Absentee Actor may refer to the following:
- Actor Leaves, Character Dies: An actor doesn't come back for a next episode or sequel, and the character portrayed by the actor is explained as having died.
- Adapted Out: A character with some significance to the original story is written out of an adaptation.
- The Character Died with Him: An actor dies in real life, and a work they were in has their absence explained by saying their character died as well.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A character disappears suddenly from a work with no in-universe explanation and subsequent installments act as though they never existed in the first place.
- A Day in the Limelight: A secondary character gets featured in an episode where they are the main focus.
- Demoted to Extra: When a character gets a less important role in a sequel or in an adaptation of the original work.
- Deus Exit Machina: When the most powerful character is written out for a portion of the story as to prolong it.
- Green Rooming: Introducing a new character who is then inexplicably ignored for a few episodes.
- Out of Focus: When certain characters are given significantly less spotlight than others.
- Put on a Bus: A character is written out of a work in a way that makes it easy for them to return later on.
- Ret-Gone: When all signs of a character's existence have been wiped out in-universe.
- Sequel Non-Entity: A character from the previous movie doesn't return for the sequel for whatever reason.
- Temporary Substitute: A character is unable to be used (often because the actor for the character is unavailable) so another character is used to fill their place in the plot.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: When a minor plot element or character is dropped from the story with no explanation.
- Written-In Absence: When a character should be in the events of the story, but a few lines give a quick explanation of their absence.
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