With
Album 75 about to be released, we now have somewhat of an idea of what may happen with Eugene.
I typed up a reply to this topic soon after it was created last year, but never posted it. Some of what I said is probably outdated, but here is my response that I wrote:
Will Ryan recorded a number of episodes which are scheduled to be released in 2022, and the AIO Team has confirmed that they won’t be making any decisions or announcements anytime soon. So, I’m guessing it’ll probably be sometime around late 2022 or early 2023 when we hear official word from the AIO Team on what will happen. But until then, I am genuinely curious to know everyone’s opinion on how the show should proceed without Eugene Meltsner. Let us discuss.
I’m thinking that the only two options are that either Eugene dies in the show or moves away. Replacing Eugene is unthinkable and is absolutely not an option.
Interestingly enough, the topic of Eugene leaving the show has been discussed before. In 2013, on The Town of Odyssey Message Boards, a topic was created called
Life Without Eugene?, in which the possibility of Eugene being absent from the show is discussed. Back in 2015, our great leader Doll created a topic called
What If One of the Main AIO Characters Died?, in which the subject of Eugene passing away is touched on.
Check out this comment that Snubs wrote in that topic.
snubs wrote: ↑Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:42 pm
About Eugene (or some other main character) suddenly dying... are you talking about strictly the character? Or the actor dying? If you mean the actor, I think AIO would definitely change... maybe even come to a purposeful end as a whole. And if the actor did pass away (heaven forbid not any time soon), I somehow doubt they would write it into the story. I mean, that would be veryyy deep and totally heartbreaking for fans to hear. It would just make the whole feel of that episode very dark and sad.
This is probably the absolute worst possibility, and I’m hoping it doesn’t happen, but I’m wondering if Adventures in Odyssey may be coming to an end, as Snubs mentioned here. The end of Odyssey is not a topic I like to think about, but on the few instances I have thought about it, I have thought that it’s not going to be the unavailability of Andre Stojka that’s going to end the show, it’s probably going to be the death of Chris or Katie or Will, since they have been just about the only consistent characters in Odyssey, unlike Whit, who has been played by three different actors. Any change made with them will be extremely drastic and will change the way Adventures in Odyssey functions. But that’s just a thought I had; I don’t think this will happen just yet. I believe the show can function without Eugene, since I feel like apart from episodes about his relationship with Buck, he hasn’t been playing a very central role in Odyssey lately. No extremely large storylines are left hanging, as far as I know.
I’m not sure if the AIO Team will write an episode about Eugene’s death, although it is an excellent opportunity for character development. I think there are several ways they can pull this off. Having him die on the show would make quite an interesting storyline. Episodes about Whit, Connie, Katrina, and Buck dealing with his death would be interesting. I'm sure everyone else will stick around.
The other option is to have him move away. Perhaps they will release
"The End of An Era" for a send-off for Eugene, or at least use lines from it. Just a thought. Not sure how I'd feel about that.
Whatever the case may be, this is a good chance for Renee Carter, who is extremely similar in character to Eugene, to (finally) stop appearing in only AIO Club-exclusive episodes become more central to the show.
Edit: Soon after I typed up this message, AIO Update released a thought-provoking article about the different options of what to do about Eugene Meltsner. Be sure to check it out
here.