History Main / AbortedArc

* The localization of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]'' added a fair amount of ShipTease for Ike/Elincia, which came back to bite them when Radiant Dawn axed the possibility of it happening.

** An earlier isse of ''JSA'' had Sand having a dream with prophetic messages from dead JSA members. Most of these panned out, referring to the "Stealing Thunder" storyline, the two-part Roulette story and the ''OurWorldsAtWar'' and ''Joker's Last Laugh'' crossover issues. But the original Mr Terrific's warning that Michael Holt would need help when he learnt the truth behind his lost love didn't lead to anything. There was some fan speculation that his late wife would turn out to be the new Crimson Avenger, but she was revealed to be someone else entirely, and then Michael had a vision of Paula in the afterlife and got closure, closing that plot thread completely.

** An earlier isse of ''JSA'' had Sand having a dream with prophetic messages from dead JSA members. Most of these panned out, referring to the "Lightning Saga", the two-part Roulette storyline and the ''OurWorldsAtWar'' and ''Joker's Last Laugh'' crossover issues. But the original Mr Terrific's warning that Michael Holt would need help when he learnt the truth behind his lost love didn't lead to anything. There was some fan speculation that his late wife would turn out to be the new Crimson Avenger, but she was revealed to be someone else entirely, and then Michael had a vision of Paula in the afterlife and got closure, closing that plot thread completely.

* ''SoWeird'', the Creator/DisneyChannel's version of ''Series/TheXFiles'', took this a step further -- it abandoned the entire MythArc which had been mapped out for three seasons when the lead actress left the show after season 2. After this, she was replaced by an unrelated character and ExecutiveMeddling ensured everything that had built up was quietly dropped with little explanation in the span of a single episode. Floating around on the Internet is a WordofGod summary of how season 3 was supposed to go, and it was the culmination of the MythArc of the first two seasons.

* In ''{{The 4400}}'', there was a lot of buildup about Diana's relationship with her father: in the first episode, she calls him when she thinks Earth is about to be destroyed, but he doesn't pick up. Later, she tells Tom that she wishes her father was as good to her as he was to Kyle, and at one point she comments "when you lose your trust in a person, especially a parent, you can never get it back." This arc is promptly dropped. In fact, in one episode where the characters all see people from their pasts, she sees an ex-fiance she's never mentioned before, while ''Tom'' sees his father, who had also never been talked about.

* Due to being {{Retool}}ed halfway through its second season due to mediocre ratings, ''TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' had a few of these. Notably, the heavily foreshadowed showdown with Surtur and the Enchantress never took place, and Maria Hill's repeated rants about a [[Comicbook/CivilWar Superhuman Registration Act]] never panned out.

* ''DigimonAdventure02'' had the infamous "[[BizarroEpisode His Master's Voice]]" (aka "Call of Dragomon") episode. A tribute to the works of HPLovecraft, the episode ended with Dragomon (a horrifying {{Cthulhu}} [[CaptainErsatz tribute]]) rising up from the sea in [[SinisterSilhouettes silhouette]], with the FindOutNextTime narration promising a future appearance from the beast. Dragomon never appeared again, which makes you wonder what was even the point of the ending.

* ''DigimonAdventure02'' had the infamous "[[BizarroEpsisode His Master's Voice]]" (aka "Call of Dragomon") episode. A tribute to the works of HPLovecraft, the episode ended with Dragomon (a horrifying {{Cthulhu}} [[CaptainErsatz tribute]]) rising up from the sea in [[SinisterSilhouettes silhouette]], with the FindOutNextTime narration promising a future appearance from the beast. Dragomon never appeared again, which makes you wonder what was even the point of the ending.

* ''DigimonAdventure02'' had the infamous "[[BizarroEspisode His Master's Voice]]" (aka "Call of Dragomon") episode. A tribute to the works of HPLoveCraft, the episode ended with Dragomon (a horrifying {{Cthulhu}} [[CaptainErsatz tribute]]) rising up from the sea in [[SinisterSilhouettes silhouette]], with the FindOutNextTime narration hinting at a future appearance from the beast. Dragomon never appeared again in any episode of series, which makes you wonder what was even the point of the ending.

* A Season 4 episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' ended with the people of the USA becoming aware of the turtles' existence after the president (no, not ''him''; different guy in this) came face to face with them and mistook them for aliens. Three seasons later and so far this hasn't been addressed or mentioned. More glaringly, an ongoing plot in the series' sixth season, featuring CorruptCorporateExecutive Darius Dun, was aborted when the series was re-retooled and the turtles were sent back into the present.

** Series 6 of the revival introduced the Silence, a religious order led by mysterious aliens known as Silents. The Silence exists for the sole purpose of killing the Doctor in order to prevent him from reaching "the fields of Trenzalore" where no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer. The First Question, [[spoiler: "Doctor Who?"]], a question that only the Doctor knows the answer to, would be asked and the supposed result would be catastrophic. [[spoiler: In the Series 7 finale, ''The Name of the Doctor'', the question is asked by The Great Intelligence and answered by River Song... sort of, the audience never actually hear the answer. But throughout Series 7 the Silence is never even mentioned and has no bearing on the events that transpire on Trenzalore.]] They just seem to have disappeared with no explanation after the Series 6 finale which, given their role as essentially the Eleventh Doctor's BigBad it is especially egregious.

** Series 6 of the revival introduced the Silence, a religious order led by mysterious aliens known as Silents. The Silence exists for the sole purpose of killing the Doctor in order to prevent him from reaching "the fields of Trenzalore" where no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer. The First Question, [[spoiler: "Doctor Who?"]], a question that only the Doctor knows the answer to, would be asked and the supposed result would be catastrophic. [[spoiler: In the Series 7 finale, ''The Name of the Doctor'', the question is asked and answered... sort of, we never actually hear the answer. But throughout Series 7 the Silence is never even mentioned and has no bearing on the events that transpire on Trenzalore.]] They just seem to have disappeared with no explanation after the Series 6 finale which, given their role as essentially the Eleventh Doctor's BigBad it is especially egregious.

** Series 6 of the revival introduced the Silence, a religious order led by a mysterious aliens known as Silents. The Silence exists for the sole purpose of killing the Doctor in order to prevent him from reaching "the fields of Trenzalore" where no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer. The First Question, [[spoiler: "Doctor Who?"]], a question that only the Doctor knows the answer to, would be asked and the supposed result would be catastrophic. [[spoiler: In the Series 7 finale, ''The Name of the Doctor'', the question is asked and answered... sort of, we never actually hear the answer. But throughout Series 7 the Silence is never even mentioned and has no bearing on the events that transpire on Trenzalore.]] They just seem to have disappeared with no explanation after the Series 6 finale which, given their role as essentially the Eleventh Doctor's BigBad it is especially egregious.

* ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'''s [[StillbornFranchise poor box-office returns]] created a big one involving [[MadScientist Dr. Samuel Sterns]] and his StartOfDarkness. Though the studio was able to continue Bruce Banner's character arc with his appearance in ''Film/TheAvengers'', ''The Incredible Hulk'''s lack of sequels meant that we never got to see the fallout from [[spoiler: Sterns using Banner's gamma-irradiated blood to turn himself into the Leader]].

* ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'''s [[StillbornFranchise poor box-office returns]] created a big one involving [[MadScientist Dr. Samuel Sterns]]. Though the studio was able to continue Bruce Banner's character arc with his appearance in ''Film/TheAvengers'', we never got to see the fallout from [[spoiler: Sterns using Banner's gamma-irradiated blood to turn himself into the Leader]].

* In the [[SyfyChannelOriginalMovie Syfy original movie]] ''Camel Spiders,'' one of the two major stories involves a group of four college kids, two boys and two girls, trying to survive the spiders, sharing screentime with another group of survivors. A little more than halfway through the movie, though, after the two boys die, the movie completely forgets about the two girls who were still alive.[[/folder]]

* Birdboy's debut episode in ''Birdman'' ended with Birdman promising to help him [[DisappearedDad find his father]], and the search was occasionally brought up in Birdboy's later appearances. However, nothing ever came of it.

* Ike and Elincia had a far amount of ShipTease in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]'', which disappeared without a trace in the sequel, Radiant Dawn.

* Early on in ''FanFic/YouGotHaruhiRolled'', there was a RunningGag wherein [[NyoronChuruyaSan Churuya or Ashakura]] would appear from out of nowhere, and claim that Tsuruya or Ryouko, respectively, were their mothers. This gag has not been used for about 50 chapters.

** Proof that [[TropesAreNotBad even this trope is not always bad]]: Deb realizing she has romantic feelings for Dexter in season six was promptly dropped in the next season after intensely negative fan reaction.

** In one episode of the third season, [[spoiler:Iroh reveals that Zuko is descended from Avatar Roku]] and gives him the crown Sozin wore when he was a prince. What comes out of it? ''Nothing''. The incident is never spoken of again and the crown is never seen again.
*** The incident is never spoken of again, but when [[spoiler:Zuko ascends the throne in the finale]], you can see him wearing it.
*** It is mentioned again, in the Promise comics.

* Over the years, ''Franchise/{{Degrassi}}'' has had a string of abandoned [[PlotHole plot holes]] that have never been resolved or acknowledged at whatsoever, but the most infamous arc up to date is Clare's internship job at the Toronto Interpreter in Season 12. Several episodes in the first half followed her trying to please her boss, Asher Shostak, by editing a good story for the Toronto newspaper and one episode has her being sexually assaulted by Asher in his car. That became one of the most jaw-dropping moments of Degrassi history. In the first half finale, Clare is confronted by Asher's former intern, who admits that she was also sexually assaulted by him and convinces her that they should both go to the police together about Asher. The whole storyline was completely dropped from the twelfth season and we never really find out if she did go to the police about it or not.

* ''Series/Parenthood'' In season 4, Adam & Kristina lie to their daughter Haddie about a major medical issue. They claim Kristina is 100% healthy when she isn't. They do this, presumably, to convince her it's 100% fine for her to fly back across the country to the college she's attending instead of take a semester off to help out at home. This is clearly something that should bite them in the butt, especially if something goes drastically wrong. But when something does, and Kristina is in the hospital around Christmas and ''might die'' from a severely compromised immune system, Haddie shows up and hugs her mom. The lie and potential for Haddie to be either very angry and betrayed, or forgiving and understanding is 100% ignored/forgotten.

** It was planned for the Shanti Virus to be released in the middle of Season 2. When the WGA strike cut the season short, the show runners decided that they didn't want to leave the virus arc unresolved. The ending of episode 11 was reshot to have Peter destroy the virus, and the cliffhanger ending was changed from [[spoiler:Nathan collapsing from the virus during a speech thanking the people of Odessa for having the courage to quarantine themselves]] to [[spoiler:Nathan getting shot during a speech intended to reveal the existence of super powers just before he was going to say that he can fly]].
** When season 3 degenerated into a RandomEventsPlot this happened so much. Sylar is a killer because his Intuitive Aptitude gives him a hunger. [[spoiler:So, when Peter goes to the future and obtains the Intuitive Aptitude, he's pretty fucked because he now has the hunger to open up people's skulls, despite the fact he absorbs powers by proximity. Next episode, just Peter is starting to unleash his inner BigBad, Arthur takes away all his powers, including Intuitive Aptitude.]] Speaking of the hunger, Sylar was trying to override it [[spoiler:until Noah tells him Angela and Arthur were lying to him, and then he just drops all pretense of being good and instantly becomes evil again.]] There's also the ''entire'' arc about the twelve villains that were supposed to be the worst villains ever, but all the characters stopped caring after Arthur came back to life. Then the Eclipse mini-arc, which was dropped almost as quickly as it was picked up. Adam was dug up, because Angela said he was the key to everything; [[spoiler:turns out that was a lie as well, since nobody even bothered looking for him after Arthur killed him.]] Knox said that all he thought about during his time in level five was revenge on Noah, the man that put him there -- also dropped after his first appearance.