Author Existence Failure: Difference between revisions
Updated example's tense
m (Mass update links) |
(Updated example's tense) |
||
(38 intermediate revisions by 15 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"After all, as some of you like to point out in your emails, I am sixty years old and fat, and you don't want me to [[Person
|'''George R.R. Martin''' on ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire|A Dance with Dragons]]'' in 2009}}
A [[Fandom]]'s worst nightmare.
Sometimes editors go bankrupt, and ''[[We Are
This can also happen with individuals who play a major role in creating a group work; for instance, actors or directors.
Line 12 ⟶ 13:
Please note that this trope applies when a creator (writer, director, etc.) ceases work on a project, not a participant (actor, well... mostly actors) unless they had significant input.
Not to be confused with the criticism trope known as "[[Death of the Author]]". Or [[Apocalyptic Log]]. See also [[The Character Died
{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* When [[Osamu Tezuka]] died, he left his life's work ''[[Phoenix]]'' unfinished. Which is an absolute shame, as he quite clearly had great plans for it. Had he stayed alive to finish it, the separate stories of each time period in each volume would eventually converge at a central point, the "present", and tying all the loose ends of the Phoenix's story together. Now we can only wonder...
* Although Kentaro Miura is still quite alive and healthy, many fans fear that he will eventually die before completing ''[[Berserk]]'' due to the fact that only a handful of chapters are released every year.
* Noboru Yamaguchi
* Ken Ishikawa, the creator of ''[[Getter Robo]]''. Though he did leave some notes behind, they were apparently only for Getter Robo Hien - a prequel. The cliffhanger ending of ''Getter Robo Āḥ'', the latest series chronologically, has yet to be resolved.
* The director of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]'', Takeyuki Kanda, died while the OVA was still being produced. One effect of that was that it took over three years to finish it, making it the longest-running single [[Gundam]] production until [[Gundam Unicorn]], except the long running period for that has been planned from the start.
** And then, a decade and a half later, the guy who took over for him died while working on another series, the as-of-yet unreleased ''[[Towa
* ''[[Guyver]]'' fans also fear this with Yoshiki Takaya. We don't know much about his habits and health but since he's been doing his great work since the 80s, works a monthly manga, has no assistants, and takes breaks, we fear that he may cease to be before the manga ends. Up until a few months ago some thought the manga was beginning to wind up for a climax when a new thread appeared that could be sign of the end being a bit further away than we thought.
* Yukito Kishiro's ''[[Gunnm]]'' originally got [[Cosmic Deadline|a rather hurried ending]] because the author was seriously ill and didn't want to risk leaving an orphaned story behind. He later recovered and went on to continue the story, [[Broad Strokes|partly ignoring the original ending]].
* ''[[Trinity Blood]]'''s author Sunao Yoshida died of lung blockage in 2004 and the story was finished some while later by other writers.
* Tada Kaoru's manga, ''[[Itazura
* Perhaps not a total Existence Failure, but what happened to mangaka Kyoko Okazaki certainly comes close - in 1996, she was hit by a drunk driver before completing the last few chapters of her [[Body Horror]]-esque cosmetic surgery drama ''Helter Skelter''. The resulting accident [[And I Must Scream|left her quadriplegic and mute]]. The manga was finished in 2004, by her former assistant [[Sugar Sugar Rune|Moyoco Anno]] (yup, the wife of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Hideaki Anno]]), working from Okazaki's storyboards and with her consultation, albeit on a [[Cliff Hanger]]. Poor Mrs. Okazaki's rehabilitation continues to this day - thirteen YEARS later.
* Takahiro Yamato of ''[[
* [[
** On the other hand, ''[[Crayon Shin-chan]]'' is more like a newspaper comic in terms of presentation (i.e., there's a "sliding timeline", and doesn't really have much of an overall plot; the anime is more like a [[
* Keiko Tobe, the mangaka of ''[[With the Light]]'', died of an unspecified illness in late January 2010, leaving the manga unfinished.
* [[Satoshi Kon]] suddenly died while making a film called ''The Dream Machine'', which he described as aimed at a younger audience but accessible for his older fans, with a cast made entirely of robots.
** Kon learned that he had a late-stage pancreatic cancer in April 2010, but initially didn't tell anyone because he didn't want to disturb
* ''[[MM
* Yasuo Yamada, most recognizable as the voice of ''[[Lupin III]]'', died of a brain hemorrhage in 1995, a month before the release of ''Farewell to Nostradamus'', the movie that would mark the series' return to the big screen in ten years. Fortunately, his will stated that, if he were to pass away, the baton should be passed to [[The Other Darrin|Kan'ichi Kurita]] (a popular comedian and impersonator), who currently voices him from that movie onwards. In honor of Yamada, a message was placed at the end of the film's credits: "To Yasuo Yamada, Eternal Lupin the Third: Thank you!".
* Similarly, fellow seiyuu [[Tomoko Kawakami]] spoke to [[Kunihiko Ikuhara]] to see if they'd [[Revolutionary Girl Utena|work together again]] in his latest series, ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* Fellow comic book author Edgar P. Jacobs died while working on the second part of "Professor Sató's Three Formulae", the last volume of his ''[[Blake and Mortimer]]'' series. Unlike Herge, however, he had left plenty of notes and a complete outline of the story, which made it possible for another artist to complete the story... 13 years later. That's a cliffhanger for you.
** Of course, because he suspected he wouldn't finish "Three Formulae", Jacobs left the copyright of the series relatively open so it would eventually have an ending. Which worked, but also led to new ''Blake and Mortimer'' adventures made by two different writer/artist teams. One team [[They Just Didn't Care|actively tries to]]
* Steve Gerber died of complications from pulmonary fibrosis, after plotting the penultimate issue of his Doctor Fate story in the ''Countdown to Mystery'' miniseries in his hospital bed. The final issue features four hypothetical endings, written by some of Gerber's friends in the industry.
* Drew Hayes, the author of ''[[
* Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson had plans for one final ''Manhunter'' story. When Goodwin died before completing the dialogue, Simonson looked at the script and decided it could be done as a "[[No Dialogue Episode|silent story]]" as a tribute to Archie. The story is included in the ''Manhunter'' collected edition.
* Rene Goscinny died of a sudden heart attack while working on ''[[Asterix]] In Belgium''. It took a great deal of soul-searching by Albert Uderzo over whether or not to complete it. Uderzo did, and then as a tribute to Goscinny continued their work alone.
Line 50 ⟶ 48:
* Before he died, Mike Wieringo was in the planning stages of a collaboration with Warren Ellis. Ellis refuses to reveal any hints as to what the project was even about.
** He died working on an issue of ''[[What If]]'' featuring the [[Fantastic Four]], having only drawn seven pages. It was finished by a group of different artists doing a couple of pages each and published a year later, with the proceeds going to charity.
* Although not really a death, Dave Trampier abruptly abandoned cartooning in the middle of the storyline for the popular gaming comic ''[[Wormy]]'', which appeared in ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' Magazine.
* Edward Gorey's death left his last work, "The Izzard Book" (a collection of words beginning with Z, with pictures) poignantly unfinished: The illustrations become increasingly (and randomly) rough and sketchy until there's nothing left.
* Charles M. Schulz at least had the sense to [[Word of God|declare]] that even if he'd lived forever, some things in ''[[Peanuts]]'' would NEVER be concluded. There was, thus, no carefully hidden strip in which Charlie Brown gets the little red-haired girl, or in which Snoopy finished off the Red Baron.
Line 59 ⟶ 57:
* ''[[Cerebus the Aardvark]]'' - Although Dave Sim did not die while making Cerebus (and is still alive as of 2010), he had "planned ahead" (and I'm using this term very loosely) in case this happened. He had mentioned in interviews that, if he DID die before completing the series, the series would continue all the way to issue 300, but all subsequent issues would only have the background art (by Sim's colleague Gerhard). There would be no characters nor text/narrative of any kind.
** If they had both died subsequent issues would have been kinda dull.
*** No joke. Before Gerhard joined him (around issue 80) Sim had said that if he died, he had left instructions for all the remaining issues to be published
* Marshall Rodgers died in the middle of ''Cap'n Quick and a Foozle''. The Captain's last known words: "Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you about this part."
* Willy Vandersteen left very specific instructions behind for the continuation of his ''[[Suske
* [[Jack Kirby]] started a project called ''Phantom Force'' shortly before he died. [[Image Comics]] published the first two issues, with many of their top artists(Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Jerry Ordway, Jim Valentino and Keith Giffen, among others) inking Kirby's pages. The story arc was finished by Kirby collaborator Greg Theakston.
== Fan Works ==
* Fan author Brian Randall -- author of ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' and many other fanfics -- [http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,102984.0.html took his own life on January 17, 2014], leaving ''Kyon'' and all his other in-progress work incomplete.
== Film ==
* It's more of an actor existence failure, but George Clooney has said there cannot and will not be another ''[[
* [[Akira Kurosawa]] died just before the shooting of ''[[After the Rain]]'' was scheduled to begin, so the movie was directed by his assistant Takashi Koizumi. ''The Sea is Watching'', another screenplay Kurosawa had written and intended to direct, was also filmed by another director in 2002.
* Parodied in ''[[Monty Python and
* ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback Of Notre Dame]]'' was the last film role of Mary Wickes; she played Laverne, the gargoyle. Jane Withers stepped in after Mary died of cancer.
* A unique subversion with [[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus]]. [[Heath Ledger]] died suddenly while filming it. Since the film is set in a multiverse, [[Johnny Depp]], Colin Farrell and Jude Law portray him in alternate universes (they gave their paychecks to Ledger's daughter).
* [[Star Wars]]: Because George Lucas hated the process of script-writing he went through on ''[[
* A unique example would be actor [[Peter Sellers]]. In 1980 he was co-writing a script for [[The Pink Panther]] series for the first time, ''Romance of the Pink Panther'', that he intended as a [[Grand Finale]] for his Inspector Clouseau character. He submitted a revised draft of it to [[United Artists]] shortly before his death in 1980. It ultimately was never produced. Blake Edwards, the director and co-writer of most of the previous entries, decided to continue the series his own way (he was quite specifically not to have anything to do with ''Romance''), writing out Clouseau and introducing [[Replacement Scrappy]] character Clifton Sleigh over two films shot at the same time, ''Trail of...'' (which featured clips of Sellers from the previous films) and ''Curse of...'' The results were disastrous.
* [[Steven Spielberg]] brought ''[[
* Kinji Fukasaku refused treatment in order to film ''[[Battle Royale]] 2,'' but died after directing only one scene. His son Kenta finished it.
* Simultaneously [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] and subverted in Bob Fosse's ''[[All That Jazz]]''; a fictionalized account of Fosse's own life story, including a serious heart-attack which occurred during one of the most stressful periods of his
{{quote|
* The Polish film ''Passenger'' (''Pasazerka'') suffered AEF when director Andrzej Munk died suddenly in a road accident. The film is a series of flashbacks. When Munk died, many of the scenes taking place in the present day were unshot. His assistant decided to use still images for these scenes.
* After ''[[Halloween Resurrection]]'', series producer Mustapha Akkad died, dashing hopes for the original series to continue.
* The script for a third ''[[The Addams Family
* Actor David Graf died suddenly of a heart attack in 2001, which means, unfortunately, [[Crazy Awesome|Eugene Tackleberry]] [[Too Cool to Live|won't be returning]] for the upcoming eighth ''[[Police Academy]]'' movie.
** Bubba Smith died in August 2011, so we won't be seeing [[Police Academy|Moses Hightower]] either.
Line 86:
** And then his son Brandon died from an accident involving a prop on the set of one of ''his'' movies, ''[[The Crow]]''. The film was finished using a body double, shot in shadows (such as when Sarah embraces Eric in his apartment), seen from the back (particularly noticable when Eric is walking back to his apartment after his ressurection), or [[Digital Head Swap|with Brandon's face added]] (in the fight scenes).
* H.B Haliki, the man that gave us the original ''[[Gone in Sixty Seconds]]'' (the independent film made in 1974 on a shoestring budget, not the 2000 remake with [[Nicolas Cage]]), died while filming the [[What Could Have Been|now unfinished]] ''Gone in Sixty Seconds 2'', when a stunt sequence malfunctioned and he was crushed by a water tower.
* Trinidad Silva died in an auto accident before he filmed all his scenes as Raul in ''[[UHF (
* Likewise, "Red" the fire truck in ''[[Cars (film)|Cars]]'' is silent as Joe Ranft, who was to voice the character, was killed in an road accident before the film was completed.
* [[Ernst Lubitsch]] died two weeks into shooting on ''[[
== Literature ==
* W.E. Johns, prolific author of the Biggles series of books, managed to die not only in the middle of a book, but in the middle of a sentence. Johns's last novel, 'Biggles Does Some Homework', was thus abandoned in 1967 on the note: "With considerable reluctance Bertie backed away from ...' It was published, eventually, in 1997, still as incomplete as it had been at the time of Johns's unexpected heart-attack. Epic.
* James Agee is generally regarded as one of America's greatest and most lamented writers after his second novel, ''A Death in the Family'', was published posthumously (winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1958). Two novels, a handful of screenplays and some of the most influential film criticism of the 40's, cut short at age 45 due to depression and chronic alcoholism.
* [[
* [[H. Beam Piper]] committed suicide before he could finish ''Fuzzies and Other People''. The manuscript was lost for 20 years (and thought destroyed), so they had ''two'' different authors write sequels, which were [[Canon
* [[Roberto Bolano]] died in 2003, shortly after submitting to his publisher the first draft of the novel that would become known as "2666". He had completed four and a half parts of the five-part anthology. This percentage of the novel being complete, as well as notes for the unfinished section that were found in his desk (notes that included the title of the story), allowed it to be published the next year. It has since been proclaimed by many critics to be Bolaño's greatest work.
* Seemingly healthy [[Douglas Adams]] died completely out of the blue from a heart attack in 2001, aged 49, before he could make up for the [[Downer Ending]] of the fifth book in the ''[[The
* Truman Capote had planned for ''Answered Prayers'' to be his magnum opus, but he died with only three chapters written. He seemed to have lost his will to write it in his last years, though there are still Capote scholars looking for any more of it that he may have had (while they have been unsuccessful, they did find the first novel he ever wrote, ''Summer Crossing'', which he had claimed to have destroyed.)
* [[
* When young adult author [[John Bellairs]] died, he left behind two unfinished manuscripts and outlines for two other stories. The finished versions of those four books, completed by Brad Strickland, were so well-received that Strickland has since been commissioned to write several more books in the series.
* Olive Ann Burns wrote one novel, ''Cold Sassy Tree'', and died after writing about fifteen chapters of the sequel. The existing chapters were published as ''Leaving Cold Sassy,'' unfinished.
* [[
* Albert Camus' quasi-autobiography ''The First Man'' was an unfinished manuscript in a briefcase in the car crash that killed him. There are also fragments.
* Giacomo Casanova died before he could finish his 12-volume autobiography.
* [[Raymond Chandler]] died after having completed only four chapters of the eighth Philip Marlowe novel, which he had given the working title ''The Poodle Springs Story''. Thirty years after his death, mystery writer Robert B. Parker was commissioned to finish the novel, which was released under the title ''Poodle Springs''.
* [[
* Dante is supposed to have died with the location of the final portions of the [[Divine Comedy]] unknown. His ghost is said to have appeared to his son letting him know where the manuscript was. In a strangely related example, [[Dorothy L. Sayers]] died before completing her translation of the ''[[The Divine Comedy|Divine Comedy]]''; it was finished by Barbara Reynolds.
* [[
* [[
* Claudia J. Edwards died shortly after writing the first of three books in the ''Eldrie the Healer'' series.
* The eighth and final book in the [[Seafort Saga]] by David Feintuch was not published before his death. According to [[The Other Wiki]], the manuscript was completed, but not published.
* [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] died before finishing ''The Last Tycoon''. It was finished from his notes and published the next year, in 1941.
* Ian Fleming's final [[James Bond]] novel, ''[[The Man
* [[David Foster Wallace]] committed suicide when his antidepressant meds lost their effectiveness and his depression became severe. He left his last novel ''The Pale King'' unfinished. It will be published in its current state in 2011. For several years before his death, Wallace published fragments of ''The Pale King'' as stand-alone short stories in several magazines. Given that Wallace's [[Infinite Jest|previous novel]] was a [[Doorstopper|monster of a book]], these fragments likely don't give much of the overall plot away (especially since, as mentioned before, many are presented as stand-alone stories, not pieces of a larger novel).
* C.S. Forester died in the middle of yet another [[Horatio Hornblower]] story, ''Hornblower and the Crisis''. It, too, was published by [[The Powers That Be]], along with the author's notes on finishing it.
* Historian Douglas Southall Freeman both exemplifies and averts this trope. He sent out the sixth volume of his biography of George Washington to the publishers on the day he died. Alas, there was a seventh volume (later written by J. A. Carroll and M. W. Ashworth) yet to be completed.
* Victorian author [[
* English author [[David Gemmell]] died with his novel ''Fall of Kings'' only 3/4s finished. Fortunately he had made detailed notes on each chapter beforehand, and his wife was able to complete the novel (the finale to a trilogy) using them.
* It is said that Nickolai Gogol wrote ''Dead Souls'' (his only novel) to be part of a series, wherein the characters are eventually redeemed. After completing the first book, he was so depressed that he felt he couldn't redeem these characters, took what he had completed of the second volume, threw it into a fire, then subsequently took ill and died.
Line 122:
* Frank Herbert died in 1985, leaving his ''[[Dune]]'' series unfinished, though Herbert had been tacking books onto the series for some time. After his death, his son Brian Herbert, along with Kevin J. Anderson, wrote a handful of sequel and prequel books to the series.
* Arthur Ransome had an unfinished ''[[Swallows and Amazons]]'' book when he died. Nicknamed "Coots in the North,'' it had the Blacketts meeting the Death-and-Glories, and makes one weep for [[What Could Have Been]].
* Robert Jordan died before he could complete the "definitely, probably final" 12th book of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series, but he left behind extensive notes. Before his illness was discovered, he used to joke that if he died before the series was over, [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|his will was going to dictate that his notes be destroyed]]. Fortunately, he relented, and Brandon Sanderson was been picked to finish the series. Sanderson
* A lot of [[
* Stieg Larsson died of a massive heart attack in 2004 after having completed the third book of his supposed-to-be-decalogy ''[[The Millennium Trilogy|Millennium]]'' (''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'', ''The Girl who Played with Fire'' and ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest''). All of the completed novels were only published after his death.
* [[Herman Melville]] died before completing his final novel, ''Billy Budd''.
* [[
* Patrick O'Brian, author of
* Robert C. O'Brien, author of the Newbury Medal Award-winning ''[[The Secret of NIMH|Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH]]'', passed away shortly before finishing his [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] children's novel ''[[Z for Zachariah]]''. Luckily, his wife and daughter (authors themselves) finished it based off the notes he left behind and published it posthumously. His daughter, Jane Leslie Conly, went onto publish two more ''NIMH'' books.
* Mervyn Peake died when ''Titus Alone'', part three of his ''[[Gormenghast]]'' trilogy, was still in early drafts. His widow, Maeve Gilmore, submitted his manuscript to the publisher with notes on how it could be improved. Unfortunately, the publishers took these notes as the intended changes themselves, and published the novel as is. The novel was later re-edited by Langdon Jones into something (presumably) closer to Peake's intended version. In 2010, a manuscript of the fourth novel, completed by Gilmore, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jan/18/shortcuts-fourth-gormenghast-novel-discovered was discovered by the family.] It was published in 2011 as ''Titus Awakes''.
Line 133:
* Completing the wooden-navy trifecta (Forester, O'Brien), Dudley Pope, author of the [[Ramage]] series, died just after his eponymous hero's career had taken a fresh turn. ''Ramage and the Dido'' put Lord Ramage at the helm of a shiny new 74-gun ship of the line, and a strong hint at the end of the story that he was about to be sent on another mysterious adventure; but what that was will never be known.
* Marcel Proust died before finishing ''In Search of Lost Time''. The final book was published mostly unedited, and contradicts some things that happened in the earlier volumes. C. K. Scott Moncrieff then died before he could finish translating it, and Stephen Hudson had to finish the job. The last three books were all unedited and published posthumously. However all of them were in an almost-completed form, including the last page of the last book. Although some of the small contradictions went through as a result of Proust's death, at least we got a completed series written by his own hand.
* [[Dorothy L. Sayers]] started writing ''Thrones, Dominations'', a [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] novel, in 1936, but abandoned it with just a handful of scenes and notes written. Jill Paton Walsh completed it after her death.
* Four of [[Dr. Seuss]]'s books were published posthumously - he was able to write but not illustrate ''Daisy-Head Mayzie'' and the lesser-known ''My Many Colored Days'', while ''Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!'' and ''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' were finished using the notes and fragments of rhyming verse Seuss left behind.
* Shen Fu's ''Six Records of a Floating Life'', the autobiography of a Ching Dynasty minor bureaucrat which also chronicles the life of everyday people during the period, was left unfinished by the author's demise.
* Edmund Spenser died after completing only 6 of his planned 24 books of ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', meaning said queen never once makes an appearance.
* [[
* The Chinese novel ''The Story of the Stone'' (a.k.a. ''[[
* In early 1990s, [[Strugatsky Brothers
* [[
* This trope (and even the bad fanfic continuations) is [[Older Than Feudalism]]: The ancient Roman poet Virgil died before he could finish editing his epic poem ''[[
* [[Robert Anton Wilson]] died after completing only 3 books in his projected 5-book epic romance ''The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles''. There has been some talk of that his friends and/or children might finish the story based on his notes, but only time will tell whether that's possible. Wilson himself refrained from publishing the fourth book even two decades after the third came out.
* Although there wasn't much carryover between the ''[[
* Japanese Sci-Fi writer Sunao Yoshida died from lung disease just after it was announced that his science fantasy series ''[[Trinity Blood]]'' would be adapted into anime. He [[Orphaned Series|left it]] in a completely unfinished state, with the last book ending on a major cliffhanger {{spoiler|where main character Abel Nightroad apparently dies}}. He left enough notes for the next novel to see {{spoiler|that [[He's Just Hiding]]}}, but it still gives little satisfaction to the fans.
** His best friend Kentaro Yasui later stepped in to take over the novels, and the manga adaptation as well. Nobody ever bothered to continue the anime adaptation from its cliffhanger ending (closely related to that of Yoshida's last novel, but {{spoiler|including the scenes showing that Abel isn't really dead}}), though.
Line 153:
* The death of [[Ellery Queen]] collaborator Manfred B. Lee left a novel, ''The Tragedy of Errors'', unwritten. The very detailed outline by Fredric Dannay was eventually published.
* With the death of Kaoru Kurimoto, the ''Guin Saga'' fantasy series will never have an ending. However, fans can hopefully [[Archive Binge]] on the existing 126 volumes before having to face the facts.
* [[
* Toward the end of ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'', Chrétien de Troyes left his scribe Godefroi de Leigni to finish it. The reasons why he did so are unknown, but he may have fallen ill and been unable to complete it himself.
* [[Andre Norton]] died with several unfinished projects. One manuscript, ''A Taste of Magic'', was handed off to Jean Rabe before her death. The fate of others, including the ''[[Elvenblood]]'' collaboration with Mercedes Lackey, remains a mystery.
* [[Octavia Butler]] hinted before her death that she planned to continue her Hugo Award-winning two-volume ''Parable'' series with several more titles, ''Parable of the Trickster'', ''Parable of the Chaos'', and ''Parable of the Clay''. However, she died shortly after publishing one more novel, an unrelated standalone called ''Fledgling'' whose ending also left room for a possible sequel.
* [[Michael Crichton]] was about a third of the way through a contracted novel with Harper Collins at the time of his death. The book is currently being completed from his notes, and any more information than that is being kept under wraps. He also had a completed manuscript, ''Pirate Latitudes'', which was published a year after his death.
* [[
* [[Philip K. Dick
* A scene from [[
** There were actually three unfinished versions of ''The Mysterious Stranger'', referred to, in chronological order, as "The Chonicle of Young Satan", "Schoolhouse Hill", and "No. 44, the Mysterious Stranger: Being an Ancient Tale Found in a Jug and Freely Translated from the Jug". A version of the novel was published in 1916 by Albert Bigelow Paine as "The Mysterious Stranger", based on the first version, with substantial alterations and an ending taken from later versions. "No. 44, the Mysterious Stranger" is the only version where Twain actually wrote an ending, and is considered the definitive version. (It is effectively a full novel, but considered by scholars to not be as polished as Twain would have wanted.) All three versions were published, unaltered, in 1969; with the last re-published in 2005. The last version shows Twain at his darkest, clearly highlighting his growing depression, and hostility toward organized religion.
* Lucan was still writing his epic ''[[
* [[Robert Heinlein]] started a novel in 1955 but never finished it. Almost 20 years after RAH's death, Spider Robinson finished the novel under the title ''Variable Star''.
** Though in the eyes of some the fans, it should have been left unfinished or been finished by an author with personal politics much closer to RAH's. The appearance of ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'' and 9/11 in the same universe as RAH's Venusian dragons was rather jarring.
* William Makepeace Thackeray left his final novel, ''Denis Duval'', unfinished.
* Nicholas Monsarrat left unfinished his two-volume historical novel ''The Master Mariner''. The second volume was published incomplete.
* [[Evan Hunter]] (also known as Ed McBain, the pseudonym he used for his crime fiction) left the novel ''Becca in Jeopardy'', the second in his planned "Women in Jeopardy" series, unfinished at his death. The unfinished novel has not been published. Hunter's death also ended McBain's long-running "[[
* [[Madeleine L
* Chris Bunch, author of the "Seer King" and "Star Risk" series and co-author of the eight book space opera "Sten" passed away (fittingly for a soldier) on July
** Additionally, the ending of Bunch's "Corsair" leaves the reader with the sense that there will be an additional book forthcoming to explain some missing backstory. Unfortunately, this book was never published and it is unknown if there are any notes to enable another author to complete Bunch's vision.
* Michel Foucault destroyed most of his unpublished manuscripts before his death from an AIDS-related illness in 1984, and his will prevents anything he missed from being published, most notably the fourth volume of his ''History of Sexuality''.
Line 175:
** As of late 2010, what is probably the last Stone/Randall novel, a crossover, is out, and while as noted the works were all ongoing series, as a final book, {{spoiler|it ends things well, with the two main characters, who had been struggling with personal issues, making a good effort to find happiness with each other much the way Spenser and Susan had in the Spenser novels.}}
* Jack Chalker set up a huge cliffhanger with Horrors of the Dancing Gods, leaving {{spoiler|his main hero (originally a Barbarian Warrior) now in the form of an immortal (even by immortal standards) wood nymph (oh, and she's pregnant by the Big Bad with who knows what), his son in love with a young girl with male genitalia, the second main character having switched to the evil side of thing...}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131010193523/http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=30610 Nothing else] is coming out after [[Harlan Ellison]] dies:
{{quote|
* [[Gordon R. Dickson]] died after completing the 9th of an unknown number of books in his [[Dragon Knight]] series, leaving Jim Eckert's journey from 20th Century grad student to Master Magickian incomplete. The 11th book in his more famous [[Childe Cycle]] series, ''Antagonist'', was completed by his assistant and friend David W. Wixon and published in 2007.
* Pierre Bothero, a French writer of four seperate series that all intertwined, died shortly after writing a book introducing a fourth world, two new societies, and a plentitude of new characters to the mythos, and writing a somewhat cliffhanger ending at the end of this book.
* ''[[Roots]]'' author Alex Haley passed away while writing ''Queen'', a sequel to ''Roots''. It was finished by David Stevens.
* Z.A. Recht died with the third book in his ''Morningstar Strain'' trilogy unfinished.
* Andrew Keith, who co-wrote the ''[[Wing Commander (
* [[Diana Wynne Jones]] was working on a fourth book in the ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (
* ''The Cat Who Smelled Smoke'' was to be the thirtieth volume in the popular ''[[The Cat Who]]...'' mystery series by Lilian Jackson Braun. It was to have been published in 2008, but was put on hold due to the author's failing health. When she passed away in 2011, the book was canceled entirely, and so the series will remain unfinished.
* [[
* Averted at one point by [[Stephen King]], who had finished only four out of seven books in ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series when he was struck by a van and sent to the hospital with severe injuries. He later references this, at least indirectly.
*
* [[Anne McCaffrey]] managed to avoid this with the long-running [[Pern]] series by collaborating with her son, Todd, on a few books before turning the franchise over to him entirely. So even though she passed away in November 2011, Pern survives. (YMMV as to whether this is a good thing or not.)
** Their final collaboration has been finished and 'in the can' for quite some time. The publisher is sitting on it for unknown reasons, perhaps to avoid a [[Too Soon]] release that could be construed as capitalizing on her death. There's also the "final" Pern book she worked on for years, with a working/joke title ''After the Fall is Over''. No word on whether or not Todd will finish it.
* [[Shel Silverstein]] 's last poems and sketches have now been published, posthumously. Although he cannot see your face, as you flip through his poems a while, somewhere in a far off place, he hears you laughing -- [[Bittersweet Ending|and he smiles.]]
* [[Post Modernism|Subverted in]] [[Jorge Luis Borges]] short story '' "Averroe's Search" '': when Borges has a [[Creator Breakdown]], he doesn’t believe anymore in the characters of this story, forcing a [[No Ending]].
* Ken Grimwood was reportedly writing a sequel to his 1986 [[Groundhog Day Loop]] story ''[[
* At the time of Reginald Hill's death in January 2012, one more [[Dalziel and Pascoe]] novel had been announced for release in August 2013.
* [[Shirley Jackson]] died with her last novel, ''Come Along With Me,'' barely begun: after her death her husband published the existing material (six chapters, three in draft and three revised) along with several short stories and some non-fiction material.
Line 198:
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' writer Robert Holmes died while writing the concluding episodes of 1986's ''The Trial Of A Time Lord'' story. When the series' script editor, Eric Saward, quit
** Of course, misuse of Computer Slang and the last minute reversal of Peri's death aside, most fans are OK with Pip and Jane Baker's ending and agree that Holmes' ending would have been a disaster.
*** Holmes reckoned the BBC had already made the decision, and wanted to give the Doctor an impressive [[Sherlock Holmes|"Reichenbach Falls"]] exit. He was wrong, but only by a couple of years.
Line 206:
* [[Shotaro Ishinomori]] died while writing ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]''. He knew he would die soon, and wanted to get one more [[Kamen Rider]] out before he died.
** In addition, he wrote the story-intended-to-be-series ''Onigeki Hibiki'', which was only published posthumously as ''[[Kamen Rider Hibiki]]''.
* ''[[Kindred:
* ''[[Riget]]'' ended after two seasons with many loose ends and at least one further season completely scripted, due to the deaths of three key actors: Ernst-Hugo Järegård (Stig Helmer), Kirsten Rolffes (Mrs. Drusse), and Morten Rotne Leffers (male dishwasher).
* ''[[Father Ted]]'' just managed to avoid this. Dermot Morgan, the actor behind the titular character, tragically died of a sudden heart attack ''24 hours'' after filming wrapped on the series' final episode. To quote Wikipedia, "The irony of Morgan's death, at a time when after twenty years of struggle, he had finally achieved financial and artistic freedom, was not lost on his family and friends and commented on by his colleagues in the media." It did however invoke this trope as a new series he was thinking of doing had to be scrapped.
Line 213:
* [[Deadliest Catch|Rest in peace, Captain Phil Harris.]] He had a stroke, ''was put in a medically-induced coma, woke up, wrote to the film crew to keep shooting, and '''then''''' died. In case you couldn't tell, he was something of a [[Badass]]. Phil was also the only member of the show who had previously come closest to dying (he broke a rib, which dislodged a blood clot).
* Steve Irwin, aka the ''[[Crocodile Hunter]]'', was killed in a freak accident with a stingray while filming the documentary ''Ocean's Deadliest'' with Philippe Cousteau Jr. He [[Posthumous Collaboration|was posthumously featured]] in his daughter's show, ''Bindi the Jungle Girl''.
* An in-show example: The ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' series of novels by Carver Edlund (aka Chuck Shurley) is actually a written account of the lives of Sam and Dean Winchester, written by a divine prophet. The series ends on the sadistic cliffhanger that is "No Rest for the Wicked," with the publisher claiming Chuck died. He didn't, really, he stopped because Sam and Dean found out about it. "We have guns, and we'll find you." {{spoiler|It's possible that the series through "Swansong" will be published
* ''[[News Radio]]'' continued after the tragic death of Phil Hartman but the show was never the same. It only continued for one season, and only because Phil wouldn't have wanted them to stop.
** Same thing with John Ritter and the sitcom ''8 Simple Rules...'', only it lasted a bit longer.
* ''[[The Sandbaggers]]''' creator Ian Mackintosh died in a mysterious plane crash halfway through the third season. The season was finished with three episodes written by other writers, and the show wasn't continued after that.
* A particularly sad example with ''Chico And The Man'': Freddie Prinze [[Driven to Suicide|killed himself]] towards the end of the third season. They wrote it into the script that Chico was visiting family in Mexico and then later stated that he died, and they tried to [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|replace him]] with [[Cousin Oliver|Raul]], but ratings dipped in the final season and it was canceled. [[Tear Jerker|All the more disturbing and sad]] because he killed himself a few ''hours'' after taping his final episode, "Ed Talks to God."
* Similar to the ''Father Ted'' example, narrowly averted by ''[[The Bill]]'' where actor Kevin Lloyd died only a week after being [[Role
* Former ''[[
* ''Pitchmen,'' a [[Discovery Channel]] show about finding (and shilling) unknown-but-great products and inventions, had as one of its costars [[No Indoor Voice|legendarily loud]] huckster [[Billy Mays]]. After Mays' death, the show floated in limbo for a while, until it was eventually revealed (almost two years later) that his son would start doing the show.
* The 1985 TV series ''Lime Street'', starring Robert Wagner and essentially devised for Samantha Smith after her letter to Yuri Andropov brought her worldwide attention, ended even before it aired - with just eight episodes produced, the 13-year-old and her father were killed in a plane crash not long before the series premiered. Rather than recast her role, the series simply ceased production.
* The Britcom ''[[Series/In Sickness And In Health|In Sickness And In Health]]'', one of two sequels to the classic ''[[Series/Till Death Us Do Part|Till Death Us Do Part]]'' (best known outside of Europe as the inspiration for ''[[All in The Family]]''), was initially written to deal with the fact that Dandy Nichols, who played Alf Garnett's wife Else, was terminally ill and confined to a wheelchair. When Nichols died in real life, the character of Else died as well. (Ironically, the episodes concerning Else's very real death were adapted from the ''Archie Bunker's Place'' episodes centered around Edith's death - which only occurred on the show after Jean Stapleton quit.)
* Andy Whitfield, who played the titled character on ''[[Spartacus: Blood and Sand]]'', was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2010. This caused production to halt while Andy went through treatment. During this time, Starz produced a prequel series ''Gods of the Arena''. Andy gave his blessing for the network to recast his character so the series could resume. He was declared cancer-free two months after ''Gods of the Arena'' aired, but succumbed to a reoccurance disease in September 2011.
== Music ==
* Depending on who you ask, there are between ten and two hundred unreleased Kurt Cobain and/or [[
** The massive 2004 box set ''With the Lights Out'' which contains many unreleased Nirvana songs and demos alongside previously released rarities, is considered merely the tip of the iceberg of the Nirvana cache to fans. A previously unreleased but well-known late period Nirvana recording, "You Know You're Right", was attached to a greatest hits album in 2002 and (along with already released contemporaneous tracks like "Sappy") merely hinted at what directions a fourth Nirvana album could have gone.
* [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] rather famously failed to finish the fourteenth fugue in his ''Art of the Fugue,'' cutting off right at the point where he introduced his own name as the subject (Bb-A-C-B, which, in the German way of naming notes (where Bb is B, and B is H), is B-A-C-H), although this was more a case of setting it aside for a while and not getting back to it before his death rather than dying while working on it. This is referenced in ''[[Godel Escher Bach|Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' ("Contracrostipunctus"), where a glass goblet supposedly made by J.S. Bach shatters on the [[Musical Trigger]] of the Tortoise playing the four notes on a violin.
Line 235:
** Six were released after being polished by Ono in 1984, along with six of Ono's compositions and released as the album ''Milk and Honey''. Four more were given to the surviving Beatles by Ono in early 1994. The other three Beatles and producer [[Electric Light Orchestra|Jeff Lynne]] reworked the demos into new Beatles songs, and "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" were later released as singles and on "Anthology" albums.
** These new songs - which [[Broken Base|rather split the fanbase]] - were parodied by [[Mitch Benn]] in "Please Don't Release This Song" in which John Lennon pleads for his unfinished music ''not'' to be re-recorded and released after his death.
* George Harrison died while working on the album ''Brainwashed''; it was completed by his son Dhani Harrison and former Travelling Wilbury bandmate Jeff Lynne. They made it considerably more lavish than George would have if he had
** On the subject of the Traveling Wilburys, the band averted this by continuing after [[Roy Orbison]] died shortly after their first album's release, but it severely shortened their intended plans, and they released one more album in 1990 before splitting.
** George Harrison was also one of the producers of [[Cirque Du Soleil]]'s ''Love''; in the making-of special his wife and son are seen watching the troupe's dress rehersal some months after George died, and it's eerie seeing Dhani (with [[What Beautiful Eyes!|wide, bright eyes]]) looking through a giant projection of his nearly-identical father.
Line 261:
* [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] left no less than ''four'' unfinished symphonies upon his death, including his 8th, the "Unfinished Symphony". He also left around half a dozen piano sonatas in partially completed states, most of which have been speculatively sketched to completion by some performers but all of which are generally either performed in their incomplete states or simply dropped from the repertoire. Schubert generally sketched pieces to the point where he could easily complete them if he found a publisher for them, but his success rate at finding publishers for his work during his lifetime was rather modest, meaning he left many unfinished manuscripts at his death.
* The day before Brazilian satirical band Mamonas Assassinas were to start an international tour (which would be followed by a break to record their second album), they were killed in a plane crash.
* The Visual Kei symphonic metal band [[Versailles]] had gone major in 2009, and was recording a new album and about to embark on its first tour as a major band when, on August
* [[
* It didn't take [[
** Bonham's death was particularly ill-timed: it happened on the day Zep were rehearsing for a new US tour.
* After their brief reunion at Live 8, it seemed like we might finally hear a new [[Pink Floyd]] album. Then Richard Wright died...
** Not to mention, Roger Waters is retiring - [[The Wall]] tour is intended as his final hurrah. (Despite past squabbles, however, the three remaining members of [[
* After [[
** Although Freddie apparently gave Paul Rodgers his blessing to replace him, preventing total Band Existence Failure, it's still not quite the same.
*** Considering Queen+Rodgers only has TWO of the original Queen members in it, it's not much of a surprise they don't live up to the original. Deacon (the bassist) practically retired when Freddie died, only doing two appearances under Queen label since. He officially hung up the bass in 1997.
* John Paul Larkin, aka Scatman John sadly died of lung cancer in his Los Angeles home on December
* There's been speculation that [[Otis Redding]] intended "(Sittin' on) The Dock of The Bay" to be part of a [[The Beatles (
* Buddy Holly [http://www.buddyhollyonline.com/apttapes.html wrote a bunch of new songs]{{Dead link}} in the months leading up to his death (including "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Crying, Waiting, Hoping") and recorded acoustic guitar demos of them. We'll never know how he intended to arrange them, but that didn't stop his label from overdubbing and releasing them on two separate occasions.
* Former La Bouche singer Melanie Thornton died in a plane crash before her solo album could be completed. The vocals from two of her unreleased songs were used in a [[Posthumous Collaboration]] with the rest of the group.
* Keyboardist Dwayne Goettel of [[Skinny Puppy]] died of a heroin overdose while the album ''The Process'' was in the works, and the rest of the group disbanded for several years. Cevin and Ogre reformed the group in 2003 with Mark Walk.
Line 285:
* Heaven and Hell singer [[Ronnie James Dio]] (formerly of Black Sabbath) died of stomach cancer in 2010. Since Heaven and Hell only existed so the non-Ozzy members of Sabbath could play with Dio again, the band pretty much ceased to existed after he died.
** Ronnie's main band, [[Dio]], were working on two follow-ups to their ''Magica'' concept album prior to his death. The story will never be completed now. (Making the way he cuts off the narration of Magica's storyline with some teases cut off by a michevious "Ah! But that’s another story!" to make you wait for the next installment much [[Harsher in Hindsight]].)
* Randy Rhoads died at the age of 25, after just two albums with [[
** Although Ozzy continued to record and perform (obviously) the sound of the band changed after Randy's death, since he made significant contributions to the songwriting of the band at the time.
* [[Milli Vanilli]] was planning a comeback with Rob and Fab as the actual lead singers, with the "Girl You Know It's True" vocalists as back-up singers. Their album, "Back and In Attack," was cancelled when Rob suddenly died of a drug overdose in 1998.
Line 292:
* Jazz critics usually cite the 1961 live recordings by pianist Bill Evans and his trio at New York's Village Vanguard as Evans' [[Growing the Beard]] moment, but 10 days after those shows were recorded bassist Scott LaFaro died in a car accident. The incident traumatized Evans and worsened his already heavy heroin addiction. Evans himself died in 1980 (of a drug-related bleeding ulcer) just as he was entering a creative renaissance.
** LaFaro is an interesting case because, due to his elevation of the bass' role to counterpoint to instead of solely support to the soloist, he is frequently regarded as being one of the three most influential bassists in jazz. The other two, Jimmy Blanton and Jaco Pastorius, also died at similarly young ages.
* In another case of
* [[George Gershwin]] died after writing five songs for the movie ''The Goldwyn Follies''; when he died, he was intending to compose a ballet for the film's dancing star Vera Zorina to choreography by George Balanchine. After George Gershwin's death, Vernon Duke supplied the additional music necessary for the film.
* Hard rock band Snot was receiving a lot of attention in the late nineties from their major label debut ''Get Some'' and their infamous antics on the 1998 Ozzfest tour. They were working on a second album until singer Lynn Strait was tragically killed in a car accident. Because Lynn died before he recorded vocals for most of the album, the band used the recorded instrumental tracks for the tribute album ''Strait Up'' with guest vocals. The only track that had Lynn's vocals, "Choose What?", was later released as a bonus track on the live album ''Alive''. The band broke up immediately following his death, but a couple of the members started a new revision of the band ten years later called [[Sdrawkcab Name|Tons]].
* [[Type O Negative]] frontman Peter Steele died of heart failure in April 2010, just as he was due to begin writing and recording for a followup to ''Dead Again''. With his passing, the band ceased to exist as well.
* A year after her [[One-Hit Wonder|only top-10 hit]], "Lovin' You", Minnie Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer, and passed away three short years later at age 31. Her daughter, Maya Rudolph, has found success in [[Saturday Night Live]].
* Both [[Hank Williams]] and Patsy Cline died extremely young (29 and 30, respectively), leaving plenty of unreleased material behind and inevitably having several posthumous hits. [[Hank Williams, Jr.]] even overdubbed one of his dad's unreleased songs as a "duet".
* [[
* Kino frontman [[Viktor Tsoi]] died in a car crash in 1990, and the last act of his band was to release the Black Album.
* Rich Mullins died in a car accident in 1997 while working on ''The Jesus Record''. It was released the following year as a double album - one disc of Rich's home demo recordings, the other disc featuring the same songs (plus one extra) given the full band treatment by Mullins' "Ragamuffin Band".
* [[Averted Trope|Averted]] by [[Behemoth]] guitarist and vocalist [[Face of the Band|Nergal]], who was diagnosed with lukemia and was initially told [[It Got Worse|that it was too advanced to fight]]. He eventually beat the disease, but if it had proved fatal it would have killed Behemoth.
* Chuck Schuldiner, the guy who pretty much invented [[Death Metal]] with his band [[Death (
* Rolf Kohler, the lead singer of Systems in Blue, died of a stroke in September 2007. The rest of the group still managed to produce a second album, ''Out of the Blue'', the following year.
* 80's Austrian pop singer [[Falco]] was working a comeback album when he was tragically killed in an auto accident in the Dominican Republic in 1998.
Line 309:
* The lead singer of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Charles Haddon, [[Driven to Suicide|committed suicide]] just before the release of their first ([[One-Book Author|and likely last]]) album.
* [[TLC]] member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was killed in a car crash in 2002, during the recording of the group's latest album ''3D''. The album was eventually finished by T-Boz and Chilli (they were determined to finish it in Left Eye's honour), in some cases using Left Eye's previously-recorded rap solos.
** There was also a posthumous album of unfinished solo material that was released in 2009 and was finished with contributions from many artists, including [[Missy Elliot]], [[Chamillionaire]] and the remaining members of TLC, T-boz and Chili, as well as Left Eye's sister Reigndrop.
* Mark Linkous, leader/only constant member of cult indie rock band [[Sparklehorse]], had dealt with depression for most of his life and had notably attempted suicide in 1996 while his band was touring as [[Radiohead]]'s opening act. That suicide attempt caused damage to his legs which never quite heeled. Linkous eventually took his own life in 2010, shortly before the wide release of his ''Dark Night of the Soul'' collaboration with Danger Mouse and [[David Lynch]]. Another project, Sparklehorse's fifth album, was left in a near-complete state after his death and has not yet seen the light of day.
* [[The B
* The sudden death of Peter Christopherson in November 2010 put an end to [[Throbbing Gristle]].
* Bradley Nowell, the singer, songwriter and guitarist for [[
* Similar to the Shostakovich example, [[Claude Debussy]] planned a collection of six instrumental sonatas, but only completed three before he died.
* The fate of [[
* Harry Nilsson, who hadn't released an album since 1980 (and that album wasn't even issued in the United States), began recording a comeback album starting in 1993. He died on January 15, 1994, and it's been reported that he finished the album a few days before that. A few tracks have been leaked, but there's never been any indication that the album, provisionally titled ''Papa's Got a Brown New Robe'', will ever be released.
== Tabletop RPG ==
* [[Gary Gygax]] left many unfinished projects behind for ''[[Dungeons
* Carl Sargent, a popular module writer for TSR, disappeared suddenly in the late '90s, leaving many D&D fans wondering what happened (according to a fellow module writer and friend of his, Sean K. Reynolds, the truth is that he was involved in a car wreck in 1997 and has been unable to write due the severity of his injuries).
* In 1995, Nigel Findley, game designer and novelist who wrote for ''[[Dungeons
* Dream Pod 9, the Publishers of ''[[Heavy Gear]]'' and ''[[Jovian Chronicles]]'' nearly suffered from this; most of the company's artists and writers left in short order, leaving both storylines in the lurch. ''Heavy Gear'' was picked up by Steve Jackson Games in 2008, nothing happened, and in August 2010, SJ Games handed the franchise back to DP9.
* Similarily averted with ''Battletech'' - Twice; when Decipher shut down FASA (who they owned at the time), the Battletech fame franchise was inhereted by Wiz Kids who, in turn, leased them to Fan Pro, a German company who had been publishing localized Battletech material for years, resulting in the game being picked up in short order. Following the shutdown of Wiz Kids, the Battletech rights (as well as most of the writing staff) went to Catalyst Gaming Labs. Most fans feel that the Fanpro-Catalyst years have been some of the best the franchise has ever had. ''Shadowrun'' experienced the same fate moving to the same companies (though fan opinion as to the quality of post-FASA releases is far from a concensus).
Line 333:
* Late in his life, Eugene O'Neill began work on two massive drama cycles: ''A Tale of Possessors Self-Dispossessed'', which was supposed to have as many as eleven plays, and ''By Way of Obit'', which would consist of eight one-act monologue plays. He only managed to complete one play in each cycle, ''A Touch of the Poet'' from the former (the fifth play out of the projected eleven) and ''Hughie'' from the latter before illness prevented further writing. All the incomplete plays were destroyed, with the exception of ''More Stately Mansions'' (the sequel to ''A Touch of the Poet''), which survived in draft form.
* After ''[[Cry the Beloved Country|Lost in the Stars]]'', Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill began work on a musical adaptation of ''[[Huckleberry Finn]]''. Weill died, and the project was aborted, leaving behind five songs.
* [[
* The death of John Latouche while working on the musical ''[[Candide]]'' with [[Leonard Bernstein]] is one major reason the show ended up having so many lyricists.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* [[Kaneto Shiozawa]], the Japanese voice of the [[Pirate Ninja Zombie Robot|Cyborg Ninja]] in the first ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', died of a brain concussion [[Death
* [[Gunpei Yokoi]], producer of ''[[Metroid]]'' and developer of the [[Game Boy]], the ubiquitous D-Pad, and infamous [[Virtual Boy]], died in a traffic accident while working on Bandai's handheld competitor, the [[Wonder Swan]].
* The [[Legacy of Kain]] series was supposed to have one more game to tie all the lose ends up, however the departure of series writer Amy Hennig for [[Uncharted Drakes Fortune|uncharted]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|waters]] and the death of [[Tony Jay]], one of the major voice actors, means that the series is now in limbo.
Line 345:
* Florian Husky, the creator of [[Super Mario War]] and one of the founders of 72dpiarmy committed suicide before progress of the game was ever finalized. While others working on the project tried their best to keep the it alive, development has officially ceased, with only a single bug release update left that has yet to show.
* RPG developer Nautilus, creators of the [[Shadow Hearts]] series, has dissolved some time in 2007. This means no possible anachronistic Lovecraftian adventures set in World War II, the Cold War and many other possibilities.
* In a non-death example, with the sacking of [[Keiji Inafune]] from [[Capcom]], the ''[[
* Downplayed in the case of ''Merlin's Revenge'', where the creator was forced to permanently abandon the series due to medical problems, explaining the whole situation in a seriously [[Tear Jerker]] speech.
* A sequel to PS1 shooter ''[[Blasto]]'' was considered after development finished but dropped after the death of Blasto's actor Phil Hartman (it was his final work). As Hartman's ad-libbed dialog was considered the soul of the project, both by staff and reviewers, it was deemed impossible to continue.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Joe D'Angelo, creator of webcomic ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120215212050/http://piratecove.jb.org/Archives.html Pirate's Cove]'', decided to avert this trope and created an "[http://piratecovecomic.blogspot.com/2007/08/august-16th-2007-death-of-pirate-cove.html ending]" that would be revealed if he died prematurely.
* Similar to the above, the writer of [[Looking for Group]] and [[Least I Could Do]] has mentioned keeping a special script which should resolve things, and his notes on future plots, in a safe in the event that he passes away before his comics finish. Either the artist has the combination, or one of their wives do.
* Paul Gadzikowski of ''Arthur, King of Time and Space'' is another example - his plan involves synthesising the many Arthurian legends into an overarching story to be told in "real time" over the twenty-five years of Arthur's reign (although he has jumped forward by a couple of years and has hinted that he will probably do so again). He has stated on several occasions that he has kept detailed notes about the rest of the story in case he passes away before the comic is due to finish in the mid to late 2020s.
* Every so often, Megatokyo's Fred Gallagher will poke fun at his sometimes-glacial update pace, and [http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/874 on one occasion] kinda hinted at this trope.
* Scott Kuehner passed away in January
* [http://captainn.net/main.html N-Fans: The Series] began to flounder in 2007, when creator Webster Swenson passed away unexpectedly. The people who inspired the other characters made a few attempts to revive the series and keep it going in his memory, but the entire website has stagnated since early 2008.
* Angel "Inqy" Yates of [[Wicked Alchemy]] wrote on her [[
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130601070804/http://www.wolfiespack.com/wordpress
* Tom Siddell, of ''[[
* The creator of Just Another Webcomic passed away after coming out of a coma. He was only 9 pages into the third volume of his work, which he was unable to continue after the coma because he had lost a lot of sensation in his drawing arm.
* It's a common joke among the ''[[
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Spoofed in ''[[
* SuperPie suffered a (fortunately non-lethal) version of this in Game 11 of [[Comic Fury Werewolf]].
* ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' has had two confirmed deaths of writers: Skelosh Delaroch and Raven Darkness.
* ''[[
Line 377:
** Also, a number of scenes in [[Small Soldiers]], released later that year, involved guns being aimed at his character. These scenes were removed because the creators realized that it would have been in poor taste, especially considering how he died.
** Similarly, The Simpsons retired Lunch Lady Doris for many years due to the death of her voice, Doris Grau, but in recent years she's speaking again (courtesy of [[Tress MacNeille]]), unlike Hutz and McClure.
* Kathleen Freeman, the voice of Ms. Gordon in ''[[As Told
* Mary Kay Bergman, who originally voiced most of the female characters on ''[[South Park]]'' (including Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Broflovski, Mrs. McCormack, Mrs. Cartman, Wendy, etc.) had suffered from depression for years and committed suicide just after finishing recording her parts for the show's third season. "Starvin Marvin In Space" and "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" were dedicated to her memory.
* Tony Jay was the voice of Megabyte, ''[[
** Long John Baldry was the voice of guest star Captain Gavin Capacitor, and he died as well.
* ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3'' features Slinky Dog, formerly voiced by Jim "Ernest" Varney, who died in 2000. Varney's friend Blake Clark supplied Slinky's voice for the third film.
** Also, Wheezy the penguin doesn't feature in the film: both his speaking (Joe Ranft) and singing (Robert Goulet) voices had died by the time the film was made.
* Lyricist Howard Ashman died in the middle of the production of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', leaving Tim Rice to supply lyrics to "One Jump" and "A Whole New World." Tim Rice was called on for the [[Screen to Stage Adaptation]] of ''[[Beauty and
* Now that Mako, the voice of Aku in ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' has died, it won't be the same when the feature film is released with someone else voicing such a memorable villain.
** Although ''[[
== Other ==
* Walt Disney. Though, contrary to certain urban legends, he did not cryogenically (or otherwise) preserve any part of his body and did not tell his employees exactly what to do after he left. The last Disney film to ever be made during his entire life was 1967's ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]''.
* [[MUGEN|Reuben Kee]] was working on making a [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] for Mugen before his boating accident.
* Mechaspyder is a cute, fairly-popular 3D Flash browser game where you are a spider and you jump on squares to get to the gold square. The game ended with a note indicating a sequel in the works. Unfortunately, the game's creator, Richard Barron, died in a car accident before work would be started on the sequel.
Line 395:
** [http://www.planetmule.com/ Enter Planet M.U.L.E..]
* ''Robotech: Crystal Dreams'' became [[Vaporware]] due to the folding of Gametek.
* A planned sequel to ''[[Twisted Metal]] Black'' called ''Harbor City'' was scrapped, but four completed levels were included in ''[[Twisted Metal]] Head On: Extra Twisted Edition'' along with a documentary claiming that ''Harbor City'' was canceled because six of the developers died in a plane crash. However, this was [[Based on a Great Big Lie]]; the "documentary" was part of an [[Alternate Reality Game]] hinting at the development of a [[
* Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War breaks off abruptly partway through the eighth book. Fortunately Xenophon picked up where Thucydides left off, so we know how the war ended. Athens lost.
* WWE superstar Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand appeared with his partner Joe "Animal" Laurinatis on the May 17, 2003 ''WWE RAW'' and despite his history of severe drug and alcohol abuse, performed exceptionally well, as he had finally gotten completely clean. According to those who knew him, Hegstrand had dedicated himself to staying drug-free for the rest of his life; unfortunately, his years of drug abuse had taken such a physical toll on his body that he died of a heart attack six months later.
Line 402:
==
* Weremonkey Gus, one of the [
* Danny Lilithborne, aka Dasrik, JuJube The Tree, blankpage, and Ricardo Arturo Lafaurie, Jr., [https://web.archive.org/web/20100525172048/http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=220982 passed away January 2nd, 2010] after several weeks in a persistent vegetative state. In his last days, he was continuing work on his highly regarded ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' fanfic "[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1519987/JuJube_the_Tree Negative Zero]", as well as a series of novels called [http://www.succubus.net/wiki/Chateau_Aensland_(saga) Chateau Aensland]. Rest in Peace.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Real Life Writes the Plot]]
[[Category:Creators]]▼
[[Category:Trivia Trope]]
[[Category:Index Failure]]
[[Category:
|