Here Are 18 TV Shows That Completely Botched An Actor's Departure, And Majorly Disappointed Fans

"I would have rather they killed him off."

Sometimes, we have to bid farewell to some of our favourite on-screen characters when an actor decides to pursue another project.

NBC / Via giphy.com

So, when Reddit user u/origamicyclone asked the people of Ask Reddit "what's the worst way a TV show dealt with an actor leaving?", I had to round up some of my favourite answers...

1. Jeff Garlin as Murray Goldberg – The Goldbergs

ABC

"They ended up killing him off, but before that they used awful CGI so they could 'include' his character in the show."

– u/origamicyclone

2. Willie Garson as Stanford Blatch – And Just Like That...

HBO Max

"They had his character leave his husband and run off to Japan. I wouldn't have written him off on a bad note like that."

– u/bestblackdress

"I was so confused – that was so not Stanford! He would never give away all of his possessions, for starters, and a monk? Nope. They did his character so dirty." 

– u/h3yd000ch00ch00

3. Jaimee Monae Foxworth as Judy Winslow – Family Matters

ABC

"Judy Winslow was sent up to her room in season four, and never came back down again."

– u/anongirl55 

4. Matt McGorry as John Bennett – Orange is the New Black

Netflix

"He literally just drove off and was never seen again."

– u/Ifeelsick6789

"It made zero sense. Especially because his character wasn't the type to just abandon his own child!"

– u/tquinn04

"Can't be mad about this one because he left for HTGAWM, and he was so good in it. One of the best outside of Viola Davis."

– u/pandallamayoda

5. Justin Chambers as Alex Karev – Greys Anatomy

ABC

"I get that Justin's health issues made it difficult, but the 'Dear Jo/ Miranda /Meredith' letters felt like they undermined his growth over the years."

– u/scarlettslegacy 

"I came here to say this. They literally spent seasons turning him into a crucial character, becoming the voice of reason in a way after Sandra Oh left. Then they ruin years worth of effort with one single choice. I would have rather they killed him off."

– u/northern-reign

6. Thomas Gibson as Hotch – Criminal Minds

CBS

"I feel like they should have just killed Hotch. It made no sense that he sacrificed his whole life for the FBI only to randomly decide to leave and never come back. I'm pretty sure if he wouldn't even leave his work after his wife was murdered, he wasn't going to leave for anything. Him dying would have made more sense. Especially since they clearly had no intentions of bringing him back."

– u/The_Blue_Castle

7. Jake T. Austin as Jesus – The Fosters

Freeform

"I hated when they replaced him with Noah Centineo and they just had him come back from boarding school and said, 'oh wow, you got so tall!'"

– u/amitwerkan 

"IMO, one of the best moments was when Jake T. Austin left Wizards of Waverly Place and they just turned his character into a little girl."

– u/EuphoricPhoto2048 

8. Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones – And Just Like That...

HBO Max

"I disliked the way they wrote Samantha Jones out of AJLT..., saying that she viewed her friendship with Carrie as an ATM or something. That was definitely not Samantha's character at all. She was 100% self-made and Carrie was not her cash cow. If anything, Samantha was way richer than Carrie before she married Big."

– u/CrissBliss

"After Samantha literally offered to pay for half of Carrie's apartment? No ma'am."  

– u/Catfishers

9. Ruth Wilson as Allison – The Affair

Showtime

"They casually had her killed by her new love interest when the guy literally showed no homicidal tendencies in the show, and didn't leave any closure at all for her. Allison deserved better."

– u/JoleneDollyParton

10. Ed Skrein as Daario Naharis – Game of Thrones

HBO

"They straight up just changed the actor – he doesn't even look like the first guy! I thought these two people were different characters for the longest time."

– u/Crazy_Tomatillo18

"It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out what happened."

– u/strippersandcocaine

11. Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler – Law and Order

NBC

"Elliott Stabler ghosted his partner Olivia Benson. He was rarely mentioned and basically forgotten until he decided to return to the show after 10 years."

– u/NoleFandom

12. Steve Carrell as Michael Scott – The Office

NBC

"I always thought it was weird that after Michael left, they never mention him again. No one kept in touch? No one went to his wedding? No one was excited about him having kids?

Many characters cared about him so much and then just never spoke to him, or about him, again until Dwight's wedding. So weird."

– u/graypumpkins 

13. Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes – Weeds

Showtime

"I'm a couple episodes into season six, and I'm thinking 'okay, where the hell is Celia?' The end of season five gave us the impression that we would get even more of her shenanigans, but nope. She's nowhere to be seen, and was only mentioned by a throwaway line from Shane. Guys, where the fuck did she go?"

– u/_nastylittleman_ 

14. Damon Wayans Jr. as Coach – New Girl

Fox

"I know things can change a lot from when they film a pilot to a show getting picked up, bur I was SO confused as to why they decided to explain Coach's absence by saying he moved in with a girlfriend. In the pilot episode, a big part of his character was that he was completely unable to talk to women. Then, in the span of a few weeks, he got a girlfriend and moved in with her? It really doesn't make sense to me, there's a huge disconnect.

It's not really that important, but at the same time it's a little thing that I just can't let go of."

– u/adumbhag 

15. Miguel Herrán as Christian Varela Expósito – Elite

Netflix

"The way Christian was written off was the laziest, most half-assed thing I have seen. He's determined to reveal an important piece of information about Carla and Polo, and almost the entire plot of season one lies in his hands. Then, in season two, he gets into a car accident and never returns. It's not like he dies, he even says he would ruin Carla, but he just never returns. The way it was handled was just too weird."

– u/m_zayd

16. Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert – The Vampire Diaries

The CW

"I wish they just had the balls to either kill the character off or end the show."

– u/gcaledonian 

"Everyone loves to hate on Elena, but the truth is she was the emotional centre of the show and it didn't work without her."

– u/teddy_vedder

17. Dan Stevens as Matthew Crawley – Downton Abbey

ITV

"Killing off Matthew as he was driving home from the hospital where his baby was born was outrageous! There would have been a zillion ways to write around the idea that a very wealthy dude had to leave and isn't there right now. (I'm bitter about several of the deaths on that show, but that one is at the top of my bitterness list.)"

– u/rarepinkhippo

18. Sherry Stringfield as Susan Lewis – ER

NBC

"She's in the season 12 premiere, and then you never see her again. They *very* briefly mention that she left to get tenure at a different hospital."

– u/ASofMat

H/T to u/origamicyclone and Ask Reddit for having this discussion!

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.  

Can you think of any more examples? Let us know in the comments below!