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).
Examples:
- Kinryū 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.
- Takeo Chii, who voiced the bamboo cutter in The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, succumbed to heart failure on July 29, 2012. The film was released two years after his death.
- 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 Brynn 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.
- Mia Ikumi, who died of a hemorrhage in March 2022, is credited for her work on Tokyo Mew Mew New, as she wrote the manga the show is an adaptation of.
- 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.
- The final four episodes of the Chrome Shelled Regios anime adaptation were broadcast shortly after production coordinator Tetsuya Koiso's death.
- 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 2020. The dub premiered in October of that year. Pedro D'Aguillón Jr., Gan Fall's voice actor, passed away in February 2022, three months before the Skypiea arc was released on Netflix.
- 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.
- Perfect Blue was released shortly after editor Harutoshi Ogata's death.
- Ritsuko Okazaki's vocals were retained in Yuji Nomi's arrangement of "Friendship" for the anime adaptation of Say I Love You, which premiered eight years after the former's death.
- Bob Papenbrook died of chronic lung complications on March 17, 2006, over one month before Eureka Seven was released in North America.
- Tomiko Suzuki voiced Jirachi in Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker, which was released 12 days after her 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 his 2010 death, due to them being remakes that use his original dialogue.
- 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.
- Voice actor and radio personality Frank "Dink" Trout voiced the King of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, released one year after his death.
- Roddy McDowall voiced the queen's adviser in A Bug's Life, which was released a month after his death.
- For Charlotte, Helen McCrory voiced Paula Salomon-Lindberg and passed away from breast cancer on April 16, 2021. The film premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2021, then was released in Canada and France in 2022.
- 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).
- Ben Wright, who voiced Grimsby, passed away due to complications from heart surgery in July 1989. He managed to finish all his character's dialogue days before passing away.
- 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.
- Similarly, actors Anthony Quayle, Clinton Sundberg, Eddie Byrne, Ramsay Williams, Kenneth Williams and Felix Aylmer also died during the film's production span, all of them having also recorded their dialogues years before.
- 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.
- She was also the voice of Si in Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, a direct-to-video sequel released in 2001.
- 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 on 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.
- The Clifford the Big Red Dog movie 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.
- The 2022 animated adaptation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, had Ed Asner providing the voice of Grandpa Heffley. The film was released to Disney+ on December 2, 2022, over a year after his passing.
- The Polish dub of Winnie the Pooh (2011) was released three months after Rabbit's voice actor, Ryszard Nawrocki died.
- French actor Bourvil passed away on September 23, 1970. His last two films, Atlantic Wall and Le Cercle rouge, were released on October 14 and October 20 of that year respectively.
- Jean-Pierre Cassel passed away in 2007. Asterix at the Olympic Games, in which he voiced Panoramix, came out in 2008.
- Natalie Wood died during the production of Brainstorm on November 29, 1981. The film came out in 1983.
- Brandon Lee was credited on The Crow, the film whose set he died on.
- Phil Hartman received a posthumous credit on Small Soldiers.
- Edward G. Robinson died five months before the release of Soylent Green.
- Spencer Tracy died six months before the release of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
- Whitney Houston died six months before Sparkle came out. The movie had been in Development Hell since The '90s.
- Jonathan Winters was credited on The Smurfs 2, which was released three months after his death.
- Raúl Juliá died two months before Street Fighter was released.
- Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who had a cameo role) both died within a day of each other 3 months before Soul Men premiered. The movie was re-edited to have a lighter tone and had a tribute added to the credits sequence out of respect to them.
- Mac also made an appearance in Old Dogs, which was released over a year after his death.
- The Strongest Man in the World was released in 1975, a year after Joe Flynn's death.
- Chris Farley was credited for Almost Heroes and Dirty Work which were released after his death from a drug overdose.
- Centennial Summer was released after the death of its composer, Jerome Kern.
- "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" from The Strip was one of the Academy's nominees for Best Original Song of 1951. The song was written by Oscar Hammerstein II, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby; Kalmar died in 1947, though the song was not a Posthumous Collaboration: it was actually a Cut Song from A Night at the Opera salvaged from the MGM trunk.
- While on posthumous songwriting noms, Howard Ashman died four months before Beauty and the Beast was released, and while Aladdin was still in production (forcing Alan Menken to make extra songs with another lyricist, Tim Rice). Beast got Ashman three noms and one win ("Beauty and the Beast"), and Aladdin another one year later ("Friend Like Me", losing to one of the Rice compositions, "A Whole New World").
- Jill Clayburgh died six months before Bridesmaids opened.
- Heather O'Rourke died four months before Poltergeist III was released. The film was dedicated to her memory.
- Heath Ledger died on January 22nd, 2008. Two films he had starred in were released posthumously. They are The Dark Knight and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, released in America on July 18th, 2008 and January 8th, 2010, respectively. Though in the latter's case, Ledger was replaced for various scenes with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law as his character travels through a dream world.
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, released December 2014, was the last live-action film role for Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams, who had died in April and August of that year respectively. Williams also had a posthumous voice role in Absolutely Anything.
- Alan Rickman died in January 2016, four months before the Alice Through the Looking Glass was released. So, even if his role is voice-only, he's billed third overall (two above the actress playing the title character).
- Anton Yelchin died in June 2016, two months before the premiere of Star Trek Beyond, in which he plays Chekov. The movie was dedicated to him, as well as Spock's actor from the original series, Leonard Nimoy (who died before production started).
- Carrie Fisher passed away in December 2016, almost a year before the release of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi in December 2017. The end credits include a dedication. She's also present in The Rise of Skywalker through unused footage from The Force Awakens.
- The BFG, which was released in July 2016, was Melissa Mathison's last screenplay before her death in November 2015.
- Bruce Lee passed away a month before Enter the Dragon was released, also Game of Death which he had been working on prior to his death was released 5 years later with the story rewritten and many of his scenes were composed of stock footage from his previous films.
- Douglas Adams is credited as executive producer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), which entered production in 2003 - two years after Adams' death.
- Aaliyah died in a plane crash six months before Queen of the Damned was released.
- Stan Lee died before the releases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies Captain Marvel (2019) and Avengers: Endgame as well as the Grand Finale of the X-Men Film Series titled Dark Phoenix. The two MCU films each had one of his famous once-per-Marvel-movie cameos, while Dark Phoenix had him credited as an executive producer.
- Donald Pleasence passed away seven months before Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was released, where he reprised his role as Dr. Loomis a final time.
- John Ritter's final film role was in Bad Santa, where he played the mall manager. The film was dedicated to his memory.
- Mike Kellin who played the head camp counselor Mel in Sleepaway Camp passed away from cancer three months before the film’s release.
- John Candy worked on three movies that were released after his 1994 death. All are dedicated to his memory:
- He starred in Canadian Bacon which had its ending altered out of respect.
- He was working on Wagons East! at the time of his death. However, he had completed most of his scenes.
- He directed the film Hostage For A Day and had a cameo.
- An odd example of this happened with the 2019 documentary Goalie. The film was originally meant to be a Made-for-TV Movie aired on CBC on June 15, 2019, but had a short, limited theatrical release in March 2019. It featured Sean McCann (well-known for starring in Night Heat), who died as a result of heart problems he had been suffering for most of his life two days before its television premiere.
- He also appeared in the movie Defining Moments as a shopkeeper. That film was released 2 years after he died.
- A similar scenario happened to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who had two films (God's Pocket and A Most Wanted Man) premiere at film festivals a month before his tragic death but go into wide release afterwards.
- Again with Varda by Agnes, the final film by legendary French director Agnčs Varda, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival a month before her passing, but went into general release afterwards.
- Peter Sellers died before Trail of the Pink Panther even started filming. His scenes consist entirely of cut footage and alternate takes from previous movies in the franchise.
- Richard Jordan died shortly after filming on Gettysburg completed. In a strange coincidence, the production crew learned of his demise while they were doing post-production work on his character's death scene.
- Last Night in Soho features Diana Rigg, who died in September 2020. The film was released on October 22, 2021. She also appeared in the Mini Series Black Narcissus, also released a few months after her passing, and her second episode of All Creatures Great & Small, "A Tricki Case", first aired 12 days after her passing.
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was released on December 18, 2020, a few months after the death of Chadwick Boseman on August 28.
- James Gandolfini died in spring 2013 before his last films, Enough Said and The Drop, were released.
- Air Buddies was released after the deaths of not one but two actors who had minor roles: Don Knotts and Patrick Cranshaw. The movie is dedicated to both of them.
- 1982's Paradis pour tous was the last film in which Patrick Dewaere appeared, it was released one month after his death.
- Janis & John was released three months after the death of Marie Trintignant in August 2003.
- James Dean died before Rebel Without a Cause and Giant premiered.
- Clark Gable died days after filming The Misfits, which was released a few months later.
- The Dead was released almost four months after John Huston's death in 1987.
- Eyes Wide Shut was released four months after Stanley Kubrick's death in 1999.
- Taxi Driver and Obsession were both released after Bernard Herrmann's death in December 1975.
- To Be or Not to Be was released one month after Carole Lombard's death in a plane crash.
- Bullet, Gridlock'd and Gang Related were all released after Tupac Shakur's murder.
- Cameron Boyce suffered a fatal seizure just a month before the premiere of Descendants 3, in which he reprised his role as Carlos De Vil. Disney cancelled the red carpet premiere they had scheduled for it in light of his death and instead made a donation to one of Boyce's charities. The original airing had the film start with a dedication to him and the credits had a montage of his film works and his personal life.
- Saw: Producer Gregg Hoffman died shortly after the release of Saw II. James Wan and Leigh Whannell dedicated Saw III to Hoffman's memory, with the new character Mark Hoffman being named after him, and he received a posthumous production credit for every film in the series up to Jigsaw.
- Off The Rails 2021 was released over a year after its lead actress Kelly Preston died from breast cancer.
- About 2021's Cry Macho, credited co-screenwriter N. Richard Nash died in 2000. He wrote a script in 1975 that he couldn't adapt and turned it into a novel, which was eventually brought to the screen by Clint Eastwood.
- More Than Ever was the last film with Gaspard Ulliel in its cast and was released in November 2022, several months after his death (which happened in January 2022 due to a ski accident).
- Two films that Orson Welles had in the works but never finished before his death in 1985 (thanks to some extremely Troubled Production) were eventually cobbled together and released years after his passing: an adaptation of Don Quixote in 1992 and The Other Side of the Wind in 2018, both retaining his directorial credit.
- A Hidden Life was released over two years after the passing of Michael Nyqvist and ten months after the passing of Bruno Ganz.
- Will Ryan, the voice of Grubby in the Teddy Ruxpin franchise, died on November 19, 2021. The documentary Ken Forsse: Come Dream With Me Tonight, which featured interviews with him, was released in January 2022.
- Romper Stomper was released seven months after Daniel Pollock, who played skinhead Davey, committed suicide by walking in front of a train in April 1992.
- Dame Angela Lansbury died in October 2022 a few weeks before the release of the final film she appeared in, Glass Onion (the sequel to the whodunnit Knives Out).
- Ray Liotta died in May 2022. One of his final films, Cocaine Bear, was released nine months later in February 2023.
- James Horner, who created the score for the first Avatar film, died in 2015. However, he's still credited in Avatar: The Way of Water as the composer of the original themes, while Simon Franglen is credited as the main composer.
- Brian Goldner, the late CEO of Hasbro, is credited as a producer on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The movie was released almost a year and a half after his death.
- Lance Reddick passed away just one week before the release of John Wick: Chapter 4, where he reprised his role as series regular Charon. He also reportedly filmed his scenes for the currently in post-production Ballerina spin-off.
- Gaspard Ulliel died in January 2022. More Than Ever was released in November 2022.
- 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.
- Sesame Street:
- Several sketches featuring Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch being performed by Caroll Spinney premiered throughout season 50, well after he had died. This is caused by the show being prone to reusing older segments in new episodes and most episodes being filmed a year in advance.
- Both Jim Henson and puppeteer Richard Hunt (who passed away in 1992) were credited among the Sesame Street puppeteers through 2001 and 2000, respectively, although the final sketches Henson recorded aired before his death.
- 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.
- The District: Lynne Thigpen died of cancer during season 3. Her character appeared in episodes after her death before dying with 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.
- Ray Liotta passed away in his sleep on May 26, 2022. He completed his scenes for Black Bird, in which he played the father of Taron Egerton's character, shortly before his death.
- The Orville:
- Norm Macdonald died on September 14, 2021 from acute leukemia. He voiced a secondary character named Yaphit (the character was entirely CGI except for a single scene where Macdonald appeared in person). The actor completed his scenes for the first episode of season 3, but Yaphit is absent for the rest of the season. The episode was dedicated to the actor.
- Lisa Banes was killed in a hit-and-run on June 14, 2021, after completing her scenes for two episodes of season 3, and was likewise mentioned in a dedication.
- Kevin Conroy died one year after he recorded his interview for Eric Bauza 's Stay Tooned docu series.
- Lance Reddick is set to play Zeus in the upcoming Percy Jackson And The Olympians, which he completed before his passing in March 2023.
- Ray Stevenson previously performed voicework for the Star Wars character Gar Saxon. When the time came for his live-action portrayal of Baylan Skoll for Ahsoka, he passed away from illness several months before the show's release.
- 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.
- 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.
- Mike Pilotti worked in the colour animation cells for the first two games of Earthworm Jim but was killed in an avalanche before the release of the second game, which was dedicated to him.
- Robin Sachs, voice of Zaeed in the Mass Effect trilogy, died a month before the final DLC for the third game, Citadel, was released.
- Kingdom Hearts has a few examples, some of which relate to the HD ReMIX Updated Re-release versions.
- Wayne Allwine passed away in May 2009, but completed voice work as Mickey Mouse one final time for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days which was released the following fall, as well as for episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Notably, Allwine is also credited for the Days cutscene movie in the I.5 HD ReMIX Updated Re-release alongside The Other Darrin Bret Iwan, who recorded Mickey’s lines for the scene’s extension in said movie.
- By contrast, the late Christopher Lee returned as DiZ in the original English release of the game but his lines were re-recorded by his understudy Corey Burton for I.5 to maintain vocal consistency with Burton’s performance as the character in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Lee does receive a posthumous credit for his performance being retained in the II.5 version of Kingdom Hearts II, however.
- Other deceased voice actors whose performances in the series were credited posthumously for either the original release or rereleases include John Fiedler as Piglet from Winnie the Pooh in the first game, Pat Morita as the Emperor of China from Mulan and Glenn Shadix as the Mayor of Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas in II, and the first English and Japanese voice actors for series Big Bad Master Xehanort in Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance.
- Miyu Matsuki passed away in October 2015 but managed to complete her voice work for Chihaya Mifune in Persona 5, which was released in September 2016.
- Satoru Iwata passed away in June 2015, but still served and was credited as executive producer for a number of Nintendo titles that ended up being released posthumously, some coming out months or even years after his passing. Among the last was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, nearly two years after he died.
- Fire Emblem
- Fire Emblem Fates. Rokurō Naya, the Japanese voice of Gunter, passed away two months before the game was even announced, let alone released.
- Philece Sampler died of a heart attack on July 1, 2021. She voiced Niime in Fire Emblem Heroes (credited as "Robin Bell"), who was added to the game in February 2022.
- Billy Kametz, the voice of Ferdinand von Aeigr in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, died of cancer on June 9, 2022, one day after the release of the Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes demo, having completed his voice work reprising his role months beforehand.
- Unshō Ishizuka passed away four months before the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in which he voiced Incineroar. Before passing away, he also completed the voiceworks for Brad Wong in Dead or Alive 6 as well as Jet Black in his appearance in Super Robot Wars T.
- Parodied in Left 4 Dead, in where at the conclusion of an escape sequence, if any players have died or fallen down by the time everyone else has entered the escape vehicle. In place of "The survivors have escaped!", you get "In memory of: (name of fallen survivors)".
- Denis Akiyama, the English voice of Nobunaga Oda and the narrator in Onimusha: Warlords, died of cancer on June 28, 2018. The HD remaster, which featured the original English dialogue, was released nearly seven months after Akiyama's death.
- Keiji Fujiwara voiced Kagutsuchi in the remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, which wasn't even announced until three months after his death from cancer.
- Hirotaka Suzuoki voiced Prisoner No. 1356 in Yakuza. His voice work was kept intact for Kiwami, which was released over nine years after his death.
- Super Robot Wars makes a point of crediting deceased seiyuu whenever The Other Darrin isn't at play. For example, prior to Ken Narita taking over the role of Bright Noa in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Hirotaka Suzuoki was still credited for Bright's lines in the various games of the series. Notably, this only happens when the participating series itself uses The Other Darrin; otherwise SRW will use previously recorded clips and doesn't recast roles. Chieko Honda is still credited whenever Elpeo Ple and/or Ple Two appear in games and Yuko Mizutani is still Excellen Browning.
- Michael K. Williams died from a drug overdose on September 6, 2021. He voiced Capt. Kimble "Irish" Graves in Battlefield 2042, which was released on November 19, 2021.
- At least four foreign voice actors died before the release of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on April 5, 2022. Two Brazilian voice actors died of COVID: Dario de Castro (Qui Gon Jinn) died on April 15, 2021, and Julio Chaves (Lando Calrissian) died on August 10, 2021. Georges Claisse (the French voice of Palpatine) died on November 15, 2021. Milogosz Reczek (the Polish voice of old Obi-Wan Kenobi) died on December 14, 2021.
- Ursula's voice actress Pat Carroll passed away on July 30, 2022. The upcoming life-sim and adventure hybrid game Disney Dreamlight Valley will mark her final performance as Ursula since she managed to record a few bits of dialogue for the game.
- The Avatar: The Last Airbender PC game, like the last nine episodes of the show's second season, features Mako reprising his role as Uncle Iroh in spite of the game being released after his death. Much like "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", the game includes a dedication to Mako's memory.
- The Rehydrated remake of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom retains the voice clips from the original game, and thus Tim Conway reprises his role as Barnacle Boy despite having passed away about a year before the remake was released.
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which is due to release in 2023, marks the final performance of Kevin Conroy as Batman after his passing in November 2022.
- Dragon Quest series composer Koichi Sugiyama died in September 2021, but composed the music for Dragon Quest Treasures, which released over a year later in December 2022, and was apparently involved in the upcoming Dragon Quest XII in some capacity.
- 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.
- 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.
- The Simpsons:
- Eartha Kitt recorded her voice for the episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", which aired more than a year after her death in December 2008.
- Writer Don Payne, who died in March 2013, was credited on the episodes "Labor Pains" and "White Christmas Blues".
- Phil Hartman's last Simpsons appearance was playing Troy McClure in "Bart the Mother", which aired five months after his death in May 1998. The episode was dedicated to him and his characters Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure were retired.
- Marvin Hamlisch played a younger version of himself in "Gone Abie Gone", which aired 3 months after his passing in August 2012.
- Russi Taylor voiced Martin Prince for the final time in "Thanksgiving of Horror" which aired three months after her death.
- 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 9, 10 and 11. He passed away December, 2011. in Of the 13 episodes he was credited on, only two came out when he was still alive;note the rest were broadcast posthumously.note
- 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:
- Elizabeth Montgomery voiced a Western barmaid in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Showdown", which was first broadcast on September 12, 1995, almost four months after she died.
- Roddy McDowall's last performance as the Mad Hatter was in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Knight Time", which aired on October 10, 1998, exactly one week after his passing.
- 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 Jelenic 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 "Hi, Jinx!", which featured Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse, was the first episode to air after her death.
- The sequel series Mickey Mouse Funhouse had Will Ryan reprise his role as Willie the Giant in "Bottled Up!", which aired on December 3, 2021. Ryan died on November 19, 2021, a few weeks before.
- Arthur Q. Bryan's last appearance as Elmer Fudd in the Looney Tunes short "Person To Bunny" premiered five months after his death.
- Scooby-Doo:
- Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School was released nine months after the death of Marilyn Schreffler, who voiced Winnie Werewolf.
- 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. Disney+ later added a memorial card to Asner for the first episode a few months after it's release.
- 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 it 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, the voice of Digit, passed away on April 12, 2022. An Arbor Day special called "Buzz and the Tree", which featured Gottfried as Digit, premiered not even a month later, 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.
- The 2011 computer-animated Looney Tunes short "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat"
(shown before Happy Feet Two) and 2012 animated short "Daffy's Rhapsody"
(shown before Journey 2: The Myterious Island) had Mel Blanc reprising the roles of Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird and Daffy Duck via archive audio from Looney Tunes albums from the 1950s. Only Billy West (Elmer Fudd) and June Foray (Granny) were able to provide new dialogue in both shorts.
- The 2013 Disney animated short Get a Horse (shown before Frozen) had Walt Disney, Marcelite Garner, and Billy Bletcher reprising their roles as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Pete for the short. While the short almost relied entirely on archive audio, Russi Taylor was brought in to record three lines for Minnie Mouse. Pete's non-recycled dialogue for the short was also provided by Will Ryan.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Mako performed his final lines as Uncle Iroh in the last nine episodes of the second season, which aired about two months after his passing. One of those episodes, "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", notably included a dedication to Mako.
- The Season 3 episode of Central Park titled "A Matter of Loaf and Boeuf" was released a year after Ed Asner's passing. The episode was dedicated to him since his character (Ambrose Brandenham) returned in the episode.