History Main / BusCrash

* Zigzagged for [[Theatre/HMSPinafore Josephine]] from production to production of Creator/{{Gilbert And Sullivan}}'s ''Utopia Limited'', depending whether or not the stage director puts in a thorough PairTheSpares; Sir Captain Corcoran, KCB was raised under the name Ralph Rackstraw.

* One of the reasons that ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' received a lot of ire from the fans was that it did exactly this to several of the main cast members from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' -- none of whom we'd seen get ''on'' the bus.
** The problem being that this is actually {{Fanon}}. Canonically, ''something'' happened to Lucca, but we don't know if she actually ''died'', and we have no idea what happened to Crono and Marle when Guardia fell. People saw ghost-like children resembling the three -- but younger even than they were in ''Chrono Trigger'' -- toward the end of the game and jumped to conclusions.

** During John Arcudi's run, Dorothy Spinner was revealed to be in a coma since the events of Rachel Pollack's. When Robotman learned of her condition, he decided that it would be better for her if he pulled the plug, and thus she died.

* When ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' was revived after the events of ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', Dorothy Spinner was revealed to be in a coma. When Robotman learned of her condition, he decided that it would be better for her if he pulled the plug, and thus she died.

* ''ComicBook/XMenBlue'' revealed that ComicBook/MilesMorales and [[ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour The Maker]] weren't the only survivors of the destruction of the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe--[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen Jimmy Hudson]], Guardian, and Mach II, and the Ultimate versions of Quicksilver and Armor did, too. However, the Ultimate versions of Storm, Rogue, and Iceman did as well -- only for Miss Sinister to get them and kill them.

* After Creator/RubyRose departed from the show, ''Series/{{Batwoman}}'' was retooled with a new protagonist, while Kate Kane is stated to have gone missing in a plane accident sometime after the Season 1 finale, seemingly playing this trope straight. Then it's revealed that Kate survived but was given a MagicPlasticSurgery, neatly explaining why she is played by TheOtherDarrin.

* In an overlap with SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome, the character of Young Mr. Grace, who had already been PutOnABus in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', has died before the beginning of the first episode of the sequel series ''Are You Being Served Again'' (also known as ''Grace and Favour''), and the episode involves the cast taking charge of his country manor and attending the reading of his will.

* CD Parker in ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger''. His actor, Creator/NobleWillingham, left the show to run for a seat on the United States House of Representatives, but came out unsuccessful. CD's death occurred in "The Avenging Angel", supposedly from heart failure, but in the GrandFinale, "The Final Show/Down", the villain of the latter episode reveals he is responsible for murdering him, prompting a second autopsy that confirms that CD's cause of death was due to poison.

* WordOfGod is that Lady Sif, Betty Ross, the actor playing Loki in the play shown in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', and the guy playing ''Galaga'' in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' were among those Thanos killed when he wiped out half the universe in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. Jane Foster, last seen in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' and Thaddeus Ross were also confirmed to have died off screen from the snap before their deaths were undone by Hulk in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. Of those, all but Betty and the guy playing Galaga later [[TheBusComesBack returned in future MCU instalments.]]

* Vin Diesel's character ''Film/{{xXx}}'' is supposed to have died between the original film and the sequel ''Film/XXxStateOfTheUnion''. There's even a deleted scene where he is killed off. Vin Diesel likes to tell everyone that HesJustHiding. This is subverted when the third film came out in 2016, where Diesel's character is revealed to be alive, confirming Diesel's HesJustHiding theory.

* Madame Thénardier in ''Literature/LesMiserables''. She's put in jail after the Gorbeau robbery, never seen again, and mentioned much later she died. Bear in mind she was a big, healthy, middle-aged woman.

* In ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}'' Beth's mother Elizabeth dies off-screen between seasons one and two, apparently from some sort of stress-related illness.

** Jean Sylvester, Sue's sister and a recurring character, dies off-screen in season 2 (''Funeral'' dealt with exactly what you think it did). The actress who played her was diagnosed with Alzheimer and was no longer able to work.
** Finn Hudson's death. The character had been PutOnABus at the end of Season 4 due to his actor having gone to rehab, but Cory died in between seasons due to drug overdose. Season 5's third episode, ''The Quarterback'', is a heavily emotional tribute to him. Since Finn was the show's deuteragonist, he wasn't forgotten after this episode. On the contrary, he was remembered until the very last moment.
* In ''Series/GoodTimes'', patriarch James Evans was PutOnABus to Mississippi, "looking for work". In the season four premiere, Florida gets a letter that says James was killed in a car accident on his way back to Chicago. [[note]]The out-of-universe reason for this was that James' actor, John Amos got into a contract dispute with the producers leading to Amos leaving the show. [[ActorLeavesCharacterDies The producers killed James off in retaliation.]][[/note]]

* On ''Series/{{Hollyoaks}}'', Kurt Benson was PutOnABus to get his head together, but some time later it was revealed he'd been killed by, of all things, a jet-ski.
* ''Series/HomeAndAway''

** Likewise, Creator/JonPolito's character, Steve Crosetti, took a holiday for the first three episodes of season three then drowned himself.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder''

** Lennie Briscoe also got this treatment after Creator/JerryOrbach died. Briscoe was originally written out as retiring. Then he was seen working as an investigator for the DA's office on "Trial By Jury". After he died, all references to him in "Trial By Jury" were removed, and after that series was cancelled references to his death were peppered into scripts for ''Criminal Intent'' and the Mothership. Somewhat subverted in that these mentions only arose from his former colleagues during personal crises.
** In a minor example, Detective Curtis left the show in part because of his wife Deborah's worsening multiple sclerosis (Deborah had appeared in only a couple of episodes because at the time the series paid little attention to the personal lives of its characters). Curtis returned for one episode, for his wife's funeral.
** Executive ADA Ben Stone was written out after Season 4 because his actor, Michael Moriarty, began to behave erratically after NBC executives asked for more female characters on the show accusing the then Attorney General Janet Reno of trying to censor TV. At first he was simply said to be away, and then stopped being mentioned at all, but ''twenty-four years later'', ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' showed the character's funeral.

* The remake, ''Series/{{MacGyver|2016}}'' also used the trope, when actor George Eads left the show mid season 3 over an ongoing disagreement about the show's shooting location. His character Jack Dalton was called back to help hunt down a terrorist who he thought his team had killed years earlier. In Season 5, episode 5, (perhaps in response to frequent fan demands for the production team to bring him back,) he is stated to have been killed in the attempt, and the rest of the episode deals with the team attempting to complete the mission as a memorial.

** In the Season 3 finale, Lt. Col. Henry Blake (Creator/McLeanStevenson) leaves the 4077th because his tour of duty is up; he has enough points for an honorable discharge and can go home. At the episode's end, Radar O'Reilly comes in to inform the cast that Henry was killed when his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. To keep the rest of the episode sad about Col. Blake leaving, but [[WarIsHell happy about him going home]], the only cast member told about this before the episode started shooting was Alan Alda; everyone else ([=McLean=] Stevenson himself apparently wasn't even told) instead believed that Henry was merely going home. The final, sad scene was filmed last, and the actors were only told of Henry's fate just before then (the notion that they ''weren't told at all'' prior to filming the scene is an {{Urban Legend|s}}). It's said that the traditional wrap party was canceled because of the gloomy mood after the scene was shot. Apparently, while there was some resentment from the production crew over Stevenson's leaving the show, the official reason for the shocking twist was to hammer home the [[AnyoneCanDie capriciousness of war]]. Showrunner Larry Gelbart explicitly said in an interview soon after that he didn't want Blake going back to Bloomington because "a lot of guys didn't get back to Bloomington."
** Stevenson got a small measure of revenge that Saturday night, as on ''Music/{{Cher}}'' 's variety show (he had already been booked as a guest), the opening bumper had Stevenson dressed as Henry Blake on a raft waving his arms and shouting, "I'm OK! I'm OK!" Some fan fiction writers picked up on the raft sketch and worked out explanations for why Henry hadn't contacted the 4077th after being rescued.

* Due to Peter Capaldi becoming the next regeneration on ''Doctor Who'', writers for ''Series/TheMusketeers'' had to kill off Cardinal Richelieu between seasons one and two, having him die of some unspecified heart problem. The real Richelieu died of a long, debilitating illness.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000:'' In [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S07E06Laserblast "Laserblast"]], which [[SeriesFauxnale the showrunners thought would be the final episode]], Dr. Clayton Forrester's story arc turns into an {{homage}} to ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ending with him reverting to a baby. His mother Pearl declares she's going to raise him again, and do it right this time. Then the series got renewed, but Clayton's actor Trace Beaulieu decided not to return. So in the first episode of the new season, [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E01RevengeOfTheCreature "Revenge of the Creature"]], Pearl reveals that Clayton grew up to be just as bad as he was before, so she [[VorpalPillow smothered him in his sleep with a pillow]].

* Jenna in ''Series/BlakesSeven''. Launched out of the spaceship in an escape pod at the end of the second series and never reappeared, although reported to be still alive - then reported to have died in the series's final episode (though there is a possibility the report was part of a test).

** Very reasonable conclusions, given the way the game presents what little info it does about the previous game's protagonists. Worse for Western fans, as the interim game ''VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers'' never made it to U.S. shores, so a vast amount of stuff simply happened offscreen between the two main games, including the main trio's possible Bus Crash.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

!!'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

** In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'', Indy's illegitimate son Mutt Williams is revealed to have died in the Vietnam War between movies.

** In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'', [[spoiler:Indy's illegitimate son Mutt Williams is revealed to have died in the Vietnam War between movies]].

* WordOfGod is that Lady Sif, Betty Ross, the actor playing Loki in the play shown in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', and the guy playing ''Galaga'' in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' were among those Thanos killed when he wiped out half the universe in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. Jane Foster, last seen in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' and Thaddeus Ross were also confirmed to have died off screen from the snap before their deaths were undone by Hulk in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.

** In Season 18's "Coma Guy", Brenda Quagmire returns from Season 10's "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q" as one of the spirits on the boat in Peter's coma. This leads to some disturbing implications, given what happened in that episode.

** Poochie, [[TheScrappy the much-hated third character]] from ''The Itchy and Scratchy Show'', is to be removed through ExecutiveMeddling because the viewers hate him. After a passionate speech by Homer (Poochie's voice actor) to save the poor dog, he is nevertheless literally pulled out of the cartoon with the deadpan "I have to go, my planet needs me," followed by a scribbled note that "Poochie died on the way to his home planet" ''and then'' Krusty comes up stating that they have made a legally binding contract to make sure Poochie never, ever returns.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', readers learn that Balin, Óin, and Ori from ''Literature/TheHobbit'' were among those killed in a failed attempt to reclaim Moria.

* ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'' will have T'Challa having passed away between the events of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and this movie. This is because of Creator/ChadwickBoseman's untimely passing to cancer in 2020 and Ryan Coolger felt wrong recasting such an iconic role.

* Yukari in ''Manga/MurasakiiroNoQualia''. About 6 months after leaving Hatou's school for JAUNT, she's KilledOffscreen.

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Hector; the Quagmire triplets; Captain Widdershins; Fernald; Fiona, in some interpretations: the human race. ''[[AmbiguousSituation Maybe.]]''
* Mort and Ysabelle, after a turn as main characters in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', are given barely one scene in ''Literature/SoulMusic'', where they're not seen, and their carriage falls off a cliff. Intentional, as it proves to be a major part of [[TheGrimReaper Death's]] CharacterDevelopment: the realisation at just how fragile and short human lives are, and how randomly and easily they are taken.
* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' canon, [[TheWatson Watson]]'s first wife (Mary Morstan) is revealed to have died during the Great Hiatus, but no greater explanation is made, nor is it shown in a story itself.
* In the Creator/DianeDuane novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', the plot reveals that Stonn died in between the novel and the last encounter with Spock, due to a risk the former character took to recapture a mate's attention.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest'' introduced Chak Fel, one of Soontir Fel's sons and a pilot/officer who left at the end of the novel to head back to the Empire of the Hand, which was basically all of TheEmpire's strengths and almost none of its flaws. [[Literature/DarkNestTrilogy Later books]] not only somehow managed to confuse the Empire of the Hand with the Chiss Ascendancy (they are adjacent to each other, the Empire was formed by a prominent Chiss, and it really wants to open up friendly channels with its parent, but they're not the same), but later claimed that the Empire just sort of fell apart - and oh, by the way, Chak Fel died in a war that's over now.
** The franchise did this to a whole species at one point. ''Literature/TheCrystalStar'' introduces the Firrerreos, a race of [[HumanSubspecies near-humans]] that were all but destroyed by one of their own, a Dark Jedi serving Vader. The survivors disappear into hyperspace after Leia revives them from [[HumanPopsicle cryogenic hibernation]] and are mentioned by ''[[AllThereInTheManual The Essential Guide to Alien Species]]'' to have been granted asylum on the planet Belderone. Happy ending, right? Not so fast: the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' book ''Remnant'' mentions offhand that Belderone was invaded by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] and that the Firrerreos are now functionally extinct.
** Sten Thanas dies of an illness between ''Literature/TheTruceAtBakura'' and ''Literature/TheCorellianTrilogy''.
* In ''Literature/IslandOfTheBlueDolphins'', the protagonist's ''entire people'' seem to be PutOnABus when they emigrate from their island and accidentally leave her behind, but later it's revealed that the ship they were on sank during a storm and nobody survived. This was {{retcon}}ned for the eventual sequel.

* Madame Thénardier in ''Literature/LesMiserables''. She's put in jail after the Gorbeau robbery, never seen again, and mentioned much later she died. Bear in mind she was a big, healthy, middle-aged woman.
* Igor Karkaroff in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' goes into hiding at the end of the fourth book and is mentioned to have been killed a few chapters into the sixth book. Of course, [[BigBad Voldemort]]'s words at the end of the fourth book very heavily foreshadowed this, as he made it clear Karkaroff's days were numbered.
* As befitting the setting, many characters disappear in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' trilogy only to be noted as dead later. Large examples include Cinna, Darius, Madge, the red-headed Avox, and the District 8 runaways.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', readers learn that Balin, Óin, and Ori from ''Literature/TheHobbit'' were among those killed in a failed attempt to reclaim Moria.

* In ''Literature/PeterPanInScarlet'', the 2004 authorized sequel to ''Literature/PeterPan'', Michael Darling, the youngest of the three Darling siblings, is absent. It is revealed that he died in World War I.

* {{Implied|Trope}} to have happened to Drumon, a senior Techmarine from the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' series. He's mentioned in ''The Greater Good'' to have volunteered to stay behind on the space hulk ''Spawn of Damnation'' as it reentered the Warp, and given that HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace, it's unsurprising that he is nowhere to be seen when his Astartes chapter the Reclaimers reappears in that book.
* In the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse, one of the Eighth Doctor's main expanded universe continuities involved this trope. Former companion Sam Jones is revealed, in the very last of the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures, (which is to say, the 73rd, or, [[ContinuitySnarl continuity-wise]], the 75th), to have died in her twenties. Fitz is terribly upset, but the Doctor, having TraumaInducedAmnesia, doesn't remember and therefore shows no response whatsoever, [[TheStoic not even to his best friend's distress]]. Fitz gets absolutely furious (and he's usually rather slow to anger).
* Happens several times in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' after timeskips: for instance, Rainwhisker's death is mentioned at the start of The Sight, killed between books by a falling tree branch.
* In ''Literature/{{Aeon 14}}'', the Victoria colony that the ''Intrepid'' crew builds in ''Building Victoria'' ends up being glassed offscreen by vengeful Sirians during the FTL Wars, centuries after ''Intrepid'' leaves (but only days for the ''Intrepid'' due to a YearOutsideHourInside scenario). The same happened to much of the Sol system that they had originally launched from, including Tanis's birthplace on Mars (buried under a fallen docking ring).

* Poor Patricia in ''WebVideo/KateModern'' - vanished from the series in season 2, only to be killed off in the episode immediately before GrandFinale. Worse yet, her death is only mentioned in a barely-legible, blink-and-you-'ll-miss-it shot of a headline in a newspaper that Sophie is reading. None of the characters appear to notice it, and nobody draws attention to it.

* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' v4 has an example with the escape group gathered by STAR. According to a broadcast by the terrorists, they all died in the attempt. However, subverted! They turn out to be alive and well, currently in a hospital somewhere in Canada.
** This was also believed to be the case in v3 when a large number of characters, including v1 winner Adam Dodd, suddenly disappeared and were declared dead. After a while, it was revealed that they got their collars off and were plotting an escape.
* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' the last time we see Sister is at the start of season 6. Later in season 7 when Lopez shows up, he claims to have killed her before leaving Blood Gulch. Grif doesn't believe it, but Lopez gives no indication that he is lying.
** Turns out to be a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], as the second to last episode of Season 13 reveals that Sister is still alive and well in Blood Gulch. Apparently, Lopez only choked her until she passed out, which Sister recalls as being "[[TooKinkyToTorture kinda hot]]".
* In ''WebVideo/YandereHighSchool'', Sam and Taurtis read Hidden's journal, and in it, it indicates that Jts died in the war when he went back to Denmark.
* In ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', Tiberius's fate after his sendoff was left uncertain for a while after Vox Machina discover the fall of his home country. The end of episode 64 hits everyone with the reveal that the Dragonborn was killed fighting Vorugal.

* In older ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' episodes, there was a character named Mr. Pig who [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanished from the series after 2014]]. About three years later in "Jeffy Breaks his Helmet!", Mario off-handedly mentions that Mr. Pig is dead.

* ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'': A year after Vikkstar and Lazarbeam's last appearance on the server, their absence was finally explained: Dream had trapped them both in a ResurrectionDeathLoop to test out the revive-book, and then permanently killed them off afterwards to keep the book's existence a secret.

* ''Series/AFrenchVillage'': [[spoiler:Sarah]] gets deported along with other Jews to Poland. Later it turns out that she died in Auschwitz of typhus.

* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'': Neither [[PlayerCharacter Nomad]] nor [[LivingMacguffin Helena Rosenthal]] are mentioned after surviving the events of the first game. The latter is completely forgotten about, and the only reference towards Nomad in either sequel is the fact Prophet affixes the dog tags of the three fallen members of Raptor Team (only two members die on screen in the original) to his bow towards the end of ''Crysis 3'', even though Nomad’s tag is never seen directly. The comics reveal [[spoiler: both were killed by the CIA shortly after the events of the first game]].

* Poor Patricia in ''WebVideo/KateModern'' - vanished from the series in season 2, only to be killed off in the episode immediately before GrandFinale. Worse yet, her death is only mentioned in a barely-legible, blink-and-you'll miss it shot of a headline in a newspaper that Sophie is reading. None of the characters appear to notice it, and nobody draws attention to it.