Story of Why George Costanza’s Fiancée Susan Was Killed on SEINFELD
Seinfeld is one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. It's one of those shows that I never get bored of. No matter how many times I watch these episodes of it, I still laugh. One of the most surprising and hilarious moments of the series is when George Costanza's fiancée, Susan, was killed off because the glue on the envelopes of their wedding invitations was toxic.
Turns out there were some behind the scenes issues going on that led to the character's demise. Jason Alexander was recently a guest on Howard Stern's morning radio show, and it was there he revealed that he found it very difficult to play off the actress who played Susan, Heidi Swedberg. He explains the situation below thanks to Uproxx:
“After every episode we’d all go out — not the guest cast — but the four of us and Larry would go out and have a bite to eat and we would just bitch about everything. And I kept saying ‘I’m going out of my mind, you guys. You’re killing me. I can’t understand how to play off of this girl. I’m sure that this stuff is not working — it can’t be!’ And they’re going ‘It works great, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I was the only actor doing scenes with her … and finally they do an episode where Elaine and Jerry have a lot of material with her, and they do the week and then we get to the restaurant afterwards and they go ‘You know what? It’s fucking impossible. It’s impossible!’ And Julia actually said ‘I know, don’t you just wanna kill her?’ And Larry went ‘Kabang!'”
Damn, that sounds harsh. What's interesting about this is that the fans thought the chemistry between the two characters was great. Maybe that awkwardness between the two added to the dynamic of the characters that we saw in the show.
Alexander later realized that what he said about Swedberg was pretty mean, and he felt awful about recalling that story. He explained on Twitter that it was more of an issue with himself:
I and the cast really liked and like Heidi. She is a kind, lovely person who undoubtedly worked really hard to create Susan and that character was clearly what Larry and Jerry wanted her to be for George. I just felt I was on uncertain ground in how to play off that character and I was always concerned that it wasn't working. And that's what I would voice concern about. But because the scenes were playing the way they were, the relationship with George and Susan sustained a whole season. People clearly liked the interplay even though I believed I was "off".
Larry and Jerry were not sure how that relationship would end. They didn't really want George married but all the alternatives seemed predictable. They were always looking for an inventive end to the engagement. So when the comment was made about "killing", no one was talking about the actress - they were talking about the character. And that made a creative lightbulb go off apparently.
But in telling this story, it sounds like we are putting a heavy burden on Heidi. I, personally, am not. Heidi would always ask if there was anything in the scenes she could do or if I had any thoughts. She was generous and gracious and I am so mad at myself for retelling this story in any way that would diminish her. If I had had more maturity or more security in my own work, I surely would have taken her query and possibly tried to adjust the scenes with her. She surely offered. But, I didn't have that maturity or security. And, Larry and Jerry would probably have killed me as it was all playing exactly as they wanted. Clearly Susan and George were coming off just the way they wanted.
I just thought that this was an interesting behind-the-scenes story. I love reading about behind-the-scenes stories of films and TV shows, and I thought any Seinfeld fans out there might enjoy this little bit of insight and drama. It also reveals that the show didn't really have any clear direction on where they wanted to take these characters. I think that's one of the reasons why the show was so great and unpredictable.