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This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

Following

Posthumous Credit

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An actor or someone who worked on a film or some other type of media has Died During Production, before the work was released, but they will still get credit for their contributions.

This is pointing out those who died and contributed to a media project released after their death.

They often happen to be dedicated to those who died.

See also Posthumous Collaboration, which is when a work is created using material created by a participant who died before production was finished (or even started, in some cases), and Swan Song (the creator's final work before their death).

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Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Kinryu Arimoto, who voiced Tomomi Masaoka, died on February 1, 2019, weeks before the release of Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System: First Guardian where Masaoka was one of the main characters.
  • Toei Animation producer Yoshifumi Hatano, who produced the first 61 episodes of Slam Dunk, died of oral cancer on February 28, 1995. Episodes 58 through 61 premiered after his death.
  • Phil Hartman recorded for the English dub of Kiki's Delivery Service. He received a posthumous credit when the movie was released to VHS a few months after his wife killed him in a murder-suicide.
  • You Inoue had died in 2003, before the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation Compilation Movies were created, but she was nevertheless credited as portraying Sayla Mass for the character's cameo in the third thanks to the use of archived audio of the character.
  • Unshō Ishizuka voiced the narrator in the anime adaptation of Ulysses: Jeanne d'Arc and the Alchemist Knights, which premiered two months after his death from esophageal cancer.
  • Bob Magruder, who voiced the narrator and Igneel in Funimation's dub of Fairy Tail, managed to complete all of his dialogue for the sixth season before he died in January 2015. Thus, he's given a posthumous credit for the fifteenth Blu-ray/DVD release.
  • Luis Alfonso Mendoza recorded all his lines as Higuma in Netflix's Latin Spanish dub of One Piece, a year before he was tragically murdered in february of 2020. The dub premiered in October 2020.
  • Lisa Michaelson, the voice of Satsuki in the Streamline dub of My Neighbor Totoro, died in a car crash four years before said dub would see a wide release in the United States.
  • Yuko Mizutani voiced Ikuko Tsukino in Sailor Moon Crystal. Although she lost her battle with breast cancer on May 17, 2016, Mizutani recorded her lines months in advance.
  • Despite Takamura Mukuo dying of cancer on June 9, 1992, he's still given an art design credit for all five seasons of Sailor Moon.
  • Ichirō Nagai, the voice of Karin in the Dragon Ball series, managed to complete all of his dialogue for Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters before dying of a heart attack on January 27, 2014. His work was released posthumously.
  • Tomiko Suzuki voiced Jirachi in Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker, which was released 12 days after she suffered a fatal heart attack.
  • Takeshi Shudō, who wrote Pokémon: The First Movie, is credited as a writer for both Pokémon: I Choose You! and Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution, despite having died in 2010.
  • Yasuhiro Takemoto, the director of the first season of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid was one of the victims of the Kyoto Animation arson attack while the second season was in pre-production. He was posthumously credited as series director of the second season alongside his successor Tatsuya Ishihara.
  • Tokuma Shoten founder Yasuyoshi Tokuma is given a credit as chief executive producer for Spirited Away, having been involved in the early stages of production before his September 2000 death.
  • Nippon Television Network chairman Seiichiro Ujiie served as a member of the production committee for From Up on Poppy Hill and was the executive producer of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, both of which came out after his death.
  • Yuuji Yamaguchi worked as a storyboard artist under his Shun Yashiro penname for several episodes of Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure, which were all released after his death.

    Film — Animation 
  • Roddy McDowall voiced the queen's adviser in A Bug's Life, which was released a month after his death.
  • While The Little Mermaid was in Development Hell in the late 1930s, Kay Nielsen helped create concept art for the proposed production. When the film went into full production in the 1980s, Nielsen's work was used as inspiration for the film's design, and he received a posthumous "visual development" credit (Nielsen passed away in 1957, 32 years before the film's release).
  • The Rescuers:
    • John Lounsbery died a year before the release of the film, which he co-directed.
    • Also, Joe Flynn, the voice of Mr. Snoops, died three years before it was released.
  • John Fiedler appeared in two more films after his death in 2005, Kronk's New Groove and Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie. He never finished recording all of Piglet's dialogue for the latter, so Travis Oates recorded those lines for him.
  • George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc died during the production of Jetsons: The Movie. Jeff Bergman filled in for them as George Jetson and Mr. Spacely to record lines they hadn't recorded yet.
  • Anne Bancroft died three years before the release of Delgo.
  • The Thief and the Cobbler:
    • Vincent Price died in 1993, a year before the film's North American premiere. He had recorded his dialogue twenty years before.
    • Also five of the veteran animators who worked on the film, Ken Harris, Art Babbitt, Emery Hawkins, Grim Natwick, and Cliff Nordberg, had since passed away; all except Natwick were credited in "The Princess and the Cobbler" cut.
  • Joe Ranft died in 2005, before the releases of Cars (for which he was a writer, co-director, and the voice of Red) and Corpse Bride (for which he was an executive producer).
  • Bernie Mac died three months before the release of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
  • Fred Moore died in 1952, but he was credited on Peter Pan and the shorts The Simple Things, Football (Now and Then) and Casey Bats Again.
  • Jim Varney passed away in 2000, nearly a year and a half before the release of Atlantis: The Lost Empire in which he provided the voice of Cookie. Additional dialogue that had yet to be recorded prior to his death was provided by Steve Barr.
  • Rod Scribner died in 1976. The Peanuts movie Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, which he provided animation for, was released a half year later.
  • Mako died more than one year before the release of TMNT, on which he voiced Splinter. Greg Baldwin filled in for the lines Mako was unable to record.
  • Animator Don Williams, who was best known for his work for Walter Lantz and Looney Tunes, passed away in 1980; two films he had worked on prior to his death, The Grinch Grinches The Cat In The Hat and Heidi's Song, were both released in 1982.
  • Orson Welles voiced Unicron in The Transformers: The Movie, which was released about a year after his death.
  • Joe Alaskey, who voiced the Wizard of Oz, Butch, and Droopy in Tom and Jerry: The Wizard of Oz, reprised all these roles in the sequel Tom and Jerry: Return to Oz, which was released several months after his death.
  • Verna Felton (who voiced Winifred Hathi the Elephant) died of a stroke on December 14th, 1966, a year before the release of The Jungle Book just one day before the death of the film's producer Walt Disney.
  • Joseph Kaufmann who voiced the main character Michael Corleone in Heavy Traffic was killed in a plane crash two weeks before the film was released in theaters.
  • The Fox and the Hound:
    • Animator Cliff Nordberg died in 1979. This film, which was his last project for Disney, was released two years later.
  • Mary Kay Bergman died in 1999, but Balto II: Wolf Quest came out in 2002. Her fox character is one of her last credited roles.
    • The direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders was released almost one year after her suicide.
    • She also did Jessie's yodeling voice in Toy Story 2, which had its debut screening on November 13, 1999, two days after her suicide.
  • Both of child actress Judith Barsi's voice-over roles for Don Bluth's The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go to Heaven were released after she was murdered by her father, the former was released 4 months after and the other a year later.
  • Don Rickles, who voiced Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story series, died of kidney failure in April 2017, two years before the release of Toy Story 4. He had not recorded any new dialogue for the movie prior to his death, yet Pixar was reluctant to recast the role. With the blessing of Rickles's estate, a new performance was constructed using years' worth of unused recordings from Rickles portraying the character.
  • Pixar gave a similar posthumous credit to Paul Newman reprising his role as Doc Hudson in Cars 3, released almost ten years after his death, with his performance consisting of unused dialogue from the first film.
  • Looney Tunes animator Russ Dyson committed suicide in 1956; several cartoons he worked on were released after his death, including Wideo Wabbit, The Honey-Mousers, Boston Quackie, and Tabasco Road.
  • Pat Buttram voiced the Possum Park Emcee in A Goofy Movie, which was released a year after his death.
  • Miguel Ferrer passed away in January 19, 2017. Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, in which he voiced Deathstroke, was released three months later. In an eerie coincidence, his involvement in the film was announced on the same day he died.
  • Lisa Michelson, the voice of Satsuki in the Streamline dub of My Neighbor Totoro died in a car accident in 1991, three years before said dub got a theatrical release in the US.
  • Mary Wickes, who voiced Laverne in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, succumbed to surgical complications in October 1995. By the time of the film's release, Wickes had completed most of her dialogue, but a few additional lines were done by Jane Withers, who later voiced Laverne in the direct-to-video sequel.
  • Joseph Calleja, aka Joe C. of Kid Rock, passed away from celiac disease in November 2000. He appeared in Osmosis Jones, released a year later, as the backup singer for Kidney Rock.
  • Clifford's Really Big Movie was released seven months after the death of John Ritter, who voiced the titular character.
  • Audrey Wells died of ovarian cancer two years before the release of Over the Moon, which she wrote the screenplay for. The ending credits of the film included a dedication to Wells.
  • Batman: The Long Halloween features the late Naya Rivera as the voice of Selina Kyle/Catwoman. She died in July 2020, over a year before release.
  • Thea White, the voice of Muriel Bagge from Courage the Cowardly Dog, passed away over a month before the release of Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! meets Courage the Cowardly Dog, in which she reprised her role. A dedication to White appears at the end credits of the film.
  • Animator and director John Hubley worked on two films that were released after his death from a heart attack, A Doonesbury Special and Watership Down, the first was released 8 months after his death and the latter a year later, he was meant to direct the entirety of Watership Down, but due to his death early in production, the only sequence he directed was the opening with the abstract character designs.
  • Zero Mostel passed away in 1977, Watership Down in which he voiced Kehaar the seagull was released a year later.

    Film — Live-Action 
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    Live-Action TV 
  • Judith Barsi was credited on the Growing Pains Grand Finale in a flashback, three years after her murder.
  • One of the leads on the HBO series Silicon Valley, Christopher Evan Welch, died of lung cancer in December 2013, 4 months before the series' premiere. At the time of his death, only 5 of the 8 planned episodes had been shot. According to show creator Mike Judge, instead of recasting him, his character was written out of the last few episodes. They did a proper death and funeral for his character in the next season.
  • The 2017 revival of Twin Peaks features several deceased actors who either appear in archival footage from the original series (as with Frank Silva) or filmed their scenes for Season 3 before their passing (as with Catherine E. Coulson, Miguel Ferrer, and Warren Frost). One notably unique case reuses archival footage of David Bowie as Phillip Jeffries from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, but at Bowie's own request, his voice is overdubbed by an actual Louisianan actor (presumably due to Bowie's dissatisfaction with his own attempt at a Louisianan dialect). Some of the episodes in which these characters appear are dedicated to their memory.
  • Several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood that were made after composer Johnny Costa died credit him for music. This is because the showrunners were able to reuse some of the songs he had already composed, most notably the piano tune that plays before the theme song starts.
  • Several Sesame Street sketches featuring Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch being performed by Caroll Spinney premiered well after had died. This is because the show being prone to reusing older segments in new episodes and most episodes being filmed a year in advance. Subverted with the last episode he worked on prior to retiring; he did the voices for his characters on the set and it aired four months after his death, but his vocals went unused in the final cut.
    • Amazingly enough, subverted in regards to Jim Henson's work on Sesame Street: the final sketches he recorded as Kermit and Ernie, as well as one more he taped earlier, all aired by March 1990, two months before his passing. However, played straight in that both he and puppeteer Richard Hunt (who passed away in 1992) were credited among the Sesame Street puppeteers through 2001 and 2000, respectively.
    • In the Jerry Nelson tribute episode, the Count's dialogue at the end is cobbled together from Nelson's outtakes.
  • Joe Raposo died on the day the second episode of Shining Time Station, a show which he wrote several songs for, aired. All episodes of the series have his name in the credits, being that he wrote the theme song and performed and wrote several musical numbers in the first season.
  • The final six episodes of Bear in the Big Blue House aired in the United States three years after Lynne Thigpen, the voice of Luna, died from a cerebral hemorrhage.
    • Lynne Thigpen's character on The District died of cancer, with the season three finale dedicated to her.
  • The Twilight Zone (1985): "Our Selena is Dying" is based on a story written by Rod Serling which was never produced during his lifetime. The script was written by J. Michael Straczynski but Serling received the story credit when it was made in 1988, 13 years after his death.
  • Happened to Jonathan Demme, who died the same day an episode of the miniseries Shots Fired that he directed aired.
  • Some episodes of Sneaky Pete featuring Ricky Jay aired a year after he died.
  • Zero Mostel was the only guest star on The Muppet Show to pass away between the taping of his episode and it airing.
  • The last TV production Marie Trintignant starred in, Colette, une femme libre, was released in April 2004. A Fake Shemp had to be used in some scenes.
  • The fifth and final season of The Sarah Jane Adventures aired after Elisabeth Sladen's passing.
  • French actor Gaspard Ulliel died on January 19, 2022 from a ski accident in the French Alps. He appeared in Marvel Studios' Moon Knight as Anton Mogart / Midnight Man, which premiered in March of that year.

    Music 
  • Dr. Demento Covered in Punk featured a cover of the novelty song "The Thing" sung by Adam West. The album was released seven months after West passed away.
  • Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries was in London recording vocal tracks for the band's upcoming album when she drowned in her hotel's bathtub. Sometime later, the other band members went over her recordings and discovered she had recorded enough songs for a full album. They went back into the studio a few months later. The resulting album, In The End, was released the following year, with the late O'Riordan credited as the vocalist and lyricist, after which the surviving members went their separate ways.
  • Riley Green's 2019 single "I Wish Grandpas Never Died" features co-writer's credits for both of his grandfathers, who both died long before the song was recorded.
  • Garth Brooks' 2016 single "Baby, Let's Lay Down and Dance" was the last song that frequent collaborator Kim Williams wrote before his death. Kim died in February and the song was released in October.
  • Peter Gabriel's 2002 song "Signal to Noise" was originally set to feature Pakistani Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as a featured vocalist, only for him to die from obesity complications before he got the chance to record anything in the studio. He did, however, do a live performance with Gabriel in the '90s, and his vocals were isolated from there for use on the studio version of the song; Khan is thusly credited with "Additional Vocals" in the liner notes for its parent album.
  • Manic Street Preachers' 2009 album Journal for Plague Lovers is built around rediscovered lyrics penned by rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards, who disappeared in 1995 and was officially presumed dead in 2008; Edwards is credited as the album's lyricist as a result.
  • Love This Giant by David Byrne and St. Vincent gives poet Walt Whitman a writing credit on "The Forest Awakes", thanks to its lyrics being derived from his works; Whitman by this point had been dead for 120 years.
  • In 2021, to mark the 30th anniversary of Ozzy Osbourne's "Hellraiser" single, a special mashup version was produced, combining Ozzy's vocals with those by Motörhead frontman and co-writer Lemmy Kilmister, who'd passed away in 2015, off Motorhead's own rendition into a duet.

    Theatre 
  • The co-librettist of the 1946 Broadway musical St. Louis Woman, Countee Cullen, died shortly before rehearsals began.
  • Clifford Odets died during the first week of rehearsals of The Musical adaptation of his play Golden Boy. Odets nevertheless remained the only credited librettist until William Gibson, with considerable misgivings, agreed to rewrite the show during its troubled tryout.

    Video Games 

    Visual Novels 
  • The final chapter of Double Homework was released “in loving memory of Palmer.” Palmer was the lead developer of the game, who died before the final chapter was made.
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    Web Animation 
  • Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, was posthumously credited as a writer for most of Volume 3. He had passed away between volumes.

    Web Original 
  • Animator Jacques Muller passed away in November of 2018, The Looney Tunes Critic's commentary for Who Framed Roger Rabbit for which he participated in was released five months later.

    Western Animation 
  • The Simpsons:
  • The South Park episodes "Starvin Marvin in Space" and "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" credit Mary Kay Bergman, the original voice for most of the show's female characters, and aired after her suicide.
  • Family Guy: Carrie Fisher had the recurring role of Angela until she suddenly passed away in December 2016. According to Seth MacFarlane, she recorded dialogue for at least two more episodes but had yet to decide what should happen to Angela afterwards. Angela was killed off, having died from swimming too soon after eating.
    • Also happened to Ricky Garduno, one of the Dumm Comics co-founders who worked on the show as a storyboard artist during seasons 10 and 11. Of the 13 episodes he was credited on, only two came out when he was still alive; the rest were broadcast posthumously.
  • The final episode of Samurai Jack reintroduces Stock Footage of the first four seasons' Opening Narration, as well as a recreation of the scene from the end of Episode 1. This allowed Mako to be credited a final time years after his passing.
  • Tex Avery was in the middle of producing The Kwicky Koala Show before he died. The show came out about a year later.
  • Ted Cassidy's last acting role before he died in 1979 was in Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All, which was not broadcast until 1982.
  • Jean-Ives Raimbaud died before the first episode of Oggy and the Cockroaches was completed. He still receives creator credit on the show years later.
  • Anton Yelchin died in June 2016, six months before Trollhunters premiered on Netflix, in which he played main character Jim. He managed to record several seasons' worth of dialogue before Jim was recast for most of the third and final season along with later appearances in 3Below by Yelchin's close friend Emile Hirsch.
  • The end credits of the first season of Captain Planet and the Planeteers acknowledged David Rappaport (the original voice of Dr. Blight's computer assistant MAL), when the show premiered several months after he passed away.
  • Michael Pataki, the voice of John Kricfalusi's character George Liquor, passed away in 2010. His final project for him, Cans Without Labels, was released in June of 2019.
  • John Ritter voiced recurring character Eugene Grandy, Bobby's music teacher on King of the Hill. His last appearance in "Stressed For Success'' was released a year after his death.
  • Mickey Rooney guest-starred in the American Dad! episode "A Star Is Reborn" as one of the elderly producers who looks like him. It was released a year after his death.
  • 12 episodes of The Garfield Show featuring Stan Freberg voicing Dr. Whipple premiered in 2016, a year after his death.
  • Cinar's revival of Simon In The Land of Chalk Drawings premiered almost a year after its narrator, Ernie Coombs, died.
  • Several Rugrats episodes featuring David Doyle as Grandpa Lou were broadcast after his death, with the final episode he recorded being the Season 5 premiere.
  • DC Animated Universe:
  • In the Italian dub of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, Roberto Draghetti (Optimus Prime) died on July 24, 2020, a week before the show's premiere.
  • Little Bill aired its final episode six months after the death of Gregory Hines, who voiced Little Bill's father.
  • Albert Jenic finished recording his lines for his Ink-Suit Actor character in the Teen Titans Go! special Where Exactly on the Globe is Carl Sanpedro? shortly before he passed away. The episode wound up airing eight months after his death.
  • Mickey and the Roadster Racers had this happen with Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse. "Hi, Jinx!", which featured her performance, was the first episode to air after her death.
  • Arthur Q. Bryan’s last appearance as Elmer Fudd in the Looney Tunes short “Person To Bunny” aired five months after his death.
  • Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? aired an episode guest starring Alex Trebek five days after his passing.
  • Despite Anna Dewdney passing away in the Fall of 2016 of breast cancer, she's still credited on the Llama Llama Netflix series, which was based on the original books written by her. However she's only credited for some episodes of Season 1 which are adaptations of the books.
  • Ed Asner passed away on August 29th, 2021. Three days before the premiere of Dug Days where he reprises his role as Carl Fredricksen.
  • Polly Lou Livingston passed away around four months before the Adventure Time: Distant Lands special "Together Again" aired, which featured her last performance as the character Tree Trunks.
  • The Spongebob Squarepants episode Patrick-Man! came out 4 months after Ernest Borgnine's passing on July 8th, 2012 making this Mermaid Man's final speaking role.
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series concluded with a two-part episode titled "Spider Wars", which featured Spider-Man defeating his alternate self Spider-Carnage by summoning an alternate reality counterpart of his deceased Uncle Ben. Ben Parker's voice actor Brian Keith had passed away seven months before the finale aired.
  • What If...? (2021): Chadwick Boseman reprised the role of T'Challa for three episodes of season 1, which debuted a year after his death in August 2020.
  • A Hungarian dub for Darkwing Duck was produced in 2004 but bizarrely not released until 2022. Attila Vári and Gábor Garamszegi, who had both dubbed supporting roles, passed away in 2021.
  • Cyberchase: Gilbert Gottfried passed away on April 12, 2022. An Arbor Day special called "Buzz and the Tree", which starred him, premiered on April 29, 2022.
  • The Fairly OddParents: Before Tara Strong became the voice of Timmy Turner for the series proper, Mary Kay Bergman voiced Timmy for the original Oh Yeah! Cartoons shorts, with the last four ("The Zappys", "Scout's Honor", "The Really Bad Day" and "Super Humor") airing after her suicide.

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