Author Existence Failure: Difference between revisions

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== 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.

* 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.

* [[John Keats]] managed to become one of the most influential poets of the Romantic era by the time he died at the age of 25. Many believe he could have been among the greatest writers in history if he had lived long enough. One candidate for his potential magnum opus is ''The Fall of Hyperion'', an epic poem left unfinished when he died.

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* [[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 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' [[Trilogy Creep|trilogy]] (which, by the way, is the [[Trope Namer]]). He never got to see [[The Film of the Book]] finally escape from [[Development Hell]] based on his scripts, and he was partway through writing the third ''[[Dirk Gently]]'' novel, ''[[The Salmon of Doubt]]'', which was assembled into a relatively cohesive narrative from a number of early versions he left behind.<ref>There is no point at which the text breaks off -- the published book contains only fragments, though you can figure out some of the links and where the story was going if you look for it.</ref> The book also has a collection of interviews, magazine columns, short stories, and many other otherwise-uncollected bits of Adams. To make it even more depressing, the third ''Dirk Gently'' novel was apparently planned to be a crossover between ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' and ''Dirk'' that was supposed to end both series together on a definitively happier note. Eight years later, the sixth book in the series, ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/And Another Thing|And Another Thing]]'', was written by [[Eoin Colfer]] (of the ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' series) with full support from the Adams estate.

* 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.)

* [[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.)

* [[Jane Austen]] first averted this fate for ''[[Persuasion]]'': she originally planned it for the three volume length of her other novels, and one can even see her building up for what would probably have been the cliffhanger for the second volume, but then she became terminally ill and hastily ended the novel early. However, she left a fragment of another novel, ''Sanditon,'' unfinished. It's been completed by other people more than once.

* 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.

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* [[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 with the Golden Gun]]'', is regarded as unsatisfying by many fans. It was the draft he had completed at the time of his death, and lacks many of the characteristic "Fleming" touches he would have added with subsequent revisions. Perhaps because of this, over the years a myth arose that noted author Kingsley Amis actually completed the book, but this has since been debunked (Amis did however go on to write the first post-Fleming Bond novel, Colonel Sun, under the pen name Robert Markham). It has also been suggested that the draft published was indeed Fleming's final approved draft.

* [[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).

* [[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.{{verify}} 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.

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* 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.

* Czech humorist Jaroslav Hašek died while writing part four of a planned seven volume novel series ''The Good Soldier Švejk'', making it one of the few war novels where you never see any kind of war. Then Robert Kurka died before finishing his opera based on it. Moral of the story: don't work on ''Švejk''.

* 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.

* [[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]].

* 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 worked painstakingly to fulfill Jordan's plotlines as the author wanted them; the introduction for "The Gathering Storm" classifies the book as something to the effect of "Robert Jordan's story as told by Brandon Sanderson".

* [[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 worked painstakingly to fulfill Jordan's plotlines as the author wanted them; the introduction for "The Gathering Storm" classifies the book as something to the effect of "Robert Jordan's story as told by Brandon Sanderson".

* A lot of [[Franz Kafka]]'s stuff was unfinished, including the novel ''The Trial'' and a bunch of short stories. He still had fragments. What's more, he never intended to publish any of it; his papers were to be burned unread upon his death, and we only have them today because no one followed instructions. Many people have speculated that Kafka left his papers to Max Brod because he knew Brod would under no circumstances obey his request to have the papers burned.

* 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''.

* [[Vladimir Nabokov]] died before finishing ''[[wikipedia:The Original of Laura|The Original of Laura]]''. What remains is a series of notecards with isolated scenes and plot which only his family and a few selected scholars have seen. He requested that the notecards be burnt in the event of his death, but his son, believing that the story was Nabokov's best, agonized for 30 years before deciding in 2008 to publish it.

* Patrick O'Brian, author of the [[Aubrey-Maturin]] series, died after finishing the first three chapters of the 21st book. [[The Powers That Be]] published it anyway. It was surprisingly well-received. O'Brian had previously foreshadowed in his books that he had no intention of ending the series, with two characters discussing how many nearly-great stories through history would have been better off with no ending whatsoever.

* Patrick O'Brian, author of the [[Aubrey-Maturin]] series, died after finishing the first three chapters of the 21st book. [[The Powers That Be]] published it anyway. It was surprisingly well-received. O'Brian had previously foreshadowed in his books that he had no intention of ending the series, with two characters discussing how many nearly-great stories through history would have been better off with no ending whatsoever.<ref>The twenty volumes that he did write make a satisying narrative, though; they begin with Aubrey taking his first independent command, and end with Aubrey promoted to the point where he will never have another independent command. The series is the story of ''Captain'' Aubrey.</ref>

* 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''.

* Nicholas Pekearo intended ''The Wolfman'' to be first in a series involving a "detective werewolf" and his unique crime-solving method. He was also a police officer, and unfortunately he was gunned down in the line of duty, chasing the gunman armed with nothing but his hands and courage.

* 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.

* [[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.

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* The Chinese novel ''The Story of the Stone'' (a.k.a. ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]'') breaks off at chapter eighty, although it isn't entirely clear to what extent this is because the author died. Current versions usually use an ending provided by a different, somewhat inferior, writer.

* In early 1990s, [[Strugatsky Brothers|Arkady & Boris Strugatsky]] set out to write a final [[Noon Universe]] novel. Unfortunately, Arkady Strugatsky died before the novel could be completed. Boris Strugatsky chose to shelve the novel rather than finish it—as he explained in the subsequent interviews, he could not bring himself to complete it.

* [[J. R. R. ~~Tolkien|JRR~~ Tolkien]] died with ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', his life's work, in a fragmentary and unfinished state; his son Christopher polished it into a publishable work. The younger Tolkien additionally published the 12-volume ''[[The ~~History of Middle Earth|~~History of Middle Earth]]'' series of drafts, poems, and notes from his father's collection, and most recently the novel of ''[[The Children of Húrin~~|The Children of Hurin~~]]''. Several statements Tolkien made during life would seem to indicate that he didn't want any of his other peripheral works (''The History of Middle-Earth'', et al.) to ever be published. Fortunately, his son disagreed and we now have a relatively good understanding of how incredibly detailed Tolkien's world really was.

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] died with ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', his life's work, in a fragmentary and unfinished state; his son Christopher polished it into a publishable work. The younger Tolkien additionally published the 12-volume ''[[The History of Middle Earth]]'' series of drafts, poems, and notes from his father's collection, and most recently{{when}} the novel of ''[[The Children of Húrin]]''. Several statements Tolkien made during life would seem to indicate that he didn't want any of his other peripheral works (''The History of Middle-Earth'', et al.) to ever be published. Fortunately, his son disagreed and we now have a relatively good understanding of how incredibly detailed Tolkien's world really was.

* 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 ''[[The Aeneid]]''. Some short passages and placeholder lines remain, as well as some incongruities with the characters. He left instructions for it to be burned, though a literate slave read it and saved it because he recognized the merit of the work. The ending is often considered contradictory to the hero's nature, resulting in medieval poets and scholars writing terrible conclusions with a "book 13."

* [[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.

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* 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.

* [[Chrétien de ~~Troyes|Chretien De~~ Troyes]], medieval composer of [[King Arthur|Arthurian romances]], died before finishing ''Perceval,'' notable for being the first appearance of the [[Holy Grail]]. There are at least three continuations to the original romance, and Wolfram von Eschenbach's ''Parzival'' is an [[Adaptation Expansion|expansion and conclusion]] of the story. This is interesting, because Chrétien's original ideas about the Holy Grail appeared to be quite different from what later writers envisioned and it's odd to wonder [[What Could Have Been]] if he had finished it.

* [[Chrétien de Troyes]], medieval composer of [[King Arthur|Arthurian romances]], died before finishing ''Perceval,'' notable for being the first appearance of the [[Holy Grail]]. There are at least three continuations to the original romance, and Wolfram von Eschenbach's ''Parzival'' is an [[Adaptation Expansion|expansion and conclusion]] of the story. This is interesting, because Chrétien's original ideas about the Holy Grail appeared to be quite different from what later writers envisioned and it's odd to wonder [[What Could Have Been]] if he had finished it.

* 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.

* [[C. S. ~~Lewis|CS~~ Lewis]] left unfinished upon his death a manuscript of ''The Dark Tower'', which would have been a sequel of sorts to [[The Space Trilogy]]. It was published in its fragmentary form with some of his unfinished short stories.

* [[C. S. Lewis]] left unfinished upon his death a manuscript of ''The Dark Tower'', which would have been a sequel of sorts to [[The Space Trilogy]]. It was published in its fragmentary form with some of his unfinished short stories.

* [[Philip K. ~~Dick|Philip K~~ Dick]] was working on a novel called ''[[wikipedia:The Owl in Daylight|The Owl In Daylight]]'' at the time of his death. His widow Tessa later published a book by the same title; notably, she ignored his sketchy notes on the characters and drew on his considerably more developed notes on the book's proposed themes.

* [[Philip K. Dick]] was working on a novel called ''[[wikipedia:The Owl in Daylight|The Owl in Daylight]]'' at the time of his death. His widow Tessa later published a book by the same title; notably, she ignored his sketchy notes on the characters and drew on his considerably more developed notes on the book's proposed themes.

* A scene from [[Mark Twain]]'s unfinished final novel ''The Mysterious Stranger'' somehow made its way into the 1985 claymation film ''The Adventures of Mark Twain'' (the infamous "Satan" sequence.) Talk about your [[Small Reference Pools]].

** 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 ''[[Pharsalia]]'' (the Civil War) when he had a heavily foreshadowed Author Existence Failure. The first parts of of the epic are very heavily pro-Nero. Then he had a falling out with Nero, and the rest of the epic is very anti-Nero. Nero was not the kind of ruler who tolerated this behavior. He was part of Piso's conspiracy against Nero, and had to commit suicide at age 25.

* [[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''.

* [[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.

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* [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|"My wife has instructions that the instant I die, she has to burn all the unfinished stories. And there may be a hundred unfinished stories in this house, maybe more than that. There's three quarters of a novel. No, these things are not to be finished by other writers, no matter how good they are."}}

** The executor of his estate - [[J. Michael Straczynski]] - has ignored that for at least ''[[The Last Dangerous Visions]]''... but those stories weren't Ellison's.

* [[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.

* [[Gordon R. Dickson]] died after completing the ninth 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 eleventh 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.

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* Kate Ross (Katherine Jean Ross) was a mystery writer/attorney in Boston, Massachusetts. She died of breast cancer at just 42, after publishing only 4 novels (and 1 short story) in her award-winning Julian Kestrel Regency-period mystery series. As one fan says in her Amazon.com Listmania description, "After revealing her hero's past with exquisite subtlety for 3 3/4 books, she suddenly tells us everything about him in the last few pages of the fourth one, because she knows she's dying. So this is a very short list of great books."

== Live Action TV ==

== 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 ~~afterward—mainly~~ due to the fact that the show's producers pretty much rejected Holmes's planned ending (which featured the Doctor and the <s>Junkyard</s> Valeyard [or the Master] falling through a "time vent", with no way out) as being too risky, given that the show was hanging by a thread and that said ending would give the BBC the excuse to cancel the series, legal complications meant that the writers who eventually took on the job (Pip & Jane Baker) weren't allowed to be told how Holmes and Saward had planned to conclude the story.

* ''[[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 afterward — mainly due to the fact that the show's producers pretty much rejected Holmes's planned ending (which featured the Doctor and the <s>Junkyard</s> Valeyard [or the Master] falling through a "time vent", with no way out) as being too risky, given that the show was hanging by a thread and that said ending would give the BBC the excuse to cancel the series, legal complications meant that the writers who eventually took on the job (Pip & Jane Baker) weren't allowed to be told how Holmes and Saward had planned to conclude the story.

** 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.

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* [[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: The Embraced]]'', a tv series based on ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', was cancelled after 8 episodes. However, any hope that the series could be picked up again was lost when Mark Frankel, the actor who played the Prince of the City (and was considered one of the show's assets), was killed in a motorcycle crash soon after the final episode aired.

* ''[[Kindred: The Embraced]]'', a TV series based on ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', was cancelled after eight episodes. However, any hope that the series could be picked up again was lost when Mark Frankel, the actor who played the Prince of the City (and was considered one of the show's assets), was killed in a motorcycle crash soon after the final episode aired.

* ''[[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.

** This has actually led to a belief that ''Father Ted'' was cancelled because of his death, when in fact it was always planned to be just three series.

* ''[[Treme]]'' writer David Mills, who had also worked on ''[[The Wire]]'', died of an aneurysm while on set just days before the show's premier.

* [[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).

* ''[[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 posthumously. Unfortunately, this will not improve the [[Downer Ending|cliffhanger]] situation.}}

* ''[[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.

** 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."

* 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-Ending Misdemeanor|fired for his alcoholism.]]

* Former ''[[Jackass]]'' cast member Ryan Dunn died in a car accident in June 2011, after [[One-Episode Wonder|just one episode]] of ''Proving Ground'' - a ''[[MythBusters]]'' inspired [[Experiment Show]] series he co-hosted on G4 - had aired. The show was pulled immediately, a presumed difficult decision for the network, considering that the series premiered to decent ratings and they had spent quite a bit of time in the preceding weeks promoting the series on their other programs. They eventually aired the remaining eight episodes later in the Summer of 2011, but the show's future without Dunn remains uncertain.

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* 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.

* 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 re-occurrence disease in September 2011.

== Music ==

* Depending on who you ask, there are between ten and two hundred unreleased Kurt Cobain and/or [[Nirvana]] songs (the truth, likely, is somewhere in between the two extremes). How "finished" the hypothetical tracks are is also a subject of some debate, with Grohl, Noveselic, Love, and any number of other people often contradicting one another, and occasionally, more often than that in Love's case, contradicting themselves. The only thing they all seem to agree on is that there are Kurt Cobain tracks the fans have not heard, and probably never will until Love dies, and even then only maybe.

** 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.

* [[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 ''[[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.

** The fugue specifically cuts off after the first entrance of the "B-A-C-H" subject in counterpoint to the first and second subjects; the order in which the first three subjects appear in each of the four voices has led to speculation that Bach intended to make the final fugue a ''quadruple'' fugue, with the main subject from the previous fugues as the fourth subject. Some of the speculative completions of the fugue include the fourth subject (most notably that of Hungarian musicologist Zoltan Goncz), others only use the three already introduced by Bach.

* [[Ludwig Van Beethoven|Beethoven's]] 10th Symphony had a similar fate.

* [[John Lennon]] recorded a large number of demos before his death in 1980 that were not used on Double Fantasy (his 1980 album ~~with~~ recorded with his wife, Yoko Ono).

* [[John Lennon]] recorded a large number of demos before his death in 1980 that were not used on ''Double Fantasy'' (his 1980 album recorded with his wife, [[Yoko Ono]]).

** 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 lived—we have [[Word of God]] on that; Lynne felt that doing otherwise would've dishonored his memory.

* [[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 lived—we have [[Word of God]] on that; Lynne felt that doing otherwise would've dishonored his memory.

** 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.

** 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.

** 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 rehearsal 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.

* And speaking of Roy Orbison, he was in the midst of a major comeback when he died of a heart attack in 1988.

* And speaking of [[Roy Orbison]], he was in the midst of a major comeback when he died of a heart attack in 1988.

* [[Jimi Hendrix]] died before completing a planned double album provisionally titled 'First Rays of the New Rising Sun'. It was subsequently released over three posthumous albums; ''Cry of Love'', ''Rainbow Bridge'', and ''War Heroes''. When the Hendrix family regained control of his estate in 1997 they withdrew these albums and released a re-compiled ''First Rays...'', based mostly on Jimi's notes, as an 'official' Hendrix album.

** The "non-family" posthumous albums featured various session guitarists overdubbed and intermingled with Hendrix's work, and given that Hendrix's guitar is pretty much why people listen to Hendrix, fans were not amused in the slightest.

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