Don't worry, the actor is still alive and well. He simply decided to move on to other projects. However, his character, the sometimes bitchy, often brilliant, and forever beloved Roman Wild, was written off the show by way of the ultimate soap cliché: a brain tumor. Fortunately for my fandom, the writing and acting of the storyline transcended the genre (as storylines revolving around Roman and his on-again off-again on-again lover Deniz always did). Nonetheless, we grieve for him as we would a "real life" friend.
The death of a popular character is always difficult, but at times (and particularly when there is a strong fandom around the character) it becomes something profound. Another fandom I was involved in lost a character a few years ago and the reaction was so intense that an online movement began demanding the character be resurrected (easy enough to do, thanks to the sci-fi element of the show). The Save Ianto Jones campaign sent emails, letters, packages, and pounds of coffee to the BBC in an attempt to prove that they would not simply accept losing this fine character. These fans raised more than £15,000 (that's almost $25,000) for the British charity Children in Need, and erected a shrine in a significant section of Cardiff, Wales... which still exists over two years later and has even become a stop on city tours:
The fandom for AWZ and Roman Wild is much smaller than for that of "Torchwood" and Ianto Jones and the situation is much different; in this case it was the actor's choice to leave, and to be honest, the show gave him an amazing send-off. Much-deserved too, since Roman and Deniz's storyline had time and again risen above the simple melodrama of soap and introduced an incredible depth, an improbable sophistication, to what should have been nothing more than a series of basic tropes. Standard soap devices such as unrequited love became a gorgeous coming-out story; cheating turned into an exquisite look at the danger of complacency and how sometimes there is no right or wrong in infidelity, but only choices, and dealing with the consequences of our decisions; even death became a moving storyline that not only deals with saying goodbye, but with the rights everyone should have to decide how to live their lives, and the excruciating perspective of those who are left behind.
Roman Wild may be a fictional character, but he is one that has touched many lives; not only as entertainment but as a source of inspiration, particularly within the gay community. His fans will not soon forget him.
If you'd like to check out Roman and Deniz's storyline with English subtitles, you can do so for the next six weeks or so at Eskimo Kiss Project on YouTube. After that, the videos will be removed at the request of the production company.
