These 10 Shows Survived After Losing Their Leads, Proving It's Not Over For Yellowstone Yet

There is every indication that Kevin Costner is leaving Yellowstone. And, while hard to imagine Yellowstone without its main character, is not necessarily the end of the world. In fact, many TV shows have survived the death of a main character to exist for several more seasons - some of them even more popular than before.

What fate is there for John Dutton and the rest of the cast of Yellowstone?

Let's examine 10 TV shows that managed to survive the departure of one of their beloved cast members:

1. NYPD Blue

NYPD Blue is one of the finest examples of what happens when a popular actor ditches a show only to make it arguably more popular. David Caruso delivered a breakthrough performance as Detective John Kelly. However, in an era where it was common to use TV shows as a platform to movie roles, Caruso unexpectedly left after one season.

The rest is history: Caruso was a huge bust in Hollywood. Meanwhile, the police procedural existed for another 10 seasons and did just fine without him. NYPD Blue helped popularize the modern police procedural despite losing a main character.

2. Charmed

Charmed was popular for many reasons, including featuring a cast of three main characters who were most effective working together. However, the trio suffered a departure after Shannen Doherty quit amid her drama with co-star Alyssa Milano. For this reason, Charmed appeared destined for a sad demise.

Nevertheless, the show recovered and found a crafty way to kill off Prue Halliwell while introducing another witch (Rose McGowan) as her replacement. It was a good move by the TV producers as Charmed survived for another five seasons.

3. Two and a Half Men

Charlie Sheen has one of the most infamous implosions in recent memory. The actor began to fall off the rocker midway through his noteworthy stint on Two and a Half Men. At the time, the show had become the most popular on television.

Nonetheless, Sheen managed to blow it by creating a stir of controversy, including getting into a heated feud with Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre (sound familiar?). Despite it, the sitcom had no trouble bouncing back with Ashton Kutcher as TV ratings continued to increase for the better part of four more seasons.

4. Charlie's Angels

Farrah Fawcett joins the long list of actors that burned bridges with a TV role in an effort to become a movie star. In 1976, Fawcett was still relatively unknown before her career exploded with Charlie's Angels.

Fawcett became an overnight icon. Sadly, it also prompted her to leave the show after just one season due to creative differences with the producers. Fawcett was quickly replaced on Charlie's Angels by Cheryl Ladd, whom viewers also had no problem embracing. Charlie's Angels lasted four more seasons and spawned numerous spin-offs.

5. Roseanne

Roseanne may exemplify the situation currently facing Kevin Costner on Yellowstone better than any other TV show. Roseanne was a massive TV sensation in the 1980-90s. Later, it was revived for a 10th season (22 years after the finale of the original series). However, Roseanne Barr was quickly fired for a series of racist tweets.

In what appeared like a death sentence in cancel culture Hollywood actually turned out to be a success story for the people behind Roseanne. The series creators introduced the spin-off The Conners, which basically follows the same family minus Roseanne Barr. See, life won't be so bad post-John Dutton.

6. Spin City

Spin City is one of the more unfortunate examples of what forced a main actor to leave a show. The political comedy was a smash hit in the 1990s for Michael J. Fox. Unfortunately, the actor developed Parkinson's disease and ultimately had to leave the show.

Once again, facing a huge dilemma, the creative team found a way to recover with another actor. Charlie Sheen. Spin City was the first big breakthrough for Sheen before he later blew it with Two and a Half Men.

7. Grey's Anatomy

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan may have a brutal, bloody way he plans to kill off John Dutton from the show. After all, it's happened before. The most infamous example is Grey's Anatomy, where things didn't end up so well for Derek Shepherd.

Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) was a focal point of Grey's Anatomy despite being a romantic interest to Dr. Meredith Grey. However, Dempsey got into an off-set feud with the series creator Shonda Rhimes. It didn't sit well with Rhimes, who found a rather graphic way to remove him from the show. Despite it, Grey's Anatomy continues to run.

8. Happy Days

In the past, Yellowstone has been accused of reaching the point where it's like Fonzi 'jumping the shark.' In other words, the show continues to air but is no longer relevant or popular. Happy Days is still used as that infamous example years later due to how much the show fell off in the latter years.

For many, the show first hit a wall after Richie Cunningham left Happy Days. He may not be the most famous Happy Days character, yet he was the protagonist for the first seven seasons. As such, Happy Days never recovered after Richie said goodbye to the Army. Still, it lasted four more seasons and spawned multiple spin-offs.

9. The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries was a huge success for The CW in the early-2000s. At the time, the supernatural teen drama was the most-watched show ever on the network. Nevertheless, the show lost its protagonist Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) at the end of season six. Despite it, The Vampire Diaries remained for two more seasons and inspired a series of spin-offs.

10. Cheers

Cheers is one of the more beloved TV shows despite suffering several noteworthy departures. Cheers never managed to lose Sam Malone (Ted Danson) yet it did suffer the death of actor Nicholas Colasanto along with the exodus of Woody Harrelson. Be that as it may, the hardest goodbye was the departure of Diane Chambers. Still, Cheers went on five more seasons with Kirstie Alley as her replacement.