Random Actors Who Asked To Have Their Characters Killed Off TV Shows (14 items)

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  (#9) Josh Charles

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  For the first five seasons, Josh Charles was one of the main players on legal drama The Good Wife. The actor played Will Gardner, the lead's boss and love interest, which made things that much more shocking for fans when Gardner was gunned down during the memorable Season 5 episode "Dramatics, Your Honor."

  Even more impressive is the fact that the showrunners managed to keep the unexpected development under wraps for a long time. Charles decided to leave at the end of Season 4 in order to pursue other projects. 

  I would rather not bore people with contract details, but the reality is that I had a very short-term deal, it was renewed a couple of times over, and at the end of the fourth year my contract was up, and I chose not to renew. It was just a creative decision for me wanting to go and explore new stuff—in my life, in my career. I was always going to try to give the show a few episodes this year to help them arc it out, but I’m glad that we ended up doing more. 
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  (#5) Raymond Cruz

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  On hit drama Breaking Bad, Raymond Cruz played Tuco Salamanca, a psychotic kingpin. He was introduced in Season 1 and stayed on until Season 2 when he was shot in the head by Hank in the episode "Grilled."

  According to the actor, he asked to be shot because he found the part extremely difficult - though he was ultimately pleased with his final scene.

  Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to coming back and doing the part. [Laughs]. It’s really difficult to pull off. They were like, 'We want you to come back and do eight more episodes.' And I said, 'No. I’ll do one more and that’s it. You guys have to kill me.' They’re like, 'We never heard of an actor that wanted to die.' And I’m like, 'You don’t understand. This part’s really hard.'" 
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  (#14) Josh Bowman

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  On the drama Revenge, Josh Bowman played Daniel Grayson, one of the main character’s love interests. Due to the soapy nature of the show, Daniel went through quite a lot over the course of the first three seasons, which led to Bowman actively wishing for his character to be offed. 

  “I’m trying to pitch a Daniel death by the end of the season. I love working on the show, but I’m just being honest. My character has flip-flopped the most, and it’s been so hard for me to play,” Bowman told TVGuide back in 2013. His wish was granted in the tenth episode of Season 4 when Daniel perishes while shielding the main character from a bullet.
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  (#4) Kal Penn

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  While sometimes actors want to branch out by starring in other shows or movies, other times they decide to embrace completely unrelated projects. That was the case for actor Kal Penn, who portrayed Lawrence Kutner on the medical drama House M.D. He first appeared in Season 4 and stayed on as one of House's fellows until Season 6, when his character shockingly took his life. 

  Turns out, Penn asked to leave because he wanted to work in the White House, joining the Obama administration. “I got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there, so I’m going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations,” Penn told EW after his final episode aired. 

  In 2013, President Obama appointed Penn to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He resigned the post in August 2017, in protest of some of President Trump’s comments on Charlottesville.
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  (#12) Daniel Gillies

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  Filming a TV show can be time-consuming - and when you’re doing two at the same time, things get exhausting quickly. At least that was the case for actor Daniel Gillies, who decided to leave supernatural drama Saving Hope at the end of Season 3.

  Gillies played Dr. Joel Goran, one of the central characters of the series. Some context: the actor lives in the US, Saving Hope filmed in Canada. Gillies was also on The Originals at the time and he admitted that he couldn’t take the crazy schedule anymore, so he asked the showrunners of Saving Hope to let him leave: 

  It was a decision that was very difficult to make. I spoke to my representation and I said, ‘Look. I think we should have this discussion because I have a wife that’s American and I have a daughter that’s an American. Soon I’m going to have another son, he’s going to be an American boy. For all intents and purposes we live in the United States. And this is my home.’ Los Angeles is my home and it was a hard… put it this way. Most actors who are No. 2 on the callsheet of any show with anywhere between 18 and 22 episodes a year are exhausted from the one show. I was doing 40-42 episodes of TV a year, bouncing between two shows. Between The Originals and Saving Hope I was just exhausted. 
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  (#10) Connie Britton

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  Connie Britton was one of the two leads of musical drama Nashville. She played Rayna Jaymes, a popular country singer whose career is starting to show signs of winding down. Britton received critical acclaim for the role but eventually decided that it was time to move on to different things. “It was something that had been percolating over time, and there were lots of different reasons behind it. But my priority was really making sure that the timing was right,” Britton said.   

  Her character, Rayna, flat-lines in the ICU due to injuries sustained during a car collision. It happens in Season 5’s ninth episode, "If Tomorrow Never Comes." Britton eventually returned for a cameo on Nashville’s series finale.   

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