Daniel Radcliffe Never Dreams As Harry Potter

'Woman in Black' star opens up to MTV News about his 'really weird' dreams — and his constant anxiety too.
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Daniel Radcliffe

After finally facing off against Voldemort and then going head-to-head with the Woman in Black, Daniel Radcliffe shouldn't have much to worry about. But at the age of 22, he has already become one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, and with that amount of recognition comes some worries.

When the actor spoke with MTV News' Josh Horowitz, he opened up about his anxiety. Radcliffe's energy comes across clearly during interviews, speaking quickly throughout and touching on many topics in a short amount of time, something the actor's aware of. "Anxiety, yeah, a lot just because you've met me and you know what I'm like," Radcliffe told Horowitz. "I'm a pretty anxious, high-energy person. I think that goes along with it."

It should come as no surprise that Radcliffe has more than a busy schedule, which factors into his anxiety. "I'll always worry about something, and if I don't have something to worry about, I'll worry about that," he said.

Radcliffe also talked for a while about his dreams. He said he doesn't dream often, but that when he does, they're often pretty strange. "I very rarely remember dreams anymore. Over the last year, I haven't had one that I remembered," Radcliffe said. "My dreams are always really weird. I remember I was talking to someone a while ago who was telling me about their dream. They said it was mental. 'I was at work. All this stuff needed getting done. I couldn't do it all in time.' I was like, 'That is the most mundane dream in the whole world.' "

When he does dream, however, his subconscious takes on appropriately epic proportions. "My dreams are always, like, I have to save something or save the world or something," Radcliffe said. "It's pretty exciting, but it only happens about once a year."

Even if he is dreaming about saving the world, it's not as his most famous character, a fact he's grateful for.

"Before I did the run of ['How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,'] I was dreaming about being Finch and what it would be onstage and those kind of anxiety things," he said. "No, I've never dreamed as Harry, thank God. If I had said 'yes' to that question, there would be a lot of people all over the Internet going, 'Oh, my God, he needs therapy.' "

Check out everything we've got on "The Woman in Black."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

• MTV Rough Cut: Daniel Radcliffe

Adele ‘Can’t Wait’ To Sing Live At Grammys

Singer has not performed since undergoing vocal cord surgery in November.
By Christina Garibaldi

Adele
Photo: Jon Furniss/ WireImage

After months of vocal rest, Adele is returning to the stage for her first live performance, and she's doing it at the Grammys. The six-time Grammy nominee will grace the stage live on February 12 for the first time since undergoing surgery to stop bleeding from a polyp on her vocal cords in November.

Adele broke the good news to her fans on Tuesday (January 31) via Twitter. "Ima be, Ima be singing at the Grammys.

It's been so long I started to forget I was a singer!" Adele tweeted. "I can't wait, speak soon xx."

This will be the second time that Adele has graced the Grammy stage. She performed her hit song "Chasing Pavements" in 2009 at the annual awards show. That same night, Adele took home two awards, for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Pavements."

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the U.K. singer expressed gratitude. "I'm immensely proud to have been asked to perform at this year's Grammy Awards," she said. "It's an absolute honor to be included in such a night and for it to be my first performance in months is very exciting and of course nerve-racking, but what a way to get back into it all."

This year, Adele has plenty of company from other A-list nominees set to sing at the show. Rihanna, Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Aldean and Nicki Minaj will all perform live at the 54th Annual Grammys, which will be hosted by LL Cool J, the first time in seven years that the show has featured a host.

Earlier this month, Adele expressed her excitement about the awards, tweeting, "Looking forward to @theGRAMMYs on Feb 12! #WeAreMusic."

Adele is up for six awards this year, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year for her record-breaking 21. Just last week, the "Rolling in the Deep" singer's second album marked its 17th non-consecutive week at #1 on the Billboard albums chart.

The singer will follow her performance at the Grammys by taking the stage on February 21 at the Brit Awards, where she has three nominations. Earlier this month Adele took to her Twitter about the nominations. "F---ing happy, thank you for the nods xx," she tweeted.

Are you excited to see Adele perform at the Grammy Awards? Let us know in the comments.

• Adele's 'Magical' Road To Success

• 2012 Grammy Performers

• Adele

Should Justin Bieber Remake ‘Fear’? Reese Witherspoon Weighs In!

Actress talks dishes about rumors during 'MTV First: This Means War,' airing tonight at 7:56 p.m. on MTV and MTV.com!
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Justin Bieber
Photo: Scott Legato/ FilmMagic

A few weeks back, a rumor hit the Internet that Justin Bieber wanted to remake "Fear," his pal Mark Wahlberg's classic thriller. Being that Wahlberg and Bieber already have a project in the works, it wouldn't be too off base for the teen star to try his hand at the creepy film that follows a young man (Walhberg) who becomes obsessed with his teen girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon) and goes on a dangerous rampage when the romance turns sour.

Witherspoon will sit down with MTV News on Tuesday (January 31) for an exclusive interview and premiere of a previously unseen clip from her upcoming film, "This Means War." The special, "MTV First: This Means War," will air at 7:56 p.m. ET on MTV and MTV.com. And, during that chat, she has an interesting reaction to the news that her film may get a new-millennium remake.

"Oh, really? Fine, great. That'd be cool. Would he be playing me, or is he playing Mark Wahlberg?" she wondered. "Is it like a girl who harasses the family, like a stalker who can't leave him alone? That would be good, right? I mean girls get crazy about him. Yeah, he's very talented."

Much like MTV First: Reese Witherspoon" hits MTV on Tuesday at 7:56 p.m. ET, check out Reese's first-ever, totally adorable MTV interview, when she opened up in 1991 at the age of 14 about what drew her to Hollywood. And make sure to stick with Reese's chat when it moves to MTV.com after an exclusive clip premieres Tuesday on MTV!

• Justin Bieber

Chris Brown ‘This Generation’s Michael Jackson,’ Duo Say

'Turn Up the Music' producers the Underdogs say Breezy is 'the ultimate artist' on upcoming Fortune album.
By Rob Markman

Chris Brown
Photo: Mindy Small/ FilmMagic

The Underdogs are no strangers to hitmaking. For the production/songwriting duo of Harvey Mason Jr. and Damon Thomas — who have crafted songs for Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige — their latest, Chris Brown's "Turn Up the Music," could be their biggest hit yet.

It isn't their first song with Breezy — the duo worked on his 2007 ballad "Take You Down" and his Jordin Sparks duet "No Air" — but on "Turn Up the Music," the first single from his fifth solo album, Fortune, they take things to new sonic heights.

"He's so well-rounded, so versatile, he can really cover anything. He kills the uptempos, he can do the urban uptempo records, he could do the ballads, he could do the pop songs. You can really come to him with any record that you think is that hot," Mason told MTV News. "He is, for me right now and for many people, the ultimate artist. He's kinda this generation's Michael Jackson, if you will."

On "Turn Up the Music," which will be on sale digitally February 14 on iTunes, the Underdogs laced Breezy with a super-charged dance groove in a similar vein to last year's hit "Yeah 3x." For Mason and Thomas, the inspiration for this record came from Brown's moves on the dance floor. "The inspiration was really him as an artist, visualizing how he dances and how he performs, and giving him something to match that energy," Mason said.

This is the first taste we get from Breezy's upcoming Fortune, a companion album to 2011's F.A.M.E., and based on what they've already heard, the Underdogs expect some big things for the new album. "The Fortune record is F.A.M.E to the next level," Mason described. "Similar material, but he's really being innovative with some of the music that you haven't heard before, taking pieces of other genres and integrating them into pop and R&B, which I think is really cool. Vocally, he sounds amazing; he's really, really coming into his own as a singer."

Thomas added: "The only way I can describe Chris and what he's doin' with this record that he's making is that he's this generation's Michael [Jackson]."

Share your review of "Turn Up the Music" in the comments below!

• Chris Brown

Jennifer Lawrence, Rooney Mara Rule Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue

Jessica Chastain, Elizabeth Olsen, Shailene Woodley and more also grace the '20s-inspired cover.
By Jocelyn Vena

The February 2012 cover of <i>Vanity Fair</i>
Photo: Vanity Fair

This year's Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue features some of the most dazzling starlets in Hollywood. The '20s-inspired cover includes Rooney Mara, Mia Wasikowska, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Elizabeth Olsen, Adepero Oduye, Shailene Woodley, Paula Patton, Felicity Jones, Lily Collins and Brit Marling all dolled up in vintage, satiny, pastel-hued gowns.

Sitting center-stage on the cover is Lawrence in a silver gown alongside Mara, Chastain and Wasikowska. Shot by famed fashion photographer Mario Testino, the shoot was meant to pay homage to Art Deco and Jazz Age designs.

In behind-the-scenes footage, Mara confesses to having a teenage crush on Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and owns up to a "guilty pleasure" love for "Zoolander." "I would watch playback sometimes if it would be helpful," she later says about her Oscar-nominated work in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," noting that she has yet to see the film in its entirety. Lawrence also opened up on the set of the shoot talking about her own teen idols. "When I was little," she recalled, "I guess '90s era, I had such a big crush on Justin Timberlake from *NSYNC that I almost threw up." These days the "Hunger Games" actress' idols include the Coen Brothers, Renée Zellweger and Tommy Lee Jones.

In other VF news, Kristen Stewart was spotted wearing some really high-end couture in Paris for her own shoot for the magazine. The spread, also shot by Testino, will appear in an issue later this year. In photos on E! News, the "Snow White" actress looked like the fairest of them all in her blue-and-black tulle and feather-adorned ball gown. She topped off the look with a black geometric-style fascinator.

What do you think of Vanity Fair's string of starlet subjects? Tell us in the comments!

• The 'Hunger Games' Cast Answer Your Burning Twitter Questions
• MTV Rough Cut: 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'

Florida’s Young GOP Voters Confident In Mitt Romney

'He's a successful businessman, and that's what we need,' one supporter tells MTV News.
By Gil Kaufman, with reporting by Andrew Jenks

Mitt Romney after winning the Florida primary
Photo: Joe Raedle/ Getty Images

TAMPA, Florida — As you might expect, things were pretty upbeat at the Mitt Romney primary party Tuesday (January 31). With the GOP presidential candidate solidifying his front-runner status following a convincing win over Newt Gingrich, the former Massachusetts Governor's supporters had high praise as they poured out of the ballroom at the Tampa Convention Center.

After following Romney on his bus Monday and speaking with young voters about the potential impact of the controversial new voter-registration laws in Florida, MTV's Power of 12 wanted to hear what policies and campaign promises drew 18- to 29-year-old voters to cast a vote for Romney and how they think he may be able to help their generation.

Hillary Brunner, 19, said she was drawn in by Romney's stance on immigration policy. "I chose to vote for Mitt Romney because I really like his policy on the DREAM Act," she said of Romney's pledge to veto a long-stalled immigration measure that would create a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. "And making it if you want to immigrate to this country you have to go to the military first instead of just going to college. I think the military is a great way to show that you really want to be an American and that you love this country and that you are dedicated to this country."

Her friend, Shelly Mittal, 19, was more drawn to Romney's character. "I think he has great family and moral values and he possesses a strong attitude towards good business, and I think he can get the economy back toward where it needs to be," she said.

Not only did Romney trounce bitter rival Gingrich by drawing 46 percent of the vote to the former House speaker's 32 percent, but in a turnabout from the three previous contests, CNN exit polls in Florida showed that he also finally broke through to young voters (18-29). While Romney had reliably scored with older voters, in Florida, he won 39 percent of the youth votes to 26 percent for Congressman Ron Paul, 23 percent for Gingrich and 12 percent for Rick Santorum.

One of those twentysomething converts, Dywan Washington, 22, said he believes Romney's extensive experience in the private business sector could be the remedy for the country's financial ills.

"The key people that we need in Washington, D.C., at any level of government [are] more business people," Washington said. "We can't keep going to career politicians who've spent 20 to 30 years in D.C. ... Governor Romney is a perfect example of executive leadership that we need. ... We need executive experience and business experience, and that's why I support Mitt Romney."

Earlier in the evening, after congratulating his rivals, Romney issued a stern warning to the Democratic Party in his victory speech. Suspecting that the Obama campaign was savoring the vicious infighting among the GOP candidates, he said, "A competitive primary does not divide us; it prepares us. And we will win." After he and Gingrich (and their SuperPac supporters) spent more than $20 million on negative ads, Romney took the opportunity Tuesday night to turn his focus away from his competitors and put it squarely on the president: "My leadership will end the Obama era and begin a new era of prosperity."

MTV is on the scene in Florida! Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage of the primaries and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season.

• Florida Primary: The Race Is On!

David Guetta Builds Nicki Minaj Doll In ‘Turn Me On’ Video

Guetta plays mad scientist creating Minaj out of scrap parts.
By Jocelyn Vena

Nicki Minaj in the music video for "Turn Me On"
Photo: Virgin, EMI

David Guetta has enlisted Nicki Minaj for a steam-punk-inspired affair for the pair's "Turn Me On" music video.

In the clip, Guetta plays a mad scientist creating his very own Nicki Minaj from scrap parts. The clip opens on Guetta, perhaps trying out some early cosmetic-surgery tactics, putting the final touches on his Minaj doll plans. Then it focuses on the mechanisms behind the Nicki being: latex lips, brass wiring, tubing and lots of gizmos.

As the song hits the chorus for the first time, fans get a very NSFW view of his creation. Her plastic skin is shiny and completely bare as she slowly transforms into the very human-looking Nicki. Seemingly pleased with his creation, Guetta unleashes it onto the world.

Minaj is now free to roam the streets, filled with other doll-like creatures who can't help but stare at Guetta's incredibly lifelike creation. With Minaj continuing her journey through town, the other doll creatures make their way to Guetta's lab, where he begins to work on them too, giving them more lifelike appearances. The female creatures then turn him into a man made completely of chain mail. Meanwhile, Nicki is surrounded by the male dolls as she belts out the song.

As the video wraps up, Minaj is spotted riding her horse around town, as the female dolls make their escape from Guetta's place of business.

The video was shot late last year and directed by Sanji (the director behind videos for Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill, Jesse McCartney and more). At the American Music Awards last November, MTV News spoke to Guetta about working with the fierce rapper. "I want to see the reaction that people are gonna have because they are going to hear Nicki like they've never heard her before. ... I really can't wait to get the reaction from the American audience when they're gonna see her sing like this because she is killing it. ... She always comes with the crazy ideas," he said. "So it's very exciting."

This is the second collabo for Guetta and Minaj. They also appeared together on his track "Where Them Girls At."

• 2011 AMAs: Carpet And Performance Highlights

• David Guetta
• Nicki Minaj

Black Keys In Berlin: Back To Normal

Backstage during the Keys' European tour, Bigger Than the Sound discovers a band moving forward while still looking to settle old scores.
By James Montgomery

Black Keys' Dan Auerbach
Photo: Jakubaszek/ Getty Images

Berlin and Akron, Ohio, don't have much in common outside of graffiti, several McDonald's and Devo (who always struck me as rather Germanic), yet, for whatever reason, the Black Keys seemed rather at home there this past weekend.

This probably had as much to do with the venue they played on Saturday in Germany's capital city — the Treptow Arena, a cavernous, slightly crumbling brick-and-mortar hall that, in a previous life, served as a bus depot, but now holds the occasional concert (and the occasional auto show) — as it did with Berlin itself, since the Keys never really ventured any farther than the parking lot behind the arena. But on a makeshift stage, in front of a sold-out crowd, on the bleak banks of the Spree River, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney — plus their backing band — positively killed it, seemingly drawing inspiration from their decidedly industrial, dust-and-rust surroundings. Theirs is a sound that simply translates best in these kinds of places, after all: diesel-powered guitars and drums that chug along like an internal combustion engine, flecked with the odd bright moment of classic soul sheen, which recalls nothing quite so much as sunshine on an abandoned lot.

Or something like that. After all, the Black Keys are not exactly the kind of band that lends itself to flowery prose, even though their current status (one of the 10 to 15 biggest rock acts on the planet) and the rise to that status (a decade spent earning it on the road) seem to suggest otherwise. Instead, most folks tend to focus on their Akron roots and their willingness to talk sh-- about other bands, both of which are (admittedly) rather interesting parts of their story and make for killer headlines and pull quotes.

But that focus also reveals another, larger issue: The Black Keys are an exceedingly normal band, albeit one that exists in exceedingly odd times.

Which, I suppose, also makes them an anomaly, and they will be the first ones to admit it, as I learned firsthand when I (finally) sat down with Auerbach and Carney in Berlin, part of a larger MTV News project that we'll be revealing much more about very soon. They play workmanlike music and possess a workmanlike attitude. Because of that, they are, to say the very least, rather puzzled by both the current state of music and their continued successes within that state, which is pretty understandable. They also don't seem to understand why so many people find their backstory to be so compelling, which is slightly less understandable, considering it took them roughly 10 years to perform on "Saturday Night Live," and Lana Del Rey did it in something like 10 minutes.

They were, to varying degrees, willing to discuss both of those things, though you get the feeling they'd rather not. Of course, during our interview, I did raise the fact that the same writers who deride Del Rey for her lack of authenticity and unpaid dues are also the same people who largely ignore the Black Keys — even though they have authenticity coming out of their eyeballs and have racked up more miles in a van than the Scooby-Doo Gang. And, boy, did they (or, really, Carney, since Auerbach is soft-spoken and sort of reserved) have plenty to say about that.

Namely, they think those writers — mostly bloggers — are "pricks," and you can kind of see their point. They also have a few scores to settle with various members of the mainstream media they believe have slighted them over the years. They are the rare band that seems to take criticisms personally, or at least admit that fact (Carney is apparently keeping a running tally of perceived indignities in his head). And that sort of underscores my original point: The Black Keys are exceedingly normal. After all, who among us is willing to let every insult slide off our backs? Who possesses that kind of restraint? If — or, more probably, when — someone calls me a jerk in the comments of this story, I will more than likely want to choke that person. I do not think this makes me ill-adjusted. It makes me a human being. Admit it, you probably feel the same way.

Of course, hours after our interview, I got to spend more time with Carney in a smoke-filled dressing room, where we imbibed long into the night (or so it seemed) and discussed the Keys' contemporaries. I can't really remember everything that was said, and I'm fairly certain the stuff I do was off the record, but you can probably figure out where he stands on, say, Lady Gaga. It was a refreshingly unfiltered chat, one that was made even better by the presence of one of Carney's old Akron friends, who now lives in Istanbul with her boyfriend but flew into Berlin for the show. And long after the dissertations on the current state of popular music had ceased, I sat back and listened as the two remembered old high school acquaintances and laughed at ancient, inside jokes.

It was a pretty nice moment, and not just because I had been drinking Maker's Mark; two friends reunited, Carney, unguarded and at ease, reclining on the back of an easy chair, nodding in knowing ways, his friend ignoring the rather insane journey that occurred since both graduated from high school and just reminiscing. It was also, in a way, more proof that, no matter where they are, or how far they've come, the Black Keys are really just two average guys, a duo who have stumbled onto unforeseen success and are trying very hard to not be incredibly weirded out by that fact. You can say otherwise, but you'd not only be wrong — you'd also probably end up on Carney's hit list. And trust me, there's plenty of room on there. Which is completely normal.

Share your thoughts on the Black Keys and their success in the comments below!

• Bigger Than The Sound: Stories Behind The Bands

• The Black Keys Perform In Berlin

• The Black Keys

Lana Del Rey Thinks She ‘Looked Beautiful And Sang Fine’ On ‘SNL’

Born to Die singer defends 'Saturday Night Live' performance in Rolling Stone interview.
By John Mitchell

Lana Del Rey on "Saturday Night Live"
Photo: NBC

Lana Del Rey was raked over the Internet coals following her January 14 performance on "Saturday Night Live." Her takes on "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans" were greeted with near-universal vitriol from critics, music bloggers and even NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who in a now-infamous email to Gawker Media founder Nick Denton called her performance "one of the worst outings in 'SNL' history."

But the emerging pop star, whose debut album for Interscope, Born to Die, hit stores Tuesday (January 31), thinks she did a perfectly fine job on the legendary sketch show, telling Rolling Stone,"I actually felt good about it. I thought I looked beautiful and sang fine ... I know some people didn't like it, but that's just the way I perform, and my fans know that."

Del Rey did admit to being nervous, though in a more general sense, saying live performance has never been her strong suit because she is "not a natural performer or exhibitionist" and that when she was younger she "hated the focus; it made me feel strange."

As the backlash intensified, Daniel Radcliffe, who hosted the January 14 show, came to Del Rey's defense, telling reporters at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominations, "It was unfortunate that people seemed to turn on her so quickly. I also think people are making it about things other than the performance ... if you read what people are saying about her online, it's all about her past and her family and stuff that's nobody else's business. I don't think [the performance] warranted anywhere near that reaction."

Del Rey echoed those same sentiments during her brief sit-down with Rolling Stone, chalking the intensity of the criticism up to people's general disdain for her public persona. "There's backlash about everything I do. It's nothing new," she told the music mag. "When I walk outside, people have something to say about it. It wouldn't have mattered if I was absolutely excellent. People don't have anything nice to say about this project."

Regardless of the criticism, Del Rey is moving forward. Whether she's a particularly strong live performer or not, her Born to Die album is enjoying a mostly positive reception from music critics ... those able to set aside their feelings about her as a public figure and focus on the music itself anyway. Slate's Jonah Weiner commented that he liked the album more after a few listens: "The more time I spend in its company, the more I feel as though I'm approaching it on something like its own terms."

MTV News' own James Montgomery appreciated Born to Die even more, writing that Del Rey's set is "positively brimming with atmospherics — soaring, sonorous strings, echoing electronic boom-bap, morose, maudlin guitar crescendos — all of which imbue it with a truly epic (if not unnecessarily dramatic) scope."

The verdict on Del Rey's musical future — and the impact the "SNL" fiasco and the endless think pieces that popped up in its aftermath — will likely come more sharply into focus this time next week when her first week sales figures are released.

What did you think of Lana Del Rey's "SNL" performance? Leave your comments below.

• MTV News Extended Play: Lana Del Rey

• Lana Del Rey

‘X-Factor’ Bloodbath And Other Shocking TV Exits

MTV News takes a look at other shows that have suffered behind-the-scenes talent shakeups like the recent 'X-Factor' departures.
By Josh Wigler

L.A. Reid, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell
Photo: Ray Mickshaw / FOX

Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones no longer have the "X-Factor."

Hot on the heels of its freshman season, the Simon Cowell-led U.S. "X-Factor" has removed three of its core ingredients from the equation, with word breaking late Monday night about Abdul, Scherzinger and Jones' exits. While fans watching the Fox reality singing competition's behind-the-scenes developments closely might have seen this coming — network chief Kevin Reilly promised "some tweaks to the show" during the TCA press tour earlier this year — the simultaneous ousting of all three talents is still likely to leave onlookers a little bit stunned.

For photos of other shocking television exits, click here.

Alas, that's show business. Behind-the-scenes shakeups are par for the course in Tinseltown, with small-screen endeavors constantly excising seemingly critical players in surprising, one-fell-swoop moves — and it's not just in the world of reality television where this takes place. Indeed, there have been a lot of moves and shakes in the past year for scripted series. Keep reading for some of the recent shocking TV exits that rocked popular dramas to their core, but a warning: Some spoilers lie ahead.

Christopher Meloni, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
Twelve seasons of cracking down on pedophiles, rapists and other parties guilty of sexually based offenses was apparently enough for detective Elliot Stabler. The imposing New York City lawman and his notorious short fuse burned out quicker than fans had hoped for when actor Christopher Meloni, who had been with "SVU" since its 1999 beginning, opted out of further investigations late last year over irreconcilable contract disputes. Meloni's sudden departure left little to no room for resolution for Stabler, who had left season 12 on a cliff-hanger involving the justified shooting of a child. But even if Stabler's continued days on the street are over, the fan-favorite character will never die — not as long as TNT and USA keep their "SVU" marathons in rotation!

Lisa Edelstein, "House"
Team Huddy fans around the world were left nursing a broken heart over the summer when it was revealed that Lisa Edelstein would not be returning to "House." Like Meloni, Edelstein, who played series mainstay and Hugh Laurie's love interest Dr. Lisa Cuddy, left the Fox hospital drama for contractual reasons. And, like Meloni, Edlestein's exit came at a precarious moment in the show's narrative, with Cuddy's final appearance featuring a cliff-hanger involving House driving his car through her, well, house. To make things worse, the loss of Cuddy came right before what is very likely to be the show's final season, leaving little room for resolution for Huddy fans.

Sean Bean, "Game of Thrones"
Not all exits are due to creative differences or behind-the-scenes negotiations or other forms of squabbling. Sometimes it all comes down to telling a story truly and faithfully, no matter the possible outrage. Such was the case in HBO's "Game of Thrones," which saw the early demise of series lead Eddard "Ned" Stark just before the end of its first season. Ned's beheading at the hands — or command, at least — of cruel boy-king Joffrey stunned viewers new to the land of Westeros, even if it was a long time coming for fans of the George R.R. Martin novels the show is based upon. The Lord of Winterfell's gruesome, dishonorable death set the dangerous precedent that on "Game of Thrones," the old saying really is true: You either win or you die, no matter your star power.

Michael Pitt, "Boardwalk Empire"
Bean's "Thrones" demise wasn't the only shocking death to rock both the small screen and HBO in the past year. "Boardwalk Empire" writers made a bold statement in killing aspiring Atlantic City crime boss Jimmy Darmody in the second season finale, just as the character was really getting interesting. Jimmy's death was controversial for any number of reasons, not excluding reports of behind-the-scenes turmoil between actor Michael Pitt and "Boardwalk" producers. Both the show's writers and Pitt himself publicly maintain that the split was mutual, made solely for creative reasons.

Frank Darabont, "The Walking Dead"
Behind the scenes, there's been no greater scripted drama shakeup in recent memory than the unceremonious ousting of show creator Frank Darabont from "The Walking Dead." Despite Darabont delivering a critically acclaimed genre series with record-setting ratings to boot, AMC executives nonetheless made the shocking decision to cast the show-runner aside like walker bait, just days after the colorful filmmaker's Comic-Con appearance this past summer. The series continues to rake in unprecedented cable numbers with nearly each passing episode, but die-hard fans and casual viewers alike seem to agree that the show's quality has dipped noticeably without Darabont in command of the "Dead."

Everybody, "American Horror Story"
They didn't call it Murder House for nothing! "American Horror Story" fans were rightfully horrified by the FX thriller's critically acclaimed first season, which left the three lead characters dead as disco before all was said and done. But creator Ryan Murphy did not clean house without a reason: In a press conference held shortly after the season finale, Murphy and FX chief John Landgraf revealed that "AHS" was secretly planned as an anthology series, with every single season featuring entirely new story lines and actors. Bye-bye Harmon family, bye-bye Constance, bye-bye Murder House, in other words. We'll miss them dearly — yes, we'll even miss creepy Tate — but we applaud Murphy's decision to keep things fresh all the same.

Which cast shakeup did you find the most shocking? Tell us in the comments.

• Shocking T.V. Exits

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