Notable Instances of "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome" (may possibly contain spoilers)

The Blind Eternities forum

Posted on Jan. 6, 2019, 3:02 p.m. by DemonDragonJ

"Chuck Cunningham Syndrome" is a trope in which a character in a story disappears without any explanation; usually, this phenomenon occurs mainly in comedy series or other series that do not have central storylines or strict continuities, but it can happen in serious stories, as well. It was named in honor of Chuck Cunningham, the older brother of Richie Cunningham in Happy Days, who abruptly vanished after the second season, and was scarcely ever mentioned, again.

This thread is to discuss noteworthy instances of the trope in popular media; it is possible that some of these examples may be spoilers, so please cover such instances with spoiler tags.

In Fringe, a new agent by the name of Amy Jessup was introduced in the first episode of the second season, and she next appeared in the second episode of that season, implying that she would be a new main character, but she never appeared again, after that, and was not even mentioned. Also, in that series,

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Charlie Francis died in the first season, but, when the concept of alternate universes was introduced, it was revealed that Charlie Francis was still alive in the red universe, but, after several appearances, the other Charlie disappeared with no explanation.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Betty Ross, Emil Blonsky, and Dr. Sterns were all major characters in the 2008 Incredible Hulk film, but none of them have been mentioned even once after that, which was made even more egregious when Thaddeus Ross, Betty's father, appeared in two more films (Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War).

What does everyone else have to say about this? What are some noteworthy instances of "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome" that you wish to mention?

Unlife says... #2

I think I can speak a bit on Fringe. If I remember correctly, Amy Jessup was going to be introduced as a new secondary character and supporting storyline, but fans were frustrated that they were adding a new character with expanding on existing ones (specifically Astrid), so they decided to cut it short and use Agent Farnsworth more instead. Personally I prefer the way they ended up going but it would have been nice not to add Agent Jessup to begin with.

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I know there was an episode shown out of order, it was filmed first season with Agent Francis but shown second season after he'd been killed off. Can you recall which episode in season 1 he was killed, I can't seem to find it.

January 7, 2019 7 a.m.

Boza says... #3

Cursed Garruk Wildspeaker - introduced in one set, only to disappear in the last 7-8 years with nary a mention.

January 7, 2019 11:12 a.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #4

Another example that I cannot believe that I forgot to mention is Roxanne from A Goofy Movie; one of the two major plotlines of that movie is Max seeking to impress her (the other is Goofy attempting to bond with Max), yet she is neither seen nor mentioned in the sequel, An Extremely Goofy Movie, which is very weird, considering how Max was practically obsessed with her in the first film; there could have at least been one or two lines about how she was attending a different college than the one that Max was attending. Roxanne's friend, Stacy, also vanished without a trace, as well.

January 7, 2019 9:45 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #5

In the second season of The Big Bang Theory, Leonard had a girlfriend named Stephanie Barnett, who appeared in several episodes and then vanished without any explanation (my presumption is that she was not a popular character with the audience).

March 9, 2019 11:17 p.m.