Why Did Alan Dale Leave the CW Drama 'Dynasty' After Four Seasons?

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 4 of Dynasty.

Since Season 4 of Dynasty started, fans have been teased on which character was being mourned over at a funeral. In Episode 13, audiences finally found out that it would be the beloved butler of the Carrington family, Joseph Anders, played by Alan Dale. Alan has portrayed the character since the reboot premiered in 2017. While saving Fallon (Elizabeth Gillies) and Liam (Adam Huber) from two kidnappers, Joseph suffered a rib injury that unfortunately turned out to be fatal.

That didn't actually kill him, but as he was driving to visit Cristal (Daniella Alonso) in the hospital, the pain distracted him, which caused him to crash. Joseph’s death was absolutely a twist, though his tender moment with Fallon earlier in the episode provided enough dramatic foreshadowing to spell death for the butler. He tells Fallon, “Nothing’s going to happen to you while I can help it. You’re like a daughter to me."

When asked by Fallon if he’s going to forgive Kirby (Maddison Brown), he answered, “I already have, and I’ll be glad to tell her so when I see her next." However, we know he’ll never get the chance to tell his daughter. This shocking conclusion totally left fans spinning and wanting to know why he left the show. Keep reading to find out why.

Who knew that it would be the dear butler who would get killed off of the series? Well, maybe fans of Alan's who've watched him on television throughout the years knew it would be him since the actor is well-known for having his characters killed off in television shows. The first time Alan was killed off of a show was in the 1980s on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, where he played Jim Robinson and died of a heart attack.

When he starred in Fox's teen drama The O.C. in the early 2000s, his character Caleb Nichol met his maker in the same way and then fell into the pool and drowned. Alan went on to star in Ugly Betty, and that's right, he died of a heart attack on that show too. Alan has not come forward and publically announced why he decided to leave Dynasty after four seasons. But in a Dynasty discussion group on Reddit, it was stated that he was wanting to leave for some time.

The OP who shared numerous spoilers also wrote, "The showrunners always planned on killing off a series regular, and since Alan wanted to leave, it made sense to kill off Anders." According to other spoilers they shared, "Anders will appear through flashbacks and help characters through situations."

Hopefully, he will materialize, especially for Fallon, who's truly heartbroken. Fans took to social media after the new broke that Anders had died.

One fan tweeted, "OMG! Didn't see that coming. I'm going to miss him. He is the glitter glue of the Carringtons. Don't you dare touch Fallon."

Another added, "I've got a feeling he's not really gone ... you didn't see him dead." Perhaps he's not really dead, and he's unconscious, and his funeral is only a dream. However, in the original scripted series, Anders did die in Season 4 by a self-inflicted gun wound. Only time will tell if he is indeed dead.

Dynasty airs on Fridays at 9 p.m. EST on the CW.