually brainwashed into a Banshee by the Reapers, and Shepard must kill her during the final mission on Earth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Inverted, then eventually subverted, in ''WebVideo/SgtFrogAbridged'': Momoka is killed off in the Halloween episode through a combination of LiterallyShatteredLives and YourHeadAsplode. Then her voice actress moved to Japan shortly after. There were plans to bring the character back, but due to this being [[TheLastStraw the latest in a long line of VA-related issues with the character]], they simply left her dead. However Narusasu returned to the US in June 2013, so Momoka once again has the chance to return.
* A relatively common occurrence in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' if a character's handler disappears and nobody is available or willing to adopt them: the administration staff simply takes over and roleplays the character's death through whatever means is available, from being killed in self-defense to being murdered by a killer to suicide to various accidents (including, infamously, running into a [[MemeticMutation bear]] in a cave).
* Parodied in [[Creator/BradJones Brad and Jerrid]]. Jerrid was replaced with Brad's friend Brian due to real life matters, and Brad [[{{Lampshading}} lampshades this]] by way of complaining about Bewitched and TheOtherDarrin. At the end of the episode, Brian asks Brad what happened to Jerrid, and Brad comments he saw him last getting on a plane with [[ShoutOut Henry Blake]].
** After Brad severed ties with Jake Norvell, one half of the "Bros" duo (Who were played by Brad and Jake) appears in Snob's review of ''Crippled Avengers'' grieving over the death of the bro played by Jake, and then in ''Heaven's Gate'' interviewing replacement bros, settling on "Chick Bro", played by Sarah Lewis.
* Inverted with the character of Ma-Ti in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights''. The character's death was written in from the start of the script, but after filming the actor decided to leave to explore other options, and so when he appears again in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' it's just as a voice and actually is another member of the team doing an imitation of the original actor.
* Bertie's death in ''Podcast/RustyQuillGaming'' was arranged because his player James Ross had to leave the podcast due to real-life obligations. Other options were considered, but it was decided that letting him go out on a dramatic note rather than being unceremoniously PutOnABus was best for the story.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' has another good example. Stacy Cornbred, the somewhat ditzy interviewer, was apparently killed off after her voice actress left the show. How'd they do it? A sudden case of SpontaneousHumanCombustion. (Brought on by stress from her contract negotiations, a subtle inside-joke.) In fact, that entire episode [[TonightSomeoneDies revolved around the possible death of one of the show's personnel]]; Stacy saw [[ItMakesSenseInContext an ominous message in a ketchup spill]], telling her that "one of the Deathmatch people will die tonight".
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': When Music/IsaacHayes left the show because of its satirical treatment of Scientology[[note]]the background of Hayes's departure is rather sketchy, even for the show's creators. He either a) quit on his own due his outrage over their parody of Scientology (which seems unlikely, given certain interviews), b) was forced to leave by the Church of Scientology, c) left without his knowledge -- someone else (i.e. Scientology) did it for him, or d) his agent used the Scientology episode as an elaborate excuse, the real reason being health issues (Hayes died two years after the episode was made)[[/note]], Chef joined a club of brainwashed pedophiles, then was [[RasputinianDeath burned by a lightning strike, dropped]] ''[[RasputinianDeath off a bridge]]'', [[RasputinianDeath impaled on a large branch, shot multiple times and then had his face and limbs eaten by a mountain lion and a grizzly bear]]. However, he was later revived as [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Chef]]. While parts of it (the burning and limb-losing mutilation) can be credited as a ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' parody, it still seems like an [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill over the top]] retaliation. The episode in question might even be considered a parody of [=McLeaning=], especially since the resolution says not [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall to blame Chef for the evil cult driving him crazy]]. The parody is more obvious in that part of his 'acting crazy' is that every one of his spoken lines are [[StylisticSuck (poorly)]] [[MadLibsDialogue clipped together quotes from previous episodes.]]
* The original [=McLeaning=] is referenced and parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', in which the Griffins [[ShowWithinAShow become the subject of a reality TV show]]. The producers of the show find Meg boring and ugly, and so replace her with an actress to provide some blatant {{Fanservice}}. [[Series/{{Mash}} Cue Brian in Army fatigues coming into an operating theatre and reporting to Peter (as a surgeon) that Meg's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan, and there were no survivors.]] [[MoodWhiplash Then Stewie comes in wearing a pink dress, asking how he can get a Section 8.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': When Maggie Roswell walked over a pay dispute, her primary character, Maude Flanders, was killed in a tragic T-shirt launching accident and all her other characters were given to another actress to voice. Roswell was eventually rehired and given all those characters back, [[StatusQuoIsGod but Maude remains dead, reappearing only in flashbacks]].
[[/folder]]

----

* ''Series/The100'': Prior to season three, Creator/AlyciaDebnamCarey and Creator/RickyWhittle had been cast as leads on ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'' and ''Series/AmericanGods2017''. Both their characters were effectively murdered, closing the door on future-season guest spots. The former appeared briefly in the season finale, which served as a character sendoff.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Though ''many'' characters have died, there were only two occasions it wasn't a planned plot death and was due to actors leaving:
** When Creator/AdewaleAkinnuoyeAgbaje left the show, Eko was killed off and the ''really involved'' arc they had planned for him was mostly pushed onto other characters, with bits being lost forever.

** When [[spoiler:Mira Furlan]] wanted to leave the US, they killed [[spoiler:Danielle]] off. However, it sounds like her character wouldn't have survived season 4 anyway: [[spoiler:Alex]]'s resulting death was very important to the plot and ''was'' planned, so apparently she was just killed off earlier than they had originally planned, before she could get a long-awaited centric episodes [[spoiler:though the events of it were placed into season 5]].
*** She was, however, brought BackForTheFinale, along with the entire main cast from all past years and multiple recurring characters.
*** Contrary to popular belief, Creator/MichelleRodriguez's character Ana Lucia Cortez was ''not'' killed off due to [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor her DUI arrest]]. According to WordOfGod, Rodriguez had only ever been interested in appearing in one season, so Cortez's brutal death was planned from the beginning.
*** Creator/ElizabethMitchell left at the end of the fifth season to star on another Creator/{{ABC}} series, ''[[Series/{{V2009}} V (2009)]]''.
*** In fact, it was said that being killed on ''Lost'' was not a big deal, because most deceased characters were brought back at least once after their demise, with only a few exceptions.

*** Creator/ElizabethMitchell left at the end of the fifth season to star on another Creator/{{ABC}} series, ''[[Series/V2009 V (2009)]]''.

*** Creator/ElizabethMitchell left at the end of the fifth season to star on another Creator/{{ABC}} series, ''Series/{{V2009}}''.

*** Creator/ElizabethMitchell left at the end of the fifth season to star on another Creator/{{ABC}} series, ''Series/V2009''