Why did they kill off Cordy?
- Thread starter Dazza
- Start date
To the best of my knowledge (which is probably faulty and lacking in places) there was bad blood between Joss Whedon and Charisma Carpenter from season 4 because he had plans for Cordy (turning her evil) and Charisma (having suffered miscarriages) took a while to let him/the show know that she was pregnant which effectively 'ruined' whatever plans he had for her character.
Out of spite/desperation her pregnancy was written into the show in a 'demonic' fashion and her contract subsequently not renewed... probably due to miffed feelings from all parties.
I doubt at that point that she fought to get back on the show (I would be hurt if my pregnancy was treated like something 'demonic' that more or less ruined the character I had played for seven years...) and Charisma only agreed to return in season 5 with the promise that Cordelia wasn't going to die. (Later it was David Greenwalt I believe who told her how this would happen and she agreed that it was a great ending to her character.)
Out of spite/desperation her pregnancy was written into the show in a 'demonic' fashion and her contract subsequently not renewed... probably due to miffed feelings from all parties.
I doubt at that point that she fought to get back on the show (I would be hurt if my pregnancy was treated like something 'demonic' that more or less ruined the character I had played for seven years...) and Charisma only agreed to return in season 5 with the promise that Cordelia wasn't going to die. (Later it was David Greenwalt I believe who told her how this would happen and she agreed that it was a great ending to her character.)
The 'official' theory was that Joss and the other writers said that they just ran out of things for the character to do, and they couldn't think of anymore storylines for her. But Charisma did not want to leave, despite her new born son. (God, I can't believe Donovan will be 11 this year!)
But what [MENTION=9799]Taake[/MENTION] said is what has trickles down through fandom over the years. Charisma keeping quiet about her pregnancy until she physically couldn't anymore caused a lot of hasty rewrites in S4, which caused the choppy, disjointed and rushed feeling to the season, and Joss and the other writers weren't happy with her about this.
From Charisma's perspective, I can understand her point of view. She'd had a lot of problems getting pregnant and had a few miscarriages. It makes sense that she would want to make sure that this pregnancy was going to be okay before she told anyone. But, from a employment perspective, it might have been a better idea for her to at least tell Joss as early as possible, so that he was able to come up with an alternative storyline, if the pregnancy progressed. God forbid she miscarried again, she would have still needed time off to recover from that, so the scripts would have to change anyhow.
I read somewhere that it was because Charisma miscarried that Cordelia and Groo took off in the middle of S3, but I've never had that confirmed. Anyone have a link or something to that?
But what [MENTION=9799]Taake[/MENTION] said is what has trickles down through fandom over the years. Charisma keeping quiet about her pregnancy until she physically couldn't anymore caused a lot of hasty rewrites in S4, which caused the choppy, disjointed and rushed feeling to the season, and Joss and the other writers weren't happy with her about this.
From Charisma's perspective, I can understand her point of view. She'd had a lot of problems getting pregnant and had a few miscarriages. It makes sense that she would want to make sure that this pregnancy was going to be okay before she told anyone. But, from a employment perspective, it might have been a better idea for her to at least tell Joss as early as possible, so that he was able to come up with an alternative storyline, if the pregnancy progressed. God forbid she miscarried again, she would have still needed time off to recover from that, so the scripts would have to change anyhow.
I read somewhere that it was because Charisma miscarried that Cordelia and Groo took off in the middle of S3, but I've never had that confirmed. Anyone have a link or something to that?
VisionGirl
I've heard that too (about season 3) although I have no confirmation.