Why Did Steve Carell Leave 'The Four Seasons?' Nick’s Shocking Exit Explained

Fans of The Four Seasons were shocked when Steve Carell’s character died in the first season of the popular show. The move caught viewers off guard because Steve was billed as a leading man, and his storyline was already messy.

The Four Seasons is Netflix’s modern take on Alan Alda’s 1981 film of the same name. Tina Fey co-created the series with Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield.

The show follows three longtime couples who vacation together every season. The Netflix comedy-drama starts as a cozy vacation series about friendship, marriage drama, and midlife messiness. Then, the show removes a major character.

Steve did not leave because of any public behind-the-scenes feud or reported drama. The writers chose to write out his character, Nick.

At first, the friend group looks settled. Kate and Jack, played by Tina and Will Forte, have their familiar married rhythm. Danny and Claude, played by Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani, bring their own relationship questions to the table. Nick and Anne, played by Steve and Kerri Kenney-Silver, seem like another couple in the friend group.

Then Nick blows everything up. He decides to divorce Anne and starts dating Ginny, a much younger woman played by Erika Henningsen. In the penultimate episode, Nick gets into a fatal car crash while vacationing with Ginny and her friends.

The finale follows the group as they plan his celebration of life.

In the 1981 film, Nick does not die. The Netflix version uses his death to move the series beyond divorce fallout. The twist pushes the story into grief, aging, friendship, and the painful reality of losing someone.

Tina explained to The Hollywood Reporter that the decision came from the story, not anything messy. “We felt like at the time that everything was sort of grounded and human scale in terms of story, and we were like we do want something to happen, and that is a thing that happens to humans,” she said.

Steve handled his character’s death with humor, but he admitted it hurt. “It is a running joke now that I die in every TV show that I'm in,” he told Netflix's Tudum. “I've died in the last two, and now I die in this one. I hope to continue to die in TV shows well into the future.”

Then he got real and said Nick’s death felt sad because the cast was so lovely, and the story would hopefully continue without him.

“It’s really sad to me, because everybody is so delightful and nice, and with any luck they get to continue on with this story,” Steve added.

Steve’s character on The Morning Show, Mitch Kessler, also died in a car accident. However, Tina said she did not know about that when she pitched Nick’s death.

“He was like, ‘Why does this keep happening to me?'” Tina told The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t know that when we pitched it, so that’s on me. But I dug my heels in.”

Steve knew Nick’s fate from the beginning, but the rest of the cast reportedly learned later. Kerri said everyone felt sad when they found out. “When we got on that Zoom, everybody was so sad,” she said. While Colman called it a “punch in the gut.”