8 Characters That Were Killed Off Because Of The Actors Playing Them

We have all been there. We watch in awe as one of our favorite shows starts to develop and all of a sudden one of our favorite characters is unceremoniously killed off, and none of us are prepared for it.

Sometimes characters are killed off because the story has to happen that way, and other times characters are killed off because the actors and actresses playing them either want to leave, or they screwed something up really bad.

For this list we are going to focus on actors and actresses who were killed off for doing it to themselves.

1. Patrick Dempsey - Grey's Anatomy

Dempsey played Derek Shepherd, the hospital heartthrob more commonly referred to by fans as "McDreamy." It was rumored that while out of character, Dempsey was a nightmare to work with. It was said that he initiated a lot of infighting, and was even accused of infidelity on set. Producers started to see him as a liability to the show, and killed him off in a fatal accident.

2. Michael Pitt - Boardwalk Empire

When Pitt's character Jimmy Darmody was executed with two gunshots to the head, fans thought that it happened because it was what needed to happen for the storyline. It wasn't until later that it came out that he was killed off because the rest of the cast hated working with him.

3. Charlie Sheen - Two and a Half Men

Sheen's character, Charlie Harper, was killed off because Sheen had become something of a personal dumpster fire. Sheen had started fighting with show creator Chuck Lorre. His rampant drug and alcohol abuse probably didn't help, but he never did end up "winning!"

4. Chevy Chase - Community

Chase played Pierce Hawthorne, a somewhat charming, yet out of touch bigot. Unfortunately, life started to imitate art, and Chase started to having some racist and bigoted comments of his own to say. Add that to fighting with the show's producers, and Chase's character vanished from the series before the end of a season.

These next four left for some truly spectacular reasons.

5. Nicolette Sheridan - Desperate Housewives

I didn't even watch this show, but even I knew that it was a drama filled roller-coaster ride. Some theorize that the acting was so on point because of the amount of drama that went on behind the scenes. Sheridan alleged that she had a physical altercation with Marc Cherry, which he roundly denied. She also didn't get along with the other people on set, and her character was promptly killed off.

6. Glen Quinn - Angel

It turns out that Joss Whedon had planned to kill off a main character, and Quinn happened to be the one who got the short end of that idea. It was alleged that he didn't get along with people on set, and had some choice things to say about his coworkers. He was killed off in season one, and strangely Quinn died shortly after of a drug-overdose.

7. Isaac Hayes - South Park

Hayes voiced the character of Chef, a fan favorite, for nearly 10 seasons. South Park was known to poke fun at anyone and anything, but it wasn't until the script was aimed at Scientology that Hayes objected. As a follower of the faith, Hayes asked to be let of his contract. South Park creators ended up killing Chef off in a truly creative sequence that had him put through a plethora of horrible situations.  

8. Shannen Doherty - Charmed

Charmed was a smash hit during the 90s, and Doherty played the role of the eldest sister Prue Halliwell. It turned out that getting booted from Beverly Hills 90210 for fighting with cast members didn't teach her anything. She started fighting with costar Alyssa Milano for the first few years and ended up getting fired for it again.

Share this if you were devastated when any of these characters were suddenly killed off.