21 Times a TV Show Had to Write Around an Actor’s Death
Making a TV show involves a lot of people, and people have a stubborn habit of being, you know, people. They have entire lives outside of work, so they can’t always perform like perfect little machines. They get sick. They get divorced. Sometimes, they straight-up die. The longer a series goes on, the more likely it is that one of the cast members will up and croak, and how long you’ll have to cover that up depends on whether you can get viewers to stick with you anyway.
When it happens, TV shows have a number of options. The most obvious one is to kill off the character as well, but that’s not always the best route (say, in a lighthearted comedy) or even remotely responsible (say, a show whose target audience is toddlers). That’s when writers have to get creative. To find out how many ways they’ve coped, user MyHairIsAHotMess asked r/AskReddit, “What TV show has had to handle an unexpected death of an actor? How did they do it?”
Cheers
Monk
The West Wing
Dennis the Menace
Highlander: The Series
Law & Order
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter
Spartacus
Chico and the Man
Hill Street Blues
Only Fools and Horses
Doctor Who
The Sopranos
Sealab 2021
Avatar: The Last Airbender
South Park
Archer
Sesame Street
Silicon Valley
Glee
NewsRadio
