10 More TV Storylines Actors REFUSED To Do
These actors knew better than the people writing the show - or so they thought.
The whirlwind pace of TV production means that there often isn't much time for actors to experiment creatively, and that more of than not, they need to just stick to the script and get things in the can.
But sometimes a scene or storyline is objectionable enough, for one reason or another, that they just flat-out refuse to perform it, forcing the creatives to go back to the drawing board and retool the scene to their liking.
As a sequel to our recent article on the very subject, here are another 10 actors who vetoed stories, scenes, and single moments from some of the biggest TV shows of all time.
Perhaps they felt the storyline was inconsistent with the character they've spent many years playing, they simply weren't interested in performing what was written, or they had a moral objection - whether justified or not - to what was being asked of them.
Whatever the reason, these actors all told the writers to get back in a room and start redrafting, in turn coming up with something which the star found more palatable...
10. Stringer Bell Rests In P*ss - The Wire
Idris Elba gave a phenomenal performance as enterprising gangster Stringer Bell in The Wire, so fans were gutted to see him go when he was shot dead by Brother Mouzone (Michael Potts) and Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) in the late season three episode "Middle Ground."
But the show's creator David Simon originally had a more... involved death scene planned for String, where after being shot and killed, Omar would urinate on Bell's corpse as the final humiliation.
In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Elba revealed his reaction to this planned story beat: "I told [Simon] it was absolute tragedy, that it was sensational, and that it wasn't going to happen."
With Elba flat-out refusing to play a pissed-on dead body, Simon and the episode's writer, George Pelecanos, ultimately decided to rewrite the scene to remove Omar's final insult.
On one hand it certainly would've been consistent with Omar's characterisation, but on the other, you can appreciate why Elba felt it was a little much.