8 Actors Who Left Shows Because They Didn’t Like Their Storyline

Find out why these stars left their shows…

Katherine Heigl starred on Grey’s Anatomy for several seasons but early on, she vocalized her frustrations with her character. In 2008, she withdrew her name from Emmy consideration, telling The Washington Post that she “did not feel that [she] was given the material this season to warrant” an award. It drew a wedge between the actress and series creator Shonda Rhimes and eventually, her character found herself on a downward spiral. Things only got worse after Katherine called out Shonda about on set working conditions.

In the end, Katherine asked to be released from her contract 18 months early, which she attributed to wanting to spend more time with family. Her request was approved and she was officially written off the show.

Angus T. Jones was cast on Two and a Half Men when he was just a kid and over the years, he grew to resent his character and the show. After becoming more religiously involved, Angus expressed that he thought the show was “filth” and no longer wanted to be a part of it. He left the show the following season.

“Jake from Two and a Half Men means nothing. He is a non-existent character. If you watch Two and a Half Men, please stop watching Two and a Half Men. I’m on Two and a Half Men and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it and filling your head with filth,” he said in a video for the Christian group Forerunner Chronicles.

He continued, “People say it’s just entertainment. Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to television, especially with what you watch.”

Mischa Barton appeared on three seasons of The O.C. but was shockingly killed off the show. While there are many factors that went into her decision to leave, including bullying and tough working conditions, Mischa said some of it had to do with the trajectory of her character. Coming from a theater and indie background, she says she wasn’t good at playing a “ditzy” character and when she lost sight of where her character was headed, she decided to leave.

“It wasn’t an easy character for me to play because it wasn’t me, which is why I think people liked it or thought Marissa was funny and latched on to her. They felt like this is entertaining because she’s all over the place and who is this girl? It’s like because this New York girl was trying to play this ditzy L.A. rich kid, you know?” she told E! News.

She added, “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.”

Mandy Patinkin starred on Criminal Minds until his sudden departure during season 3, which he attributed to the show’s dark and disturbing subject matter. After leaving the show, Mandy explained that felt being a part of the series was one of the biggest mistakes he’d ever made.

“The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do Criminal Minds in the first place. I thought it was something very different. I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality,” he told New York Magazine.

He continued, “I’m not making a judgment on the taste [of people who watch crime shows]. But I’m concerned about the effect it has. Audiences all over the world use this programming as their bedtime story. This isn’t what you need to be dreaming about.”

Chevy Chase reportedly went head-to-head with the cast and crew of Community before leaving the show. According to Deadline, Chevy walked off set on multiple occasions, including during the taping for the final episode of season 3 because he was upset about the script. Then, during the wrap party, the show’s creator Dan Harmon allegedly called out Chevy in an inappropriate and scathing speech. Chevy and his family left the party and he later called Dan, leaving him a heated voicemail.

Chevy didn’t end up returning the following season and despite the on-set controversy, he later said he decided to leave the show because the script wasn’t “funny enough for me, ultimately.”

“I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me,” Chevy said on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. “I felt happier being alone. I just didn’t want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people. It was too much.”

Richard Schiff left The West Wing in the middle of the final season, a decision he made because he hated the direction of his character’s storyline. He explained that leading up to the finale, he and some co-star’s roles were cut back for financial reasons -- but because of their lack of screentime, their characters were unable to be fully developed. In the end, it led to an inaccurate portrayal of his character.

“I was sad for the show. I hated my storyline. Toby would never in 10 million years have betrayed the president in that fashion. Even if he had, there would have been seven episodes worth of fights before he did it. In the end, the only way I could make sense of my story was to come up with my own story -- that Toby was covering for someone else. That, at least, made sense to me,” he told The Independent.

Raymond Cruz was one of the most notorious villains on Breaking Bad but he ultimately decided he no longer wanted to be a part of the show because he didn’t like the intense nature of the role and his character. In the end, he asked executives to kill off his character because he wasn’t looking forward to playing the role.

“There’s nothing fun about it. It’s a great character, but to try to pull it off is really difficult. It’s really high-energy. It’s relentless. It’s very physical and it wears you out. You get very drained,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

He continued, “In the first few episodes I did I would hurt my voice. I’d get injured every time I did it. I almost broke my nose. I pulled muscles. You walk away and you’re damaged goods. And you go, ‘Oh man, I can’t imagine doing this week after week.’ Then I’d go back -- I’d fly to Albuquerque at night and shoot on Saturday and Sunday. Then I’d go back and shoot The Closer and then come back to shoot Breaking Bad. It was relentless. Then when you’re not shooting you’re studying for the next day.”

Julian Glover spent a few seasons in a minor role on Game of Thrones but after several years on the show, he decided he didn’t like the direction of his character Maester Pycelle. Looking back, he says he told executives he didn’t want to be a part of season 6 and they killed him off shortly after.

“I didn’t want to do [season 6] because I realized I was being completely dismissed as a character and everyone...Cersei ticked me off all the time, and I never had any comeback. So that wasn’t any fun to play, so I went to them and said…’Look, I don’t want to do this anymore, it’s not interesting to go on doing this and go on doing this, and what’s going to happen to him?’” Julian told IGN.