Jason Alexander says that the show killed off George's fiancee Susan Ross because his comedic instincts couldn't match with the actress Heidi Swedberg's.
- Jun 4, 2015
AceShowbiz - The shocking death of George's fiancee on "Seinfeld" season 7 left a big question as to why it had to happen. Now, almost a decade later, star Jason Alexander explains the real reason behind the decision to kill off Susan Ross (Heidi Swedberg).
"The actress is this wonderful girl," Alexander says in an interview on "Howard Stern Show", dismissing rumors that the character was killed off because he didn't like working with Swedberg. "I love her. She's a terrific girl."
Alexander goes on sharing, "I couldn't figure out how to play off of her. Her instincts for doing a scene, where the comedy was, and mine, were always misfiring. She would do something, and I would go, OK, I see what she's going to do, I'll adjust to her. And then it would change."
He says that at first his other coworkers didn't quite see the problem. "I had done three episode with her and Larry [David] calls me up at the beginning of the season, and says, 'Good news, I got a great arc for you this season.' I said, 'Oh that's great, who do I get engaged to?' He said, 'Susan.' I went, 'Oh great, who's going to play George?' "
Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus also had no idea what the problem was until they had to do scenes with her. "You know what? It's f**king impossible!" Alexander quotes Seinfeld and Dreyfus' comment after working with Swedberg.
In the end, it was Swedberg herself who pitched the idea to kill off her character. She allegedly told series co-creator and executive producer Larry David at the time, "Don't you wanna just kill her?"
Alexander once again stresses that he had no personal issue with Swedberg, saying, "Every time I tell this story I cringe, because Heidi is the sweetest person ever."
Susan died at the end of season 7 after she licked the toxic glue on the cheap envelopes George had bought for their wedding invitation.
