Television is a revolving door of new and exciting characters. Some that we meet stay with us forever, while others seem to simply vanish with little offer or explanation as to why.
Below are 10+ TV characters that did just that and completely disappeared without any explanation. Many of these character departures remain a mystery even to this day!
I'm not saying that Dr. Hahn was my favorite character on Grey's Anatomy, not by a longshot.
But being as pivotal as she was, she deserved more than to just walk off into the sunset, never to be heard from again.
For a while, Angel was in serious danger of becoming just another cop show with a supernatural element. The writers decided they needed to pivot away from this narration style and that meant getting rid of Kate.
We know that she attempted suicide but we're given no resolution as to what actually happened beyond that.
Judy was the youngest of the three Winslow children and was easily the least popular on the show. Eddie was the jovial lunkhead and Laura was the love interest of Steve Urkel.
After five seasons, she vanished without so much as a word and all evidence of her existence was wiped out.
Max was weird. I never understood why or how a grown man could befriend a group of young teens and no one raised an eye.
He was a throwaway character from the start, whose only use was to perform occasional magic tricks.
Tori was brought in at a time when Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley had departed the show. She was the tomboy love interest of both Zack and Slater, and was hardly seen without her trademark leather jacket.
For no reason whatsoever, she disappears. The gang graduates and no mention of her is ever made again.
This is one of the foulest instances on this entire list! Mr. Turner was injured in a motorcycle accident and the last we ever see of him is an image of Shawn sitting by his bedside.
Fans had no clue whether he lived or died until he finally made his return in the spin-off series, Girl Meets World.
In the early episodes of Boy Meets World, Minkus served as the intellectual foil for both Cory and Shawn. However, he never really developed any use or purpose beyond this.
Eventually, he was cut completely from the show, and only in the series finale do we learn that he supposedly was transferred to a different classroom.
I liked Grace. She worked as an incredible foil to Dr. Cox and was a great character mirror. Sadly, she never evolved beyond that.
Her character just wasn't as funny and it was clear that she was second banana to Cox.
Professor Slater was the WORST. She was nothing more than an elitist snob, and a distraction from the true love interest of Jeff Winger, Ms. Britta Perry.
After the second season, the audience and writers had simply had enough.
No explanation was ever really offered to explain Denise's absence on the show. In real life, however, actress Lisa Bonet became pregnant and was forced to leave.
I guess teen pregnancy didn't gel well with the image of the show?
Ken's departure was admittedly odd? He was a main character for the entire first season and unlike many of his colleagues on the show, Ken actually had range.
But upon learning that his fiancée is still in love with another man, Ken simply gets in his car and drives away? Come on.
Tina was the younger sister of Donna. She only made one appearance throughout the entire series and then was never heard from again.
From that point onward, Donna was said to have been an only child.
Trapper was a martini swilling prankster who also happened to be the Chief Surgeon, along with his close friend, Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce.
Soured contract negotiations were what led to the departure of one of M.A.S.H.'s most beloved characters of all time.
Brendanawicz thought he was a big fish in a small pond when in reality, he was anything but. Mark was greasy, a horrible boyfriend, and just an all-around jerk.
When it was clear that the writers had taken the character as far as they could, they graciously said farewell.
What's really sad (or funny, depending on how you look at it) is that I completely forgot about Shauna.
She's literally one of the most forgettable characters in television, so it's no wonder they quickly abandoned her.
Have you ever heard of a TV trope known as "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome"? It's a term applied to a character who is essentially erased from a show's existence without explanation.
Chuck was Richie's older brother and appeared in Happy Days' first two seasons.
To say that Ross is an absent father doesn't even begin to encapsulate just how truly terrible a dad he really is.
Ben wasn't even invited to Ross' second wedding, and after the birth of Emma he vanished entirely.
After all the fuss and build-up that led to Scott's reunion with his parents, you'd think he would have stuck around for longer.
I wish I could say that this is the only plot hole in the Gossip Girl universe, but we all know that's a lie.
Topanga makes mention of her older sister a handful of times in season 1, she even shows up at the Matthews' home in one episode.
After that, she's never seen nor heard from again.
Jess' wildcard sister was played to perfection by Linda Cardellini. But after only two episodes, Abby was all of a sudden absent from the loft.
Not only did we never see her again, not even on holidays or family functions, but she wasn't even invited to Jess' wedding!
Ugh. Cathy was the worst. At best she was a placeholder character, at worst she was an evil temptress who threatened the integrity of TV's greatest love story of all time.
I'm not sad that she went away.
Jordan was hired to be D'Angelo Vickers' administrative assistant. She had a deadpan quality to her humor that I actually enjoyed.
Kind of like Aubrey Plaza in Parks and Recreation.
I know what you're going to say: "Stannis was killed by Brienne of Tarth!"
How do you know that? They never actually show Stannis being slain, maybe Brienne let him go? There's no closure so there's no way of really knowing.
Sometimes a show backs itself into a corner. It introduces arcs and characters that simply have to run their course, even though the outcome is known.
What I'm trying to say is that nobody expected Seven to stick around. It was just a matter of time.
For a moment I'd actually forgotten that Meghan Markle appeared in Fringe. I know she's a duchess and everything but I do hope that she finds her way back in front of the camera some day.
Weeds is like watching a car crash in slow motion. The longer you watch, the worse it progressively gets.
Abandoning Celia was a huge miscalculation, she had such untapped potential! We bore witness to her fall from grace but never got to see her rise from the ashes.
Richie was one of Doug's oldest and most trusted friends. He made several appearances over the course of the show's first three seasons and is easily one of the show's most recognizable recurring characters.
Actor Larry Romano supposedly asked to be written out to focus on another sitcom.
I always get a kick out of seeing Tyra Banks on old reruns of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I honestly thought that she and Will really worked well together.
Jackie is just one of many characters to vanish from the set of The Fresh Prince.
Lisa and Will almost got married (twice) and the second time their parents ended up tying the knot instead.
Maybe she ran away because she came to the realization that she and Will were now officially step-siblings?
