Posted in: CW, TV | Tagged: charmed

Charmed Star Combs on Shannen Doherty Firing: "Sick and Twisted"

During The House of Halliwell podcast, Charmed star Holly Marie Combs shared her feelings on the late Shannen Doherty being fired.

Published Mon, 22 Sep 2025 20:37:03 -0500

by Ray Flook

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For Charmed fans, 2001's S03E22 "All Hell Breaks Loose" was much more than a season finale. Directed by the late Shannen Doherty, the episode would end with Prue (Doherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs) presumed dead, while Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) was left trapped in the Underworld. It would turn out to be the final episode for Doherty's Prue, with the late actress fired and her character killed off (with Rose McGowan's half-sister Paige joining the cast). During the latest episode of the Charmed rewatch podcast, The House of Halliwell, Combs, Brian Krause, and Drew Fuller tackled the episode, with Combs and Krause opening up about how Doherty's firing was handled.

"There was just so many different ways it could have been handled. And the fact of the matter is, it was handled so s****ily. It was such a massive insult to injury to let her direct it and go out on this high note. Like, it's just so sick and twisted," Combs shared, getting emotional as she spoke. Despite accusations in the past about Milano's level of involvement in Doherty's termination, Combs noted that she wasn't going to be "naming names," adding that there are still those too afraid to discuss what went down. In addition, Combs shared that no one was aware that Doherty's job was in jeopardy during filming, with the late actress getting the call during the between-seasons break. "They literally waited until everybody was gone on hiatus and made a phone call to her, and she called me," Combs shared. "They didn't even tell me. I had to find out from her. And they expected me to just go on with the show."

"Nobody wants to speak their truth because they feel like they'll be hated by the fandom, by the thing, by their former workers," Krause offered, adding that Charmed felt like very different shows after Doherty's departure. "I think it's the worst episode ever," Combs said, rating the episode a zero considering all of the backstory behind it.

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