Alan Arkin, a veteran actor born before World War II, is still going strong in Hollywood. The latest project the Oscar winner graced is Minions: The Rise of Gru, in which he voices Wild Knuckles.
Despite still being active in the film industry, he isn't as active as he used to be. At 88, his work rate has decreased, apparent in the number of projects he works on.
The only other thing he was working on before the Minions movie was The Kominsky Method. However, his time there, too, has ended.
With less and less time spent in the public sphere and his old age, Arkin recently fell victim to a death hoax. His departure from The Kominsky Method might have had a hand in starting these rumors.
Alan Arkin’s Death Hoax
Although queries like "Did Alan Arkin Die?" and "Is Alan Arkin Still Alive?" first started appearing in massive numbers in May 2021, Arkin's death hoax did not become a thing until the end of June 2022.
On June 30, 2022, a couple of sites started reporting about a Facebook post that claimed Arkin had died. The very first line of the post, which started the rumor, read, "At about 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday (June 29, 2022), our beloved actor Alan Arkin passed away."
Further, it stated his birth date, March 26, 1934, and claimed he would be "missed but not forgotten," and even asked people to comment on the post and like the page to show their sympathies.
This reportedly prompted thousands of ill-informed people to bombard the post with comments of heartfelt sadness. Twitterverse, too, apparently had similar reactions to the hoax.
However, it soon became apparent that the post was only a way to fool people. At the time of this writing, the said Facebook post cannot be found.
Alan Arkin’s Departure from ‘The Kominsky Method’ and Death Rumors Coincided
Arkin started working on the Chuck Lorre-created The Kominsky Method, alongside Michael Douglas, in the first season in 2018. The show deals with serious topics like death and addiction head-on.
Alan Arkin with Michael Douglas at the SAG Awards in 2019. (Photo: Instagram)
The actor decided it was time for him to move on from the show after two seasons. He announced his departure in September 2020, right before season two dropped on Netflix.
His character, Norman Newlander, thus, had to be written out of the show. The writers did this by writing a death arc for Newlander and still making him one of the central parts of season three.
The third season kicked off with Newlander's funeral and a few hints as to how he might have died. His girlfriend Madelyn (played by Jane Seymour) hinted at him having a too active sex life for someone his age and, possibly, something going wrong with his heart.
If we analyze when questions about Arkin's death started appearing en masse, it directly correlates to when The Kominsky Method season three trailer first dropped.
Further, those queries kept rising until the season dropped on Netflix on May 28, 2021.
Thus, this leads to a simple conclusion — people thought Arkin was dead when his character stopped appearing on The Kominsky Method. But it was only Newlander who died and not Arkin.
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