Why these actors left their popular TV roles early

Over the years, many fan-favourite characters have been written out of some majorly popular TV shows.

Most recently, the news of a main actor exiting the popular teen drama series Outer Banks has been the talk of social media – don't worry, we won't give any spoilers as to who it is.

It's the latest show to say goodbye to a core character before the show has even officially come to an end.

From Grey's Anatomy to Bridgerton, there have been some big names to end their popular TV roles early on in the show – and all for different reasons.

So let's take a look back at some of the most memorable early TV exits, and why the actors chose to leave.

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In the first couple of seasons of Gilmore Girls, it seemed like Rory was being set up to later have a romantic arc with bad boy, Tristan, played by 2000s heartthrob Chad Michael Murray.

Tristan went to high school with Rory and showed interest in her, despite the younger Gilmore dating Dean at the time.

Murray abruptly exited the show in season two, episode nine when his character was shipped off to boarding school.

But in a 2021 podcast appearance, the actor revealed he had been offered to stay on the show but turned down for one main reason. 

Murray set the record straight about his exit from the popular teen series in 2001 on his Gilmore Girls co-star Scott Patterson's podcast, I Am All In

"For me, it was about just … trying on different clothes, different costumes, different walks, different feels," he said.

"Sitting in the same character for too long can get stagnant. I was so young. I needed to find out who Chad [was.] Who was Chad as an actor?"

Murray said he "genuinely wouldn't be the man I was today without making that decision."

"When the opportunity came to stay on Gilmore, I just wanted to know more about me."

Murray went on to star on Dawson's Creek before landing the lead role as Lucas Scott on One Tree Hill in 2003.

Grey's Anatomy is no stranger to main cast members leaving the series – whether they be written out or killed off in a way that still has audiences crying years later (yes, I'm talking about Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan).

But one of the biggest stars to depart the show was Sandra Oh, who played Meredith's bestie Cristina Yang.

The actress had been there from the pilot episode, becoming a fan-favourite across her 10-season arc.

But in the season 10 finale, fans said goodbye to Cristina for good when Oh made the decision to leave the show, which would go on for 11 more seasons and counting.

Here's why Oh decided to leave Grey's Anatomy without ever returning for so much as a cameo so far.

After Oh left the long-running medical drama in 2013, she told The Hollywood Reporter she had been ready to let the character go after playing her all those years.

"Creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let her go," she told the outlet.

"It's such an interesting thing to play a character for so long and to actually get the sense that she wants to be let go as well. [Cristina] wants to be let go, and I am ready to let her go."

Over the years Oh has been asked about a potential return to Grey's Anatomy, which is still airing.

While other stars like Chyler Leigh and Patrick Dempsey have made small cameos in recent years, it doesn't seem likely we'll be seeing Oh return in the near future.

"I will say, not anytime soon," she told Entertainment Tonight when asked about fans wishing for her to make a cameo.

"I hope people feel like I did my job, which is that I brought to life a character and she had a growth over 10 seasons, and that it was true."

When Bridgerton first came onto our screens in 2020, it was an instant hit.

The show gave audiences everything they could want in a period drama from incredible ballroom dance scenes to a romance that had us all captivated.

Season one starred newcomers Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor in the leading roles, and catapulted the show to success.

The world fell in love with Page as Simon Bassett, the Duke of Hastings.

But when the show was confirmed to be returning for a second season, Page was nowhere to be seen, announcing he would not be coming back.

So why did he leave after his breakthrough performance?

Page said farewell to his time on Bridgerton in an Instagram post, writing:

"The ride of a life time. It's been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to be your Duke. Joining this family - not just on screen, but off screen too."

Speaking to Variety, Page revealed he had signed onto the show largely because of the one season commitment.

"It's a one-season arc. It's going to have a beginning, middle, end – give us a year," he recalled being approached for the role by the producers.

"[I thought] 'That's interesting,' because then it felt like a limited series. I get to come in, I get to contribute my bit and then the Bridgerton family rolls on."

Page added that he had "nothing but excitement for Bridgerton continuing to steam train off and conquer the globe".

"But there is also value in completing these arcs and sticking the landing."

From the pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries, Nina Dobrev was always the star.

The actress played the main character Elena Gilbert for six seasons, as well as her doppelgangers in the show – most notably the antagonistic character Katherine Pierce.

Elena was at the centre of the show's love triangle between vampire brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore.

But after leading the show for years, the actress shocked fans with her exit in the season six finale in 2015.

Her character was not written off entirely, but put into a magical coma.

The show continued on without her for two more seasons.

There was much speculation as to why Dobrev left the show early, with some fans thinking it had to do with her breakup with co-star Ian Somerhalder, who she called it quits with in 2013.

But when announcing her exit, Dobrev said it had "always" been her plan to leave the show after six seasons.

"I always knew I wanted Elena's story to be a six-season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime," she wrote on Instagram.

Later in a 2017 interview with Harper's Bazaar, the star doubled down that it had been her plan to leave the show after her six-year contract ended.

"That was the plan from the get-go," she told the outlet.

"If anything, the fact that [leaving] terrified me drove me even more. I needed to feel that fear of 'Oh, my God, what if I never get a job again?' That just made me want to work five times as hard to make sure that didn't happen."

Dobrev did return to the show as Elena for the series finale in 2017, giving fans the closure they wanted.

Steve Carell was the heart of The Office.

The actor played the lovable, often hopeless, bumbling boss Michael Scott on the US sitcom for seven seasons.

Carell was on the show from its pilot episode in 2005. But in 2011, he made the decision to not renew his contract and exit the popular series. 

The show would go on for two more seasons without him, though he did return for a cameo in the series finale. 

Read on to find out the reason he decided to say goodbye to playing Michael Scott.

In 2023, Carell opened up about leaving the sitcom while appearing on The Office Ladies podcast, hosted by his co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.

The actor said his exit had given other stars the opportunity to shine. 

"It was time for other characters to step to the forefront and other storylines to be pursued," he shared.

"The timing was right for everybody. But simultaneously, there was just a sense of joy that we had experienced all of this," he continued.

Carell added that not only had he been saying goodbye to the character, but to his castmates as well.

He said it was a "a very emotional thing". 

Mischa Barton rose to fame as Marissa Cooper on the teen drama series The O.C.

The show launched the names of Cooper alongside her co-stars Adam Brody, Ben McKenzie and Rachel Bilson.

Barton was just 17 when she started on the show in 2003.

But in the season three finale, her character was written out of the show for good.

The season three finale episode delivered a heartbreaking blow when the troubled teen was in a fatal car crash.

Cooper died in the arms of her first love, Ryan (played by McKenzie) as the song Hallelujah played out in the background.

It's one of the most devastating scenes in a teen drama series to date.

So why did the show write out one of its main characters when it went on to air for a whole extra season after?

Barton opened up about the reason she decided to leave the show in its third season during an interview with E! News in 2021.

Barton said conversations around her leaving the show had started early on.

"So halfway through season two I would say, when we started doubling up on episodes and shooting [became] so much harder, and again a lot of that was too much for me."

"I didn't know where the character was going. I look back on it pretty fondly, but there's stuff I think people did wrong and the way they handled it. So, I just didn't feel I could keep going."

Barton shared she was given the option from producers to either have her character written out so she could return or permanently killed off. 

The star had been starting to get offers for other big roles which she wanted to pursue.

"It just felt like it was the best thing for me and my health and just in terms of not really feeling protected by my cast and crew at that point."

It's the season three curse!

Years after fans said goodbye to Marissa Cooper on The O.C., Teen Wolf delivered a shocking blow by killing off one of the original characters, Allison Argent.

Allison, played by actress Crystal Reed, had been on the show since the pilot episode as a main character and love interest for protagonist Scott McCall (played by Tyler Posey).

But the character sadly died in the penultimate episode of season three – marking Reed's exit from the show. . 

Much like Marissa, Allison also heartbreakingly died in the arms of her first love, Scott.

As it turns out, it was Reed's decision to leave the show – something she had brought up with the show's creator Jeff Davis.

Reed ultimately left the show to pursue other projects and characters.

The actress told Entertainment Weekly in 2014, "creatively, there were things I wanted to do differently, and I wanted to explore other avenues of film and TV."

The star shared some of it had to do with being a then 29-year-old playing a teenager.

Reed still maintained she was grateful for her time on the series. 

"It's given me such a platform to be a role model, to be seen, to be heard, and, actually, from the beginning, I've grown into a woman from the show – from beginning to end – and I think that was the biggest motivating factor for me to leave."

"I feel that there's nothing more that I can give to this character."

The actress ended up returning a couple of years later to the show in season five for an episode titled The Maid of Gévaudan, playing a lookalike descent of Allison's, Marie-Jeanne Valet.

She reprised her role as Allison Argent years later in 2023 for the Teen Wolf: The Movie. 

Criminal Minds first aired in 2005, launching names like Matthew Gray Gubler and Shemar Moore, as well as starring big names like Paget Brewster.

Mandy Patinkin was one of the main stars of the show from the pilot episode, playing the brilliant Special Agent Jason Gideon of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit.

While he was an integral part of the team, Gideon shockingly left the show after just a couple of episodes in its third season.

The show later brought in actor Joe Mantegna to round up the cast.

But Patinkin's reason for leaving the show might shock some fans of the series.

Patinkin told New York Magazine in 2012 he was ultimately uncomfortable with the violent content in the show – especially portrayed against women.

"The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do Criminal Minds in the first place," he said.

The actor revealed when he signed on he "thought it was something very different."

"It was very destructive to my soul and my personality. After that, I didn't think I would get to work in television again."

Patinkin added that he was "concerned about the effect" of the show portraying violence.

Charmed ran for eight seasons from 1998 through to 2006.

But in the third season, the show said goodbye to one of its main characters.

Shannen Doherty's character Prue Halliwell was killed off in the dramatic season three finale episode titled All Hell Breaks Loose.

While the episode ended on a cliffhanger, it was confirmed by the fourth season Doherty was not returning to the show. 

Speaking about her exit in 2001, Doherty told Entertainment Tonight, "There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work."

"I'm 30 years old and I don't have time for drama in my life anymore."

But years later it slowly came out that Doherty claimed she never quit but was actually fired from the series.

On an episode of her Let's Be Clear podcast with co-star Holly Marie Combs, Combs alleged Alyssa Milano had given producer Jonathan Levin an ultimatum.

"He said, you know, 'We're basically in a position where it's one or the other. We were told [by Alyssa] that it's [Shannen] or me, and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment','" she recalled being told by Levin.

Milano denied the allegations. 

Doherty died in July 2024 after a battle with cancer.