Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: SVU was about Benson and Stabler for 12 years…until Christopher Meloni left the series in 2011 after tense contract negotiations. Everyone assumed things would work out and the two would continue to bust perps, but life doesn't always work out and Benson was left Stabler-less.
However, Meloni was back in action in the L&O universe by 2021.
Cote de Pablo, NCIS
Ziva left the building on her own accord. Cote De Pablo has spoken out about leaving the hit CBS series after close to 200 episodes in 2013.
"As far as my decision to leave, that's a personal thing, and I'd rather leave it at that," she said. "The idea of leaving was not something I toyed around with for a long time. It was an overwhelmingly hard thing—at times terrifying." Her exit shocked fans, especially those who shipped her character's relationship with Michael Weatherly's character. She later returned after six seasons away, in a recurring capacity, for season 17.
Christopher Abbott, Girls
Marnie (Allison Williams) and Charlie (Christopher Abbott) were finally happy together…but then Abbott left the show between seasons two and three in 2013, citing he was unable to relate to the world Lena Dunham crafted. He made a brief reappearance in season five, giving Marnie and fans a glimpse into how far Charlie had fallen.
Kellie Martin, ER
Whenever anybody left ER, the question came up: Why would you leave TV's hottest show? Well, Kellie Martin, whose character Lucy Knight was a bright up-and-coming med student, gave several reasons for her 2000 exit after two seasons, including having a personal tragedy mar her time on the series. Lucy was brutally stabbed by a patient during season six, her death forever haunting viewers.
David Caruso, NYPD Blue
Another "Did he really just leave one of TV's biggest shows?" moments—David Caruso left NYPD Blue after one season in 1994 due to contract issues.
Michael Vartan, Alias
The official reason behind Michael Vartan's exit from the spy drama remains a mystery, but the prevailing rumors were that it was related to his 2004 break-up with co-star Jennifer Garner. (He did return for the ultimate series ending, after it was revealed his character faked his own death.)
Michael Pitt, Boardwalk Empire
The HBO hit series shocked fans when Jimmy Darmody was offed in the 2011 season two finale. While there were rumors about Michael Pitt's on-set behavior causing issues, producers maintained that the death was a creative decision.
Shannen Doherty, Charmed and Beverly Hills, 90210
TV's quintessential bad girl, Shannen Doherty left 90210 in 1994 after four seasons amidst rumors of bad behavior. "I quit," Doherty said in the Jan. 23, 1994, issue of TV Guide, her interview teed up to cut bad press off at the pass far ahead of the season finale on May 25 that would also serve as Brenda Walsh's send-off. She called it a "mutual decision" between her and executive producer Aaron Spelling. (She later reprised the role of Brenda in 2008 on The CW's 90210.)
Doherty exited her next big show, Charmed, after three seasons in 2001 with even more rumors of behind-the-scenes drama and feuds.
Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy
Katherine Heigl's 2010 decision to scrub out of Grey's Anatomy was less than shocking, due to her headline-making comments over not getting enough material to warrant nominations and complaints over lying in a hospital bed for long hours due to her film schedule.
But the death of T.R. Knight's George stunned fans, the actor highlighting his lack of storyline and character growth in an interview with EW.
Dan Stevens, Downton Abbey
After so many ups and downs, Dan Stevens' Matthew Crawley finally landed the girl and had the baby…and then died. The actor's 2012 Downton exit riled viewers—where was the happy ending?!—and even pissed off his costar Michelle Dockery, but ultimately it did wonders for the show and Dockery's Lady Mary.
Josh Charles, The Good Wife
Josh Charles' 2014 exit from The Good Wife is hands down one of TV's best kept secrets. Yes, his death was shocking, but the fact that producers were able to keep it a secret is what really stands out. Star Julianna Margulies convinced Charles to stay with the show for 15 episodes of season five to craft a fitting exit. The powers that be explained they needed to kill him so his character wasn't out there, always a possibility for Alicia.
Mischa Barton, The O.C.
The OC without Marissa Cooper?! The thought alone was blasphemous at the time of the Fox show's heyday…but then it happened in 2006. Debates about whether or not it was Mischa Barton's decision to leave continued for years, but Josh Schwartz has come out and said it was a mutual decision made to shake up the series.
Overwhelmed by the long hours, the attention to her personal life and other on-set issues, "I just didn't feel I could keep going," Barton revealed to E! News in 2021. "The producers were like, 'Well, do you want your job and to sail off into the sunset and potentially you can come back in the future in some bizarre TV scenario or we can kill your character off and you can go on with your career that you want and what you want to do?' I was getting offers from big films at the time and having to turn them down. I had always been supporting in The Sixth Sense and any of those things. My dream was to be offered those lead roles, so that's what happened. It just felt like it was the best thing for me and my health."
Crystal Reed, Teen Wolf
After three seasons, Crystal Reed went to producers and asked to be written off the show in 2014 to pursue other opportunities. With zero warning, viewers were stunned when Allison died in her first love Scott's arms in the penultimate episode of season three.
"It's an interesting thing when the actor says, 'Hey, I want to try something new,'" boss Jeff Davis told E! News of actors leaving the show. "You to have to decide whether you're going to say, 'Can we convince you to stay?' And as a producer, I don't want anyone to work on the show who feels like they want to move on."
Colton Haynes, Arrow
Unbeknownst to fans, Colton Haynes, fresh off his 2012 exit from Teen Wolf, only signed a two-year deal to play Roy, an unusual move for the studio. Arrow then shocked fans by faking his character's death in 2015, only to reveal it was a cruel joke. Still, it left the door open for him to return (which he did).
"I had walked away from my full-time job on Arrow at the beginning of the year, supposedly because my contract had ended," he wrote in his 2022 memoirMiss Memory Lane, "but it was really because I was too depressed and I couldn't stand working with one of my cast mates."
Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy
Mer lost her Der in an unthinkable twist. Patrick Dempsey was killed off in a 2015 episode, leaving Pompeo's character to move on without McDreamy.
Series creator Shonda Rhimes cited a similar reason to The Good Wife for killing off the character. "The decision to have the character die the way that he did was not a difficult one in the sense of what were the options?" Rhimes said at the 2015 Summer TCA press tour. "Either Derek was going to walk out on Meredith, and leave her high and dry, and what was that going to mean? That was going to suggest that the love was not true, the thing we had said for 11 years was a lie and McDreamy wasn't McDreamy. For me, that was untenable."
Dempsey later returned for a series of 2020 episodes, reuniting with a COVID-plagued Meredith in several dream-like sequences.
Anna Faris, Mom
After seven seasons as Christy Plunkett in the hit CBS sitcom, Anna Faris announced in September 2020 that she'd be stepping away from the role to pursue other opportunities, leaving co-lead Allison Janney as the sole central mother days before production on season eight began. The role was not recast, with producers opting to simply write Christy out.