This just in — according to the season two premiere of The Leftovers, reports of actor Mark Linn-Baker’s Sudden Departure were greatly exaggerated. During season one, we learned that along with celebrities Jennifer Lopez, Salman Rushdie, Anthony Bourdain, and Shaquille O’Neal, the entire cast of the ’80s sitcom Perfect Strangers was raptured on October 14, 2012.
After the episode aired, real-life Bronson Pinchot, aka Balki, weighed in on the news of his fictional departure. But among last night’s Leftovers revelations, courtesy of the faux tabloid show Hard 10, came the news that his Strangers co-star Linn-Baker had actually faked his disappearance. Turns out he’s been hiding out in Chihuahua, Mexico, where he played dumb when the tabloids tracked him down at a taco joint.
Call it penance for showrunner Damon Lindelof: At last year’s premiere party for the show, Lindelof revealed Linn-Baker had given a good reading for a part, but couldn’t be cast because they’d already killed him off on the show.