Great Characters who left too soon

[byron lomax]

I've been re-watching Homicide: Life on the Street over the past two weeks, which has been a great experience. Not only are the episodes still good as ever, I'm picking up on things I hadn't the first time round.

Now that I've started watching season three, I feel terribly sad that Steve Crosetti has already gone. What a great, funny character he was. He came across as a quirky individual obsessed with the Lincoln assassination, but there were also many other sides to him, and I feel we should have seen more.

The same applies for Bolander and Felton too, to a lesser extent, but at least they got another season to shine. I feel similar about Agent Pendrall from the X-Files, a long-forgotten character who brought a sense of humour to the more serious mythology episodes, but then got killed off for no good reason.

Any other examples of characters who left before fulfilling their potential?

 

[knine]

Fox Mulder - Fraking David Duchovny... I'm so great and so wonderful, screw this I'm going to go make movies! Oh look my movies suck... Chris Carter take me back! Let's make an X-Files movie! Oh well, I guess I'll go do hardcore pr0n on Showtime.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Sam Seaborn from the West Wing.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Chief Jerry Reilly from Rescue Me.

 

[auntiehill]

Claude "The Invisible Man" on Heroes. I LOVED that character. He actually had a logic to his behavior and realistic purpose. I keep hoping he'll materialize all of the sudden and push one of the main characters off a building.

Ham Tyler on the original "V." He was the only thing that made that show watchable---or rather barely watchable. He was certainly far more interesting than of the other bland and wimpy characters.

And....does the entire cast of "Boomtown" count?

 

[Starbreaker]

Yes... Boomtown had an excellent ensemble cast! Fearless was in an episode of Raines and I almost had a heart attack.

Also, Campbell Scott's character in Six Degrees. Great show, and he was the shining star.

 

[D Man]

I was sad to see Eko on Lost depart so soon; his story just sort of fizzled out, and there's a definite feeling that he was supposed to stick around a lot longer.

 

[auntiehill]

True. I really liked Eko. Apparently, though, the actor did NOT like being on the show and told C & L that he'd only do X number of episodes. Of course, now the actor is saying he'd like to be back on.

Too bad, really. His character was just fascinating. I'd have loved to see more of him.

 

[RoJoHen]

I was sad to see Eko on Lost depart so soon; his story just sort of fizzled out, and there's a definite feeling that he was supposed to stick around a lot longer.

I feel the same way about Libby.

 

[Harvey]

Pretty much every character who leaves Homicide: Life on the Street? Keeping in mind that I've finished the first four season only so far. I swear, after the pilot, Crocetti was my favorite character. At least they gave him a proper send-off, even if Joe Polito wasn't involved.

 

[Kegg]

Diane Chambers from Cheers. While it had a good run after she left and Kirstie Alley was nice the show is never the same without her.

 

[ClayinCA]

I was sad to see Eko on Lost depart so soon; his story just sort of fizzled out, and there's a definite feeling that he was supposed to stick around a lot longer.

I feel the same way about Libby.

Me too. In re-watching Lost just recently, I was struck by how abrupt both those departures seemed - it looked like both of them had a lot more story possibilities ahead of them.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Doyle in Angel.

 

[RoJoHen]

Doyle in Angel.

At least his departure was planned from the start.

 

[Kelthaz]

Jonas Quinn.
Harry Sullivan.

Two characters that were replaced simply because they weren't "needed" despite being great characters who added a lot to their shows.

 

[23skidoo]

Donna Noble on Doctor Who. Although what they did with her at the end was great, it was one of the few occasions since Doctor Who returned in 2005 that I wished they did a US-style 22-episode season rather than 13. It seemed they were building momentum with her and simply ran out of episodes. If she'd gotten 2 seasons like Rose Tyler it would have been fantastic.

On a Doctor Who-related issue, I agree with the invisible man on Heroes (played by Chris Eccleston). His was a great character and it was sad he just kind of made a couple of cameos and vanished (pun intended). And this was during the season everyone thought was good, too!

Alex

 

[RoJoHen]

I don't understand why Donna Noble couldn't have been around longer either. I don't think it's necessary to get rid a brand new companion every season, which I fear is where this show it headed. Let's keep some people around for a while!

 

[HappyDayRiot]

How about the Sixth Doctor?

 

[Sheep]

--Jeff from Coupling (actor left because he didn't want to be typecast as the weird guy)
--Lex from Smallville (actor left but one could argue if "too soon" ever applies to Smallville)

 

[nevermore]

I'll put this behind tags as it's an ongoing series.

Spoiler: Mad Men spoiler for S3

Sal Romano on Mad Men There is just so much left to tell with that character.

Ham Tyler on the original "V." He was the only thing that made that show watchable---or rather barely watchable. He was certainly far more interesting than of the other bland and wimpy characters.?

QFT