Q: "Sliders" was a great sci-fi series in the late 1990s which I am watching in rerun. I often wonder why the main star, Jerry O'Connell, and his brother Charlie did not appear in the last season.
A: The fantasy series aired on Fox in three seasons from 1995 to 1997 and then on what we now call Syfy from 1998 to 2000. After two successful seasons, there were major changes on- and off-camera, with the original producers replaced and two key actors, John Rhys-Davies and Sabrina Lloyd, departing as well.
In a 2016 interview for Yahoo! TV, O'Connell guessed that the actors did not like the change in producers and the subsequent storytelling shifts: "We signed on for a thought-provoking, fun take on parallel worlds. ... The last couple seasons, 'Sliders' became more of an action show."
As a result, he said, "I had learned all that I was going to learn from the show after four seasons, and I decided to leave when my contract was up. I was hoping that they would go on with my brother, who joined the cast in Season 4. They got pretty mad and decided to reboot the whole thing and blow it up. ... I've never seen an episode from that fifth season."
Even with all those old conflicts, there has been talk as recently as this year about reviving the series.
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