10 Actor Exits That Ruined Popular TV Shows

Like with any other job in the world, it’s not unusual for television stars to move on and see if the grass is greener somewhere else. However, there are controversial actor exits that single handedly ruined popular TV shows and had everyone — fans and network executives included — freaking out about how they could recover from such massive blows. Spoiler alert: They don’t. While the series often lurch along like the characters in a George A. Romero film (sometimes even for multiple seasons), the spark fizzles out, leaving weak remnants of what once was magical.

For instance, can anyone say that “Two and a Half Men” was better off without Charlie Sheen’? Sure, the sitcom tried to replace him with a big-name star in the form of Ashton Kutcher, but finding the laughter on this show from the ninth season onward required the help of a private investigator. Similarly, “One Tree Hill” struggled after Chad Michael Murray’s departure at the end of the sixth season. His character, Lucas Scott, is ingrained in the show’s DNA, and without him, it feels like a cheap imitation of every other teen drama on TV.

So, let’s take a walk down memory lane to find out all about the major times when actor exits ruined popular TV shows. Fair warning, though, this is likely to stir up strong emotions from fans of these programs, so prepare for all the feelings to come out here.

“Two and a Half Men” tickles the funny bone, thanks to the raucous misadventures of Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen), his brother Alan (Jon Cryer), and nephew Jake (Angus T. Jones). For eight seasons of nonstop hilarity, Sheen brought the hedonistic and commitment-phobic Charlie, who has an unhealthy obsession with bowling shirts, to life. In 2011, Sheen experienced the meltdown of all meltdowns whereby he insulted “Two and a Half Men” showrunner, Chuck Lorre, and exhibited a range of bizarre behavior where he famously claimed he had tiger blood pumping through his veins. Soon thereafter, Sheen received his marching orders from the sitcom, though matters turned uglier in the press.

In terms of “Two and a Half Men,” the decision was made to introduce Ashton Kutcher’s Walden Schmidt as a new main character. Walden buys Charlie’s Malibu beach house and allows Alan to stay and continue to be a parasitic mooch. In the storyline, Charlie is killed off, but the character is revealed to be alive in the series finale. Sheen doesn’t reprise his role, though, so the part of Charlie is portrayed through clever camera angles and animation.

While Kutcher tried to recreate a similar comedy formula to Sheen’s in “Two and a Half Men,” he lacked the understated charisma and razor-sharp timing of Sheen. The show suffered as a result, feeling like it limped along to a conclusion rather than end with its head held high.

People have a lot of opinions about the Arrowverse and its shows, but hey, at least they have more soul and personality than half of the corporate-sanitized MCU series on Disney+. “Batwoman” was also an important show in the grand context of pop culture and representation, because it presented an openly LGBTQ+ superhero as the lead character. Starring as Kate Kane was Ruby Rose.

Rose only lasted a single season, though. Whether she was fired or left out of her own accord depends on who’s telling the story, because there have been multiple accounts relayed on the topic. What does remain clear is that Rose didn’t depart on the best of terms and accused the production of being a toxic working environment. For the second season, “Batwoman” cast Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, who becomes the new Batwoman, and Wallis Day took over the role of Kate.

While “Batwoman” continued for two more seasons after Rose’s departure, the shake-up in leads hurt the show in the long run. It was never a ratings juggernaut to begin with, but the series found itself even more on the backfoot and trying to survive rather than do something novel or exciting — and it showed in the storylines. In addition, it baffled comic book fans how the creative team didn’t use another popular character from the DC Universe to become the new Batwoman instead of Ryan.

“Yellowstone” developed a reputation as the modern-day “Dallas” due to all the delicious family drama and explosive chemistry among the star-studded cast. Undisputedly, the biggest name in the series is Kevin Costner, who plays John Dutton III. In 2023, news broke that the fifth season would be the last for “Yellowstone,” and there was uncertainty regarding Costner’s status for the remaining episodes yet to air. In 2024, the actor officially announced his departure from the show and confirmed he wouldn’t appear in further episodes.

There have been contradicting stories about why Costner left “Yellowstone.” The actor claimed he was led to believe it was only a limited series initially, but it kept being expanded upon and this impacted his ability to work on other projects, namely “Horizon: An American Saga.” Other rumors suggest he was difficult to work with and there were creative disagreements between him and the show’s co-creator Taylor Sheridan.

“Yellowstone” received its ending, and the story continues in the spin-off series, “The Madison,” but it’s clear that Costner’s desire to leave is what cut short the plans here. It also left a sour taste in the fans’ mouths — especially how Dutton was killed off — and the fifth season holds a 39% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The general consensus is that the second half of season 5 — sans Costner — feels like a rush job and ruined what could have become an all-time great series.

The initial crux of “One Tree Hill” sees Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty) go from estranged rival brothers to friends and basketball buddies. It also teases a romance between Lucas and Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton), who — of course — is Nathan’s girlfriend when the audience meets her. Over the seasons — and time jumps — Lucas marries Peyton, and they have a baby before riding off into the sunset and waving goodbye to their friends after the sixth season.

It’s a fairy tale ending for the couple. However, the departure of Murray sent shockwaves through the fandom, especially after a video of him stating that “One Tree Hill” wasn’t bringing him back because of cost-cutting measures. He encouraged his fans to show outrage over the decision, and they did. The viewers rallied for him — and Burton — to continue to be a part of Tree Hill, but it wasn’t meant to be. Murray appeared briefly in the final season, though.

The show labored on for three more seasons, but it wasn’t the same anymore. The absence of Murray, who had been a mainstay from the start (as well as Burton if we’re being frank here), hurt the storyline. “One Tree Hill” missed the quirky energy and passion of Lucas and Peyton, as it elevated auxiliary characters, which no one cared about much in the first place, to prominent roles.

Think of “The Office” and who’s the first character that comes to mind? It’s likely Steve Carell’s Michael Scott. As the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, he causes chaos all day, every day, by distracting his employees and looking for new ways to get their attention — such as filming his passion project “Threat Level Midnight.”

Shock and horror ensued as Michael departed Dunder Mifflin for good at the end of season 7. But why did Steve Carell leave “The Office”? Depends on who you ask. Some say that Carell didn’t feel valued by the network and decided against re-signing for more seasons, while Carell says he knew it was time for him to go and let other characters shine. Whichever way you look at it, it was a major loss for the popular sitcom.

The show didn’t recover after Carell’s departure. While actors like James Spader and Catherine Tate tried to fill the void, the shadow of Michael Scott loomed over Scranton and no one could escape it. Simply put: It wasn’t the same without Michael stepping into a room and finding a way to shoehorn “that’s what she said” into a conversation, or setting up meetings that could have been emails. While “The Office” continued for two more seasons, and Michael appeared in Season 9, you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who says those last two years were the best in the series.

Donald Glover’s Troy Barnes established himself as one of the originals on “Community.” Fans adored watching Troy’s journey from typical jock to Abed Nadir’s (Danny Pudi) best friend. However, Season 5 sees Troy’s role diminished, as Glover decided to depart the show to pursue his musical career as Childish Gambino. The “Community” writers tried to fill the void left by Donald Glover, but they struggled. Why? Because Troy’s the heart and soul of “Community.”

At the same time, this contributed to the perfect storm leading to the end of “Community.” Season 5 also saw the departure of Chevy Chase’s Pierce Hawthorne, while the series had already undergone a transformation after replacing Dan Harmon as showrunner for Season 4. Even though Harmon returned alongside Chris McKenna for Season 5, it was clear that the sitcom was heading toward the light at the end of the tunnel the following season.

Harmon also understood the importance of Glover to the series. In fact, in 2014, he told Uproxx that he would have had second thoughts about returning had he known that Glover was on his way out. “I remember very distinctly [McKenna and I] in a private moment going, ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?'” Harmon said. “We would have liked to have known before we made the full decision to come back that we were coming back to a show that was gonna have to deal with Donald’s departure and then Donald’s absence.”

“Three’s Company” invited viewers to come and knock on the door and walk right in to witness the hilarity between Jack Tripper (John Tripper), Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt), and Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers), who shared an apartment and a plethora of laugh-out-loud moments. In Season 5, the holy comedy trinity is broken up, as Chrissy heads off to look after her sick mother in Fresno, California, making only minor appearances via telephone calls to her roommates. Eventually, Chrissy disappeared altogether after Somers departed the sitcom.

So, why did Somers leave? Because the actor demanded equal pay to her male co-star. Somers’ request wasn’t unreasonable, since she was drastically underpaid compared to Ritter, earning a reported $30,000 per episode while he raked in $150,000. However, the ABC executives didn’t want to budge, so Somers’ role was reduced for the remainder of Season 5 then she was fired.

Somers had the last laugh, though, as “Three’s Company” struggled to replace Chrissy in the equation. Jenilee Harrison stepped in as Chrissy’s cousin, Cindy Snow, but she didn’t last too long before Priscilla Barnes’ Terri Alden moved in with Jack and Janet. Needless to say, none of the replacements matched the chemistry that existed between the terrific trio, and the fondest memories of the show feature Somers’ bubbly blonde.

While the early seasons of “Suits” features Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter and Patrick J. Adams’ Mike Ross front and center of the marketing, the show’s supporting characters play an important part in elevating the legal drama. Meghan Markle’s Rachel Zane, in particular, becomes synonymous with Mike’s arc, as the pair fall for each other and solve tough cases together. Their fates are forever intertwined after their romance burgeons into something more and marriage becomes the next logical step for their characters.

There was a problem, though. In the real world, Markle started a relationship with Prince Harry and they were getting serious. When he proposed, Markle decided to leave “Suits” to pursue the royal lifestyle. This had a consequential impact on Mike as a character, since he and Rachel were about to be married, so explaining away her absence on the show would have been tough. Fortunately, Adams also wanted to pursue new ventures, so the storyline reason for Mike and Rachel leaving was that they were moving to Seattle. Adams returned for a few episodes in the final season, but Markle didn’t — not even for the “Suits” finale.

The butterfly effect of Markle’s departure is that it changed the entire dynamic of the series. No Mike and Rachel meant no Mike and Harvey — until at least Season 9. While new characters were introduced, the post-Markle era of “Suits” should have been charged with the crimes of boring television and repetitiveness.

The core four of “The O.C.” are Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), Seth Cohen (Adam Brody), Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson), and Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). Viewers embark on a journey with the characters as they form friendships that blossom into love. Arguably, the main couple on the show is Ryan and Marissa — though like with any good teen drama, they break up and get back together more times than anyone can even care to count. However, tragedy strikes at the end of Season 3, as Marissa dies — in Ryan’s loving arms for extra dramatic effect, of course. At the time, the event caught the audience off guard and changed the entire trajectory of the show.

So, what’s the deal here? The grueling schedule of “The O.C.” had taken its toll on Barton, but she was far from the only unhappy cast member. That said, the creative team claimed that they thought she wanted out and decided Marissa’s death would be an impactful way to write her off the series. Also, for some reason, they were firm in the decision that a main character had to die and believed Marissa was the least popular among the fanbase, so she drew the shortest straw here.

The decision backfired, because the fans didn’t like it one bit. The show suffered as a result, and the fourth season proved to be the last for “The O.C.”

Dominic Purcell’s Mick Rory, aka Heat Wave, debuted in “The Flash” before receiving a starring role in the spin-off series “Legends of Tomorrow.” The audience couldn’t get enough of Mick’s fiery personality — but also the heart and passion burning inside him — as Heat Wave established himself as a fan-favorite character and staple part of the show.

In April 2021, Purcell dropped a bombshell in a now-deleted post on Instagram (via Variety): He was leaving “Legends of Tomorrow.” Much like his on-screen character, Purcell was hot in his response about why he wasn’t returning for the seventh season of “Legends of Tomorrow,” citing how he felt disrespected by the studio. The actor posted a follow-up message, attempting to calm the fanbase and saying he was departing as a main cast member but would return for guest appearances if needed.

Well, the seventh season proved to be the last for “Legends of Tomorrow.” While it wasn’t unusual for the show to switch out characters throughout its run, it struggled to replace someone of Mick’s magnitude. In the end, the flame of excitement simply burned out here.