Can you think of instances when people who've left shows for new (and failed) series were quickly written back in?

Cafe Society
1

I’m bummed that an actress I really liked on Chicago Med has left to star in a new show (note that she wasn’t killed off). I started watching the pilot of that show…and I don’t think it’s going to last. If the new show fails, I’d love to see her return to Chicago Med.

But is that something that’s happened much historically? It’d be very forgiving of the show they left’s powers that be, so I’m not sure it’s common. So, can you think of shows that have taken departed actors back fairly quickly after their something new crashed and burned?

2

Not exactly the same, but Patrick Duffy left Dallas because he wanted to do other things, then decided he wanted to return, leading to the often ridiculed “it was only a dream” season of Dallas.

I’m not sure if Duffy actually worked on another show in his time away from Dallas.

3

“Quickly”? No. The closest to that situation that I can think of, off the top of my head, is when Damon Wayans, Jr. quit New Girl, when Happy Endings got picked up for series, and then went back to New Girl, after Happy Endings got canceled. But Happy Endings got three seasons, IIRC, so I wouldn’t call that “quick,” per se.

4

A sort-of example:

5

^ Not at all. She went to college, she didn’t crash and burn.

So, can you think of shows that have taken departed actors back fairly quickly after their something new crashed and burned?

6
7

Maybe you didn’t actually read the definition, either…

8

Lauren Cohan, Maggie from The Walking Dead, starred in Whisky Cavalier for its one season. She’d been written out of TWD, but it was plausibly explained how she could come back after Lauren’s other show tanked, so maybe this doesn’t fit.

On reread of OP and edit, it probably fits.

9

Flo, from the show Alice, left for her own series named Flo. Flo flopped, and she returned to Alice.

10

Marla Gibbs played Florence the maid on The Jeffersons who got hired as a housekeeper at a hotel on Checking In. Checking In was cancelled after 4 episode. Ms. Gibbs missed 5 episodes of The Jeffersons and was back, claiming the hotel burned down and she was out of a job.

11

Also on The Jeffersons, Mike Evans, who played Lionel on both All In the Family and in the early episodes of the show, left - not to perform but to write - on another Norman Lear show, Good Times. When that show went off the air after four seasons, Evans returned to The Jeffersons again appearing as Lionel.

12

Lol!  

13

The first thing that came to mind (and possibly the most well-known recent example) would be Cleveland from Family Guy. He (and his voice actor at the time) got a new show about his character. They had him leave town. When his show ended, they had him move back in.

14

Kim Delaney left NYPD Blue and then came back. I’m short on details, but I just Googled and found an article saying she was leaving to be on a show set in Philadelphia and then found on IMDB that she was on a show called “Philly,” which only lasted one season. I don’t know if that’s why she returned or what the deal was, but I know she leaves and then returns later.

I’m still watching NYPD Blue and haven’t reached the part yet where she comes back, but it looks like it’s just 5 episodes, not the whole rest of the show. Still, 5 episodes is more than a cameo.

15

No, Flo never came back. I think she may have been offered it after Diane Ladd left, but Polly Holliday opted not to return.

Marla Gibbs was one someone else mentioned. She specifically said she would only do the spinoff if she was allowed to come back.

16

Sherry Stringfield was on ER, one of the hottest shows ever, left for a few years, came back, left again. Came back for the final episode.

17

Mentioned in another thread: Ronnie Schell, “PFC Duke Slater,” left Gomer Pyle, USMC to do another sitcom, Good Morning, World!, and then returned to GP as “CPL Duke Slater.”

18

She didn’t leave for another gig, she said at the time that she wanted to devote more time to her personal life.

19

IIRC, Maulik Pancholy did this from 30 Rock to Whitney and back to 30 Rock.

20

While he didn’t officially leave the show, Glenn Howerton took a big step back from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in Season 13 due to burnout with the character and commitments to his new show A.P. Bio. He only appeared briefly in a few episodes and had no writing credits. He made a full return to the show after A.P. Bio was canceled.