One of our favorite things about television shows is the familiarity you get from watching the same characters week after week, season after season. They sometimes really do seem like family. And like family, the best part of each show is watching our favorite character grow and change. For this reason, it is so jarring when a fan-favorite is written off a show.
Sometimes, actors quit because of creative differences, or due to personal issues, and others never reveal why they’ve left. This article brings together all of the actors who have left holes in the hearts of so many fans after they quit their TV shows.
1. Shannen Doherty
Perhaps the actress with the most famous television departures, Shannen Doherty is the perfect way to start off this list. The Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed star was fired from two shows in the Aaron Spelling universe. First, in 1990, she starred in Beverly Hills as Brenda Walsh and was fired from the show after four seasons due to creative disputes with creator Spelling.
The TV mogul decided to give Doherty another chance in 1998 on the show Charmed where she, again, nagged the starring role. However, after only three seasons, the actress quit again and never returned to the Spelling universe. Doherty left her fans heartbroken not once, but twice in a decade!