History Main / CharacterOutlivesActor

* Creator/KeijiFujiwara died the same week ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' released, who was the voice of Reno. Fujiwara's archived voice clips were reused for Reno's appearance in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth'', which also [[ActorExistenceLimbo ended up limiting Reno's appearances]]. Nomura stated that this decision was out of respect for Fujiwara and the character would be recast for the third game.

* Creator/KeijiFujiwara died the same week ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' released, meaning that Reno will need to be recast for the Japanese voice track of its sequels.

* Igor in ''Franchise/{{Persona}}''. His Japanese voice actor Isamu Tanonaka died before ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' was completed. In the game and anime adaptation, [[FakeShemp all his lines were unvoiced or used files from older games]], even in the English version, though Creator/DanWoren is still alive.
* ''VideoGame/Postal2'' has [[Series/DiffrentStrokes Gary Coleman]] appear AsHimself in the base game. ''Paradise Lost'' DLC, released 12 years later, has Gary appear once again, but since the actor passed away in 2010, the in-game character only reuses the previously recorded lines and has his bodyguard be the actual spokesperson.

** Rather than phase out Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy after the death of Creator/ErnestBorgnine and Creator/TimConway in 2012 and 2019, respectively, the writers decided to make them TheVoiceless instead.

** This initially happened to Lunchlady Doris as well after Doris Grau's death. Eventually, she started getting voiced appearances again with the help of TheOtherDarrin, Creator/TressMacNeille.

* The ''Literature/{{Anpanman}}'' franchise and spin-off material featured a recurring character known as [[AuthorAvatar "Yanase Rabbit" who was a rabbit version]] of Creator/TakashiYanase (creator of the Anpanman franchise). [[DescendedCreator He even provided the voice]] of Yanase Rabbit in the 2011 and 2012 movies. After his passing in 2014, Ken Shiroyama became the current voice of Yanase Rabbit in future Anpanman animated media.

** In ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'', Michael Bates, who played bearer Rangi Ram, died of cancer in 1978 between Series 5 and 6. The character was written out of the remaining three series.

** After his actor died, Mike was written out as having been jailed abroad for embezzlement in "If They Could See Us Now". This was done at the request of Kenneth [=MacDonald=], who did not want his character to die with him.

** In October 2013, Creator/MarciaWallace, who played Edna Krabappel, sadly died. [[WordOfGod Matt Groening]] has said that Edna Krabappel will be retired from the show out of respect for her actress, much like Hutz and [=McClure=]. However, thanks to the fact that much of Wallace's voice work for future episodes had already been recorded, this did not occur until the 26th season. The episode "Four Regrettings and a Funeral", shown on November 3rd, 2013, was dedicated to Wallace. A later episode [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim stated that Krabappel had died]].

** ''Series/DadsArmy'' gave Walker a WrittenInAbsence when actor James Beck was suddenly taken into hospital with pancreatic cancer; Walker leaves a note to explain that he is going up to London to conduct a "[[HonestJohnsDealership business]]" deal. Beck then died and so Walker never returned, but he was not mentioned again and presumably was still alive off-screen; by the time of later radio sequel ''It Sticks Out Half a Mile'' he had returned to Walmington-on-Sea.

* After the death of Creator/PaulWalker, ''Film/FuriousSeven'' director Creator/JamesWan and writer Chris Morgan revised the script so that footage Walker shot before his death, along with [[FakeShemp the combined efforts of Paul's brother Cody, various stunt actors, and the power of CGI]], would be used to retire his character, Brian O'Conner, without killing him off.

** After Kathy Staff's death, her character, Nora Batty, packed up and moved off to Australia, and was never mentioned again, despite having been one of the show's iconic characters.

** Initially, with Mr. Hooper, for episodes that aired in the winter and spring of 1983; this included episodes that had been completed prior to Will Lee's final illness, and also episodes that either had reruns of previous Street scenes featuring Hooper from the early 1980s [[note]](from the mid-1970s onward, ''Sesame Street'' would repacakge old Street scenes from about the previous 2-3 years with new content)[[/note]] or had Street scenes that did not feature the character, with some scripts revised and other adults given his lines. After considering a number of options - one of which was to explain that the beloved Hooper had left ''Sesame Street'', such as retiring – [[BusCrash Hooper's death]] was finally addressed in the groundbreaking episode that aired Thanksgiving Day, 1983 ... almost a year after Lee passed away.

** In "The Star Beast", filmed and broadcast the year after Creator/BernardCribbins's death, Donna says Wilf is NoLongerWithUs, meaning that he's in a UNIT retirement home.

** The Creator/BigFinish audio dramas have allowed companions and the aforementioned Doctors to continue appearing in stories despite their original actors being deceased (often done in the Companion Chronicles). Either they're played by other actors or they're described as being present. Although most (but not all) are {{Midquels}} set during their time in the series.

** The Creator/BigFinish audio dramas have allowed companions and the aforementioned Doctors to continue appearing in stories despite their original actors being deceased (often done in the Companion Chronicles). Either they're played by other actors or they're described as being present.

* ''Anime/{{Aria}}'': Athena's voice actress Creator/TomokoKawakami passed away in 2011. In the three OVA [[DistantFinale Aria the Avvenire]], made four years later to celebrate the [[MilestoneCelebration 10th anniversary of the series]], when the characters have a get-together, they mention that Athena is the only one who couldn't come because she is giving a concert at the Opera house this day. This easily justifies itself since Prima Undyne are really busy and it had been shown before that they rarely manage to all have a day off at the same time. [[spoiler:Athena still appears at the end of the episode, to sing a song to her friends from the Opera Window. The actress passed away, but her beautiful songs remain]].

* Many television series prior to the late 1960s did this, including ''Make Room For Daddy'' (Nana Bryant, who played Margaret Williams' elderly mother); Ward Bond, the original wagon master on ''Series/WagonTrain''; Smiley Burnette, who played the Bradleys' friend Charlie Pratt on ''Series/PetticoatJunction'' and others. The character would simply stop appearing and normally, no future mention would be made of them; if there was, it would be brief, indirect references, usually as though they were still alive. Often, unsophisticated viewers probably never noticed that the character was missing, given the transition was often seamless or that the viewer was more concerned about story development or other characters. It was merely ''presumed'', then, that the character the now-deceased actor portrayed was still alive, since no mention – explicit or otherwise – was made that there was a death.
** In actuality, a short conversation between Kate and Floyd Smoot at the start of the fifth season of ''Petticoat Junction'', reveals that Charlie had passed away and Floyd was left to run the Cannonball by himself.

* The 2003 ''Series/{{Porridge}}'' ReunionShow has Ingrid getting a phone call from Lenny Godber explaining he can't make it home; actor Richard Beckinsale had died in 1979.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': Miyagi's actor Creator/PatMorita passes away in 2005 at the age of 73, but the writers of the show has Miyagi himself live long enough to interact with Daniel [=LaRusso's=] children, Sam and Anthony, before he too passes in 2011 in his 80s — all of which happens off-screen before the events of the series beings.

* ''WesternAnimation/Cars3'': Rusty Rust-eze only had eight lines in the whole film due to the death of his voice actor, Tom Magliozzi. Said lines were unused from the first film while his brother Dusty Rust-eze did more of the speaking.
* ''Franchise/ToyStory'':
** Creator/JimVarney passed away in 2000 from lung cancer at the age of 50, and Slinky Dog has since been voiced by Creator/BlakeClark.
** With the passing of Joe Ranft, Wheezy and Lenny were said to have been sold to new owners in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''.
** Don Rickles passed away in 2017, but Mr. Potato Head is alive and well in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'' thanks to pre-recorded audio.

* ''Film/TrailOfThePinkPanther'' was made after the death of Creator/PeterSellers. Rather than having the character of Inspector Clouseau die in the film, he is instead shown to be alive and well on a deserted island after surviving a plane crash; the subsequent film ''Curse of...'' reveals [[spoiler:he got MagicPlasticSurgery to look like Creator/RogerMoore, and did a FaceHeelTurn to settle down with a jewel thief countess]].

* When John Gordon-Sinclair took over the "Doc" role in the UK ''Series/FraggleRock'' as P.K., following the death of Fultom Mackay who played the Captain, he tells Sprocket "He hasn't gone back to sea and left you all alone. He wouldn't have gone back at all if I'd caught him this morning!" For the rest of the series, we're meant to assume that the Captain is on a ship somewhere, however it's such a brief line that many viewers assumed P.K. was taking over the lighthouse after his uncle's death.

* When John Gordon-Sinclair took over the "Doc" role in the UK ''Series/FraggleRock'' as P.K., following the death of Fultom Mackay who played the Captain, he tells Sprocket "He hasn't gone back to sea and left you all alone. He wouldn't have gone back at all if I'd caught him this morning!" For the rest of the series, we're left to assume that the Captain is on a ship somewhere, however it's such a brief line that many viewers assumed P.K. was taking over the lighthouse after his uncle's death.