Charlie Sheen 'Turned Down Cameo In Two And A Half Men Finale'
Oh for what could have been as long-running sitcom calls it a day...
SPOILER ALERT: You may wish to avoid reading this story if you plan to watch the finale later.
US sitcom Two And A Half Men came to an end last night in dramatic and violent style - with Charlie Sheen's character Charlie Harper being killed by a falling piano.
Harper was played by a body double, but show creator Chuck Lorre has revealed that he offered Sheen himself the chance to come back for a farewell cameo as the curtain came down on the show.
However, it seems the actor didn't exactly "get" the show runners' sense of humour over their plans for him.
Lorre told TVLine: "Our idea was to have him walk up to the front door in the last scene, ring the doorbell, then turn, look directly into the camera and go off on a maniacal rant about the dangers of drug abuse.
"He would then explain that these dangers only applied to average people. That he was far from average. He was a ninja warrior from Mars. He was invincible… And then we would drop a piano on him.
"We thought it was funny. He didn't."
The jury is still out here too, we're afraid.
And Lorre explained Sheen's counter offer, which never came to fruition: "Instead, he wanted us to write a heart-warming scene that would set up his return to primetime TV in a new sitcom called The Harpers starring him and Jon Cryer.
"We thought that was funny, too."
And he elaborated to Variety: "I made a decision a month or so ago that there was so much demand, so much excitement about seeing Charlie come back for the finale that it was the right thing to do to try to come up with something we could have fun with, to poke fun at all the craziness.
"It was presented to him. He didn't like it. And we weren't excited about what he wanted to do. So it didn't go forward."
The team behind the sitcom still managed to poke a lot of fun at Sheen in the swansong episode though - with references to "Tiger Blood" and "Anger Management" worked into the script.
And after they'd "killed" Charlie on screen, the camera cut to Lorre sitting in a director's chair - for him to declare that he was "winning" - just as a grand piano dropped on his head too.
ICYMI, Sheen was replaced by Ashton Kutcher on the show several years ago following a bitter and public dispute and some very high-profile misbehaviour.