# Are actors told, before taking a part, that their character is only temporary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138 "2019-04-27T18:04:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/21 "2019-04-30T17:55:59Z")
There was a character named Willie in S1 of _Outlander_. He was supposed to die a tragic death at the battle of Prestopans in S2, but the actor decided to take another role elsewhere (the podcast is very interesting, you can tell the showrunners were very Not Happy and didn’t even say his name) and they ended up having to kill off another character instead. So you can have an actor find out due to circumstances not related to plotline find out he’s out of a job. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/22 "2019-04-30T22:23:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **PatrickLondon** : > > And even if they are lucky, they need to be careful not to push their luck and get a reputation for “being difficult”. I’m not sure that works any more… Any more, when I hear that an actress (and it’s usually said of women, not men) is “difficult to work with”, I assume it means “refused to sleep with the director”. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/23 "2019-04-30T22:26:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m not sure that works any more… Any more, when I hear that an actress (and it’s usually said of women, not men) is “difficult to work with”, I assume it means “refused to sleep with the director”. Is it? The last time I really heard this reputation, it was about Katherine Heigl. Is that what happened with her? I thought she was just a pain to deal with and so they cut her out of movie roles. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/24 "2019-04-30T23:35:18Z")
Nah, she just had a habit of being a diva on the set and badmouthing projects after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/25 "2019-04-30T23:40:57Z")
Well, in the famous MeToo cases, that’s how the women who said “no” were punished. Is that the only reason a director would call someone “difficult to work with”? Probably not. But one has to wonder, now, whenever one hears it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/26 "2019-05-01T00:10:16Z")
_“Hey, Bob! We need you to read a bit part for a crooked lawyer. Yeah, just a couple episodes. Sure, We’ll provide lunch. See you Thursday, Mr. O”_ ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/27 "2019-05-01T00:41:52Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It wasn’t a bit role, but _Breaking Bad_ Jesse Pinkman was supposed to have been killed off in the first season. They liked Aaron Paul’s performance so much they decided to keep him for the rest of the series. Wasn’t that the same for Ben Linus in Lost? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/28 "2019-05-01T01:37:35Z")
IIRC on _Star Trek:TOS_ only Shatner and Nimoy were signed for a full season. DeForest Kelly, I think, was guaranteed 13 episodes and all the other cast members even less than that. Grace Lee Whitney was fired after eight episodes, and the last one she shot only showed her in the background, with no lines. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/29 "2019-05-01T02:50:52Z")
Thomas Waites (“Fox”)was originally going to be the main protagonist in the film [The Warriors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warriors_(film)#Cast). Something you can pick up on from his prominence in the earlier scenes. But he fell out with the director and they killed him off halfway through, basically re-writing the film with Michael Beck (“Swan”) as the new lead. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138/30 "2019-05-01T03:54:32Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > An inverse example is Michelle Forbes, who played Ensign Ro on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ro’s first episode ended with her apparently agreeing to become part of the Enterprise’s regular crew; Forbes however was surprised when the show invited her back, as she hadn’t realized (or been made sufficiently aware) she was playing anything other than a one-off role. Even better, she played a bit role as Dara in _Half a Life_ and based on that got the role of Ensign Ro [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-actors-told-before-taking-a-part-that-their-character-is-only-temporary/833138.md?page=1)