Line #26 Main/KilledByRequest


1	Actors usually like the characters they play, otherwise they wouldn't choose to play them...[[MoneyDearBoy unless it's for money]]. Even then, some still don't like either their character or the work they're in (or both) enough to be tempted by cold, hard cash, and go on the record saying that they wish their character would be killed off already so that they can quit with no chance of [[TheBusCameBack the bus coming back]].
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3	Not all the time do the actors express strong dislike for their characters or film, but may give other reasons for wanting to quit. The ultimate reason is usually the same, though, being "I don't want to do this anymore." Sometimes you will get situations when they drag the actor back by creating a BackupTwin. Some actors are also [[ContractualObligationProject contractually obliged]] to film their work, with contracts maybe lasting either until their character is killed off, or even after the fact. Similarly, while such a request is often due to the actor disliking the character, occasionally the actor may make this request for artistic reasons, or simply because they want to [[RuleOfCool go out with a bang]].
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5	Compare FranchiseZombie, where a creator (such as an author) is forced to continue producing a popular series of works. Can overlap with BusCrash or BackForTheDead in cases where the character was handed a bus ticket while the producers [[TroubledProduction tried to work things out with]] the actor.
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7	For characters having to be killed off because the actor unexpectedly leaves, see ActorLeavesCharacterDies if the actor is still alive and TheCharacterDiedWithHim if the actor passes away. For a character asking to be killed in-universe, see MercyKillArrangement.
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9	!!'''As a {{Death Trope\|s}}, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''
10	----
11	!Examples:
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13	[[foldercontrol]]
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15	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
16	* Creator/SigourneyWeaver wanted Ripley to do three things in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' -- not handle a weapon, make love to an alien, and die. She did all three in ''Film/Alien3''. It didn't work, though, as Weaver was persuaded to come back as a [[spoiler:xenomorph-hybrid]] clone of Ripley in ''Film/AlienResurrection''.
17	* Creator/CharltonHeston agreed to appear in ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'' on the condition that he be killed off in the first reel. They compromised by having Taylor disappear after the first scene, then reappear in the third act to be killed in the climax.
18	* In ''Film/BlackChristmas2006'', Melissa was originally written as having survived. Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg, having just finished ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', was reluctant to do a horror film, and only agreed on the condition that she be killed off.
19	* Three years into filming of ''Film/{{Boyhood}}'' Lorelei Linklater, daughter of the movie's director Richard Linklater, asked that her character be killed off, however, Richard refused her request saying that it would be too violent.
20	* Laraine Day played Nurse Mary Lamont in seven ''Film/DrKildare'' movies, but when her career as an A-lister started to take off, she wanted out. So Mary Lamont was tragically hit by a car and killed in ''Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day''.
21	* ''Film/FistOfFury'' originally ended with Creator/BruceLee's character escaping justice, as his real-life counterpart had done. Bruce insisted that he face the consequences of his actions, hence the BolivianArmyEnding.
22	* Adrienne King initially turned down the offer to appear in ''Film/FridayThe13thPart2'' because she was being targeted by a stalker after appearing in ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' and as a result requested to be killed off in the sequel. This story has been disputed however, as others say she was killed because her agent was asking for too much, and she didn't even [[ActingInTheDark know what the scene would be]], only showing up to improvise a conversation on the phone with her mother.
23	* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' kills off Duke, the protagonist from [[Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra the previous film]], which was the idea of Creator/ChanningTatum, who wanted out of his contract.
24	* Creator/JamieLeeCurtis only appeared in ''Film/HalloweenResurrection'' because she was contractually obligated to do so for agreeing to star in ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater''. She requested that her character, Laurie Strode, be killed off in return. Though she did return in [[Film/Halloween2018 a sequel]] that like [=H20=] ignored the other follow-ups.
25	* ''Film/JamesBond'':
26	** By the end of his run, Creator/SeanConnery equally hated both the character of Bond and the experience of playing him. He wanted to have him killed off not only so he wouldn't have to play him ever again, but so that he wouldn't have to see or hear about him ever again, either. Creator/AlbertRBroccoli denied him this.
27	** Creator/DanielCraig discussed the idea of killing off his Bond early on in his tenure with producer Creator/BarbaraBroccoli, who refused for a while (he wanted it to happen for ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', the film had a HappyEnding instead). It eventually happened at the end of his fifth film, ''Film/NoTimeToDie''.
28	* ''Film/JurassicWorld'': Zara's brutal death scene was originally meant to go to an extra, but her actress Creator/KatieMcGrath requested that her character should go through it instead (her reasoning being that [[AwesomeDearBoy she thought it was an awesome way to go out]]).
29	* Duane Jones, who played Ben in ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'', convinced George Romero to have Ben be shot by the redneck "zombie killers" at the end of the film, believing that it would be a more shocking, impactful ending than Ben surviving. History (and countless essays about the ending of the film) has borne him out.
30	* Creator/NancyAllen hated the script for ''Film/RoboCop3'' so much that she agreed to return only on the condition that her character be killed off.
31	* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
32	** Spock's death in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' was due to Creator/LeonardNimoy's desire to have a compelling death scene for Spock, as everyone believed that after the commercial failure of ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' that ''Khan'' would be the final movie. Once it was clear in post production that the producers might just have a hit on their hands, they left a SequelHook in case Nimoy wanted to return, which happened after offering him the director's chair and … a [[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock small search...]]
33	** Creator/BrentSpiner insisted on Data's death in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' because he didn't think he could convincingly play an un-aging android anymore as he got older. The final film still includes a SequelHook hinting at Data's possible resurrection in B-4's body, which is fulfilled in ''Series/StarTrekPicard''. (Out of canon, the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelverse'' and ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' also both took advantage of it.)
34	* ''Franchise/StarWars''.
35	** Sir Creator/AlecGuinness was the one vying for Ben Kenobi to be killed in ''Film/ANewHope'' because he thought the films would turn out to be terrible as well as thinking Kenobi was annoying.
36	*** This has been disputed by other sources, which state that, after filming had started, Creator/GeorgeLucas decided to kill off Kenobi, since the character was no longer central to the story after the escape from the Death Star. In this account, Guinness was not happy with the decision and nearly left the production (he ''did'', after all, reappear in both sequels despite his alleged hatred of the films).
37	** Creator/HarrisonFord also wanted Han Solo killed off in the Original Trilogy. While they considered what to do, the character was literally frozen in between films. Eventually, Ford got his wish in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', the first movie of the Sequel Trilogy.
38	* The first draft of ''Film/TripleFrontier'' killed off someone unimportant, until Creator/BenAffleck suggested that his character die instead.
39	* Creator/JohnnyDepp accepted to reprise the role of Tom Hanson in ''Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' at the condition of killing the character.
40	* ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'': On hearing that Creator/BryanSinger would not be directing the movie, Creator/JamesMarsden, who played ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}, requested that his character be killed off. His petition was successful and he was killed off at the beginning of the film.
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43	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
44	* ''Series/TwentyFour'' had at least two actors who requested their characters to get killed off. In Season 3, actress Vanessa Ferlito, who plays Claudia, was committed to filming ''Film/ManOfTheHouse''. In Season 6, actor Creator/EricBalfour, who played Milo Pressman, a recurring character from Season 1, specifically requested to get killed off in the show so he could film another TV pilot with Creator/DeanCain.
45	* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Creator/RobertBeltran hated playing Chakotay and expressed a preference to not be on the show anymore, demanding more and more money in the hopes that they'd get rid of him; [[SpringtimeForHitler instead, they kept meeting his demands to the point where he was forced to continue]].
46	* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Creator/RobertReedActor hated everything about the show ''except'' the kids playing the young Bradys. This led to him and producer Creator/SherwoodSchwartz butting heads on numerous occasions. And in fact, had ''The Brady Bunch'' not been cancelled Schwartz actually planned to kill off Mike Brady over the summer hiatus so he'd be gone for the sixth season and beyond.
47	* One of the most famous examples in British TV is Gareth Thomas, who played the titular hero Roj Blake in ''Series/BlakesSeven''. He left at the end of the second season, when the character was PutOnABus, but got fed up when he was called back for a second return appearance in the final episode of the fourth season. Unaware that it would turn out to be the last episode of the show anyway, he refused to do it unless he was absolutely and unambiguously DeaderThanDead at the end, and actually conspired with the effects team to make it one of the bloodiest TV shootings of the era, with so many {{Squib}}s being loaded onto his chest and stomach that it narrowly avoided breaching contemporary taste and decency standards and left him with slight physical injuries when they all went off.
48	* On ''{{Series/Charmed 1998}}'', although rumours circled that Prue was killed off because of the on-set feud between her actress Creator/ShannenDoherty and co-star Creator/AlyssaMilano, the former maintains that she actually pushed for Prue to be killed as early as the start of Season 3; feeling she had run her course as a character and also wanting to move on creatively. She even directed the Season 3 finale featuring the death, noting how no one believed she would actually leave, and purposely directing the scenes to be intense as possible.
49	* On ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Creator/DiannaAgron instead liked her character, Quinn, so much that she didn't want her to get all the bad storylines or CharacterDerailment and for her acting to become a laughing stock, so wanted her to die during the third season when she gets hit by a truck. Of course, she actually wanted Quinn to die but the creators seemed to compromise by having her survive, but letting her end the season recovered both from the crash and the crazy plots before she was allowed to GraduateFromTheStory, with Agron then reprising her role sporadically all the way to the final episode.
50	* Roman Wilhelmi, who played the role of the tank commander in the Polish series ''Series/CzterejPancerniIPies'' (Four Tank-men and a Dog), apparently found the character bland, so once a WrittenInInfirmity plot was written where the tank is hit and the crew ended up in the hospital, he asked to become a fatality instead.
51	* Mitchell, the vampire protagonist of the first three series of ''Series/BeingHumanUK'', was staked through the heart in the final episode of series 3, which also established that staking would destroy a vampire so thoroughly that there could be no possibility of them resurrecting. Reportedly, this was because Mitchell's actor, Aiden Turner, had a scheduling conflict between the show and filming for ''Film/TheHobbit'', and had asked to be killed off in a way which meant he wouldn't be expected to return.
52	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Creator/DeniseCrosby, who played Tasha Yar wasn't interested in continuing with the series, and requested to be killed off during the first season. She later regretted this choice and came back as a guest star several times.
53	* Mr. Eko dies early in Season 3 of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' because Creator/AdewaleAkinnuoyeAgbaje was uncomfortable in Hawaii and wanted to leave the show. (he previously signed a one season deal, but was kept a while longer to give some space after the character death of another such member of the cast, Creator/MichelleRodriguez)
54	* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] at the last minute on ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman''. Male lead Creator/JoeLando wanted to leave after the 5th season, so it was planned that his character (Sully) would die falling down from a cliff. But a massive backlash from the fans made it necessary for everybody to re-think this decision. So in the end, Sully survived. But to make a compromise with actor Joe Lando, he was free to only appear in half of the episodes in the 6th season (which also turned out to be the show's last).
55	* ''Series/DreamTeam'':
56	** Sean, who had been with the series since its first episode, was among many players killed off in a plane crash in Season 3. Daymon Britton volunteered, as he'd wanted to leave the show, though later joked it might have been better for his career to stay on.
57	** Frank Stone was killed off because Colin Parry, a native of Salford, found the constant travelling back and forth to London exhausting.
58	** Jamie Parker is killed at the end of a memorable storyline involving holding the team hostage to pay off his gambling debts because Jim Alexander wanted to leave over dissatisfaction over "how the company treated their employees".
59	* It's been reported that Anya, the only regular character to die permanently in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' finale "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen Chosen]]", was selected because Creator/EmmaCaulfield had no interest in playing the character again in any other series within the franchise - and on hearing that Joss Whedon wanted one main character to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim die suddenly and shockingly]] in the middle of battle, volunteered Anya for it. Spike's death was known by the entire audience to be impermanent, as his status as a regular character in the next season of ''Angel'' had already been announced. This would be rather ironic and rather moot considering none of the actors (Once again, save Spike) would reprise their roles past the series ending.
60	* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Creator/RachelMiner had to leave the series because she suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. Her character the demon Meg was killed off at her request despite the fact that [[TheNthDoctor demons can change vessels]] (and Miner was Meg's second actress).
61	* As ''{{Series/Angel}}'''s [[Recap/AngelS05E22NotFadeAway finale]] approached, Creator/JossWhedon asked Creator/AlexisDenisof what he should do with his character Wesley. It was his suggestion to kill Wesley off in the finale.
62	* Jessalyn Gilsig asked to be killed off of ''Series/{{Vikings}}'' because she could no longer cope with the long filming periods in Ireland away from her family.
63	* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'': After The Artifact story was [[AbortedArc abruptly concluded]] after Season 2, Creator/EdQuinn asked to have Nathan Stark die, because his character arc was heavily tied into The Artifact, and without it Nathan had nothing left to do.
64	* ''Series/MiamiVice'': Creator/JohnDiehl (Larry Zito) was written out midway through the third season, via a plot that was motivated by his character dying of a forced drug overdose. While popular opinion suggests he left specifically because he "didn't like Miami", didn't get along with the cast or wanted to pursue theater, Diehl would later tell [[https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1986-11-13-8603100002-story.html the Florida Sun-Sentinel in 1986]] that his character being the designated PluckyComicRelief, and not being given any worthwhile plotlines (a problem that would plague his co-star, Creator/MichaelTalbott), primarily motivated his decision to leave.
65	* Midway through the final season of the series version of ''Film/{{Fame}}''; the VerySpecialEpisode "Go Softly Into Mourning"; but wanted to involve a major character instead of writing in a [[RememberTheNewGuy new character to be then killed off]]. By a bizarre coincidence, Nia Peeples (who played the role of Nicole Chapman) was preparing to leave the series to launch a recording career of her own and gave her permission to kill Nicole off by way of a DrunkDriver; which the writers did and according to [[WordOfSaintPaul series writer Michael Hoey's]] 2009 book on the series "Inside Fame on Television"; the writers soon regretted killing the Nicole Chapman character off.
66	* Creator/JohnnyYongBosch wanted to kill off Adam Park when he reprised his role for ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' and ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' because he thought [[AwesomeDearBoy it would be cool to do]]. [[AvertedTrope He got rejected both times.]]
67	* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'': Creator/KevinAlejandro was the one who suggested that Dan be killed off before the series finale (back when it was still [[SeriesFauxnale the end of Season 5]]) since he felt it was [[RedemptionEqualsDeath the only way to end his redemption arc]]. The [[PostScriptSeason sixth season]] eventually brought Dan back as a ghost so Alejandro could still be part of the show and finish off the arc after all.
68	* Tuco Salamanca's death in Season 2 of ''Series/BreakingBad'' was requested by his actor Creator/RaymondCruz, due to his discomfort in playing a dangerous PsychopathicManchild drug lord with a HairTriggerTemper for an extended period of time. He did reprise the role in the show's prequel series ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', but similarly requested that Tuco be PutOnAPrisonBus so that he didn't have to play a major role in the show's events.
69	* ''Series/{{The Walking Dead\|2010}}'':
70	** After the firing of his friend and frequent collaborator Frank Darabont, Creator/JeffreyDeMunn asked to be written out of the show in protest. He later had second thoughts, but production was too far along to save him as his character was now being killed off and his storylines being given to other characters.
71	** Both Creator/TomPayne and Creator/XanderBerkeley hated their repetitive minor roles in Season 8 and asked Season 9's new showrunner Angela Kang to either give them something interesting to do (as well as something to do in general), or kill them off to help the narrative. Kang picked the latter, having their characters killed off, though Berkeley was likely on his way out anyway given his character died at the equivalent of Season 9 in the comics.
72	** Creator/ChristianSerratos pushed for Rosita to die in the series finale to give the episode an emotional punch to go with most of the other characters getting a happy ending. She also wanted proper closure on the character after playing her for such a long time.
73	* ''Series/CoronationStreet'':
74	** Noël Dyson was a London native and got tired of travelling to Manchester to film, so she asked for Ida Barlow to be killed off once her contract ran out. She then had the distinction of being the first regular to be killed off.
75	** Brian Capron, who played infamous serial killer Richard Hillman, didn't necessarily push for Richard to be killed off but much preferred it to an earlier idea of sending him to prison instead.
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78	[[folder:Web Video]]
79	* The actor who played Ben Dover in ''WebVideo/EconomyWatch'' requested for his death.
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82	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
83	* According to the DVD commentary for the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire", Loretta was written out of Family Guy because her voice actor, Creator/AlexBorstein (who also voices Lois and other female characters), was apparently tired of voicing Loretta due to her gravely voice, and was killed off in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' episode "Gone with the Wind".
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Context Main / KilledByRequest