'Survivor's Remorse' Returns without Mike Epps?

When Survivor's Remorse returns to Starz for its third season this weekend, one thing is almost certain: Mike Epps and his Uncle Julius character won't be around. The cliffhanger at the end of last season suggested that Uncle J might not be on hand at the start of the new season - or ever again - but thanks to some off-camera explanation from Epps, we know for certain that Julius is history.

When the series' season two ended (spoilers coming), Uncle Julius had been involved in a vicious car accident and had sustained what appeared to be life-threatening injuries. According to Epps, that turn of events happened because of a very non-story-related situation off the set.

"I asked for some more money, and they killed me," Epps told a panel audience at the Television Critics Association press tour in January.

Epps was speaking on the panel in support of his new ABC sitcom, Uncle Buck, so he was not in an especially sour mood over his dismissal from Survivor's Remorse. However, ABC cancelled Uncle Buck in July after just eight episodes. Epps' work in feature films so far in 2016, which includes roles in Meet the Blacks and Fifty Shades of Black, has not met with much success, either, making the ill-timed request for a raise from the Survivor's Remorse producers look like a particularly painful step in his career.