Tv plotlines unfinished due to characters leaving (spoilers)

[RKTaker]

Basically what the title says plotlines that never finished not because the show was cancelled but because an actor from a show either left on their own or was fired.

A couple of recent examples that came to mind are Jennifer Esposito’s Quinn from NCIS in one season finale she got a call about her mom and then left. When the show came back there was no mention of her or her mom anywhere in the following season

Riggs’ love interest in lethal weapon. While Clayne Crawford was fired from lethal weapon which resulted in Riggs being killed off we don’t know what happened to his love interest Molly and son Ben. In the season 2 finale Riggs has plans to move back to Texas with Molly and Ben but then gets shot and dies in the season 3 premiere. Also like Ncis Molly and Ben are never mentioned again

Any other examples of plotlines having no resolution due to an actor leaving a show?

[Spider2024]

I assume you mean 'other than in wrestling feds' since that would contain a lot of them.

I'm tempted to mention Catherine from NewsRadio. In the middle of season 4 she departed abruptly (both in real life and in storyline) and I guess they tried to wrap up all her plot points with the other individual characters the best that they could inside of one episode, but it still felt rushed and not-so-complete. (Was it ever revealed why Khandi Alexander left in the middle of the season?)

[Natural Born Farmer]

First season of Nip/Tuck had the firm hiring a psychiatrist to screen patients due to Shawn’s increasing misgivings about their work. She disappears about midway through with no explanation and Shawn seemingly just gets over it.

[Rican]

The writers for Lost had a multi season arch planned for Mr. Eko and then the actor wanted out in the third season. Wonder how different the show might have been.

[Convoy]

Jul 21, 2019 8:08:43 GMT -5 Natural Born Farmer said:

First season of Nip/Tuck had the firm hiring a psychiatrist to screen patients due to Shawn’s increasing misgivings about their work. She disappears about midway through with no explanation and Shawn seemingly just gets over it.

Ryan Murphy would later say that the writers didn't like the character, and just wanted her removed so they didn't have to deal with her. That's why she was more wrong than right towards the end of her stay. The main reason being that people felt it made no sense to have a doctor telling people to get surgery instead of facing their issues.

[Bobeddy]

Gotham has a few examples of this. In the first season they have Renee Montoya and another detective investigating Gordon and it turns out Montoya used to be in a relationship with Barbara. They end S1 with the detectives realising Gordon isn't crooked and they set things up like they'll be allows moving forward. Never seen again!

They also have Harvey Dent in a handful of episodes in Season 1 and 2 and then he just sort of disappears without any explanation. At least none I can remember.

[BlackoutCreature]

Whatever Stargate: Atlantis' original plans for the Replicators were in the end fell apart when Torri Higginson refused to return to the show in season five. They cobbled together a resolution claiming that Dr. Weir's mind was trapped in the body of a replicator (and the actress playing the replicator did an excellent job imitating Higginson's speech patterns and mannerisms), and then quickly killed her and her followers off in the same episode, but it definitely felt rushed and incomplete and from what I understand didn't even come close to what the show originally had planned.

[James Fabiano]

When Richard Coyle left Coupling, obviously his storyline with getting Julia back ended (Lou Gish left too, and sadly would pass away some time after). Though they mentioned Jeff in Series 4, they totally wiped anything to do with Julia from that.