12 TV Shows Forced to Kill Off a Main Character: ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Yellowstone’ & More
When a television star wants (or is wanted) off a series, writers and producers have to devise an exit strategy for that actor’s character — and sometimes sending in the Grim Reaper seems to be the only choice.
Maybe that character is in a romance that’s supposed to be endgame, maybe they’re too integral to the plot to disappear, maybe the actor themselves died, or maybe — as was nearly the case with Home Improvement’s Patricia Richardson — the network just wants to continue a show after a lead star walks away.
Kevin Costner’s falling out with Yellowstone meant the Paramount Network hit’s writers had to kill off his character, and as you’ll see here, his exit is just one instance of what TV Tropes calls the “Actor Leaves, Character Dies” phenomenon.
Blue Bloods
Blue Bloods’ eight-season premiere revealed that Linda Reagan died in an off-screen helicopter crash, all because Amy Carlson wanted off the show. “I was between a rock and a hard place, because the simple fact of the matter was that [Carlson] decided not to renew her contract,” showrunner Kevin Wade told TVLine. “And because that happened after we’d wrapped the previous season, we really had very little wiggle room…”
Charmed
Shannen Doherty said she “accomplished everything I set out to do” when she left Charmed after its third season — with Prue Halliwell dying by demonic assignation— although fans now know all the behind-the-scenes drama that precipitated her exit (and that ensued). Producers could hardly continue the “power of three” with just two main characters, so a long-lost sister took Prue Halliwell’s place in lead trio of the supernatural drama.
Dallas
Bobby Ewing was mowed down by an obsessed woman at the end of Dallas Season 8 and died from his injuries since Patrick Duffy wanted to “launch into something that was more of a single, starring venue,” the actor told HuffPost in 2014. When that plan didn’t pan out, however, producers brought Duffy back at the end of Season 9 and ret-conned the rest of that season as one big bad dream.
Downton Abbey
Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery) lost her husband in a car crash at the end of Downton Abbey Season 3 when Matthew Crawley died in a car crash. Creator Julian Fellowes told the Daily Express he “had no choice” in killing off the character since actor Dan Stevens was “determined to go” and wouldn’t even stay for another episode to give Matthew and Mary a happy ending.
The Good Wife
Josh Charles grew tired of the grind of network TV, so The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King crafted a shocking exit for attorney Will Gardner in the legal drama’s fifth season. Will died in a courtroom shooting, and the Kings told Vulture that for the romance between the character and Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), death was “the only wall high enough to keep the two lovers apart.”
Grey’s Anatomy
Similarly, when Patrick Dempsey left Grey’s Anatomy in the medical drama’s 11th season — for reasons still subject to speculation — creator Shonda Rhimes felt Derek Shepherd had to die in order for his love for Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) “to remain honest,” as she told reporters. And so Derek was hit by a semi truck and ultimately died due to doctor incompetence at a Seattle-area medical center.
House of Cards
As sexual misconduct allegations derailed Kevin Spacey’s career, House of Cards forged ahead. In the sixth and final season, viewers learn that Frank Underwood is dead — poisoned, as it turns out, by Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) in an effort to protect the ex-president’s legacy — and the focus turns to wife-turned-successor Claire Underwood (Robin Wright).
Sleepy Hollow
Abbie Mills’ self-sacrifice to save the day in Sleepy Hollow’s third-season finale came after Fox was “put in a situation where that was a decision that needed to be made,” network exec Dana Walden told reporters at the time, per TVLine. Actor Nicole Beharie later told The New York Times that she “had resentment and bitterness” about the way she was treated during her time on the show, explaining that costar Tom Mison was treated better.
Transparent
Similar to House of Cards, Transparent shed its lead actor — Jeffrey Tambor, who played Maura Pfefferman — amid accusations of sexual misconduct against him. (Both Tambor and Spacey have denied the allegations against them.) And so Transparent had Maura succumb to an aortic aneurysm off screen. “We were all in mourning in many ways, and we all had to process together,” creator Joey Soloway told the Los Angeles Times. “It was important [for the show] to go through all those stages.”
8 Simple Rules
Production on the second season of this tender sitcom had already begun when John Ritter unexpectedly died. Rather than discontinuing the show, his character Paul was sadly killed off, and the show continued through the second and a third season.
The Conners
In response to a racist social media message from Roseanne Arnold, ABC’s president Channing Dungey immediately canceled the network’s hit reboot of her eponymous sitcom. However, the rest of the family and crew got to continue to work on the spinoff The Conners, which killed her character off in the first episode.
Yellowstone
John Dutton was murdered in a faux-suicide in the much-delayed second part of Yellowstone’s fifth season after Kevin Costner couldn’t come to terms with Paramount Network over shooting schedules. Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, creator Taylor Sheridan said he was “disappointed” with Costner’s abrupt exit. “It truncates the closure of his character,” he added. “It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.”
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services