Hell on Wheels star on character death: "It pulled at my heart"

Warning: This article may contain spoilers that some readers may prefer to avoid.

The latest star to be written out in AMC's Hell on Wheels has discussed his exit from the show.

In the episode airing last night (September 14) in the US, Elam Ferguson - played by Common - was killed by Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount).

Common told Deadline that his decision to leave the drama was a result of him wanting to devote more time to his music career.

"It wasn't the easiest thing for me to do, but I have a lot of aspects to my career that I wasn't able to nurture being up in Calgary for so long every year filming Hell on Wheels," he said.

"Acting is very, very important to me. But music is very important to me, too."

Common added: "It pulled at my heart because I really cherish the character Elam."

Hell on Wheels showrunner John Wirth said: "We knew that if he was going to leave, he would have to meet some sort of appropriate and tragic end.

"I would say to our fans that sometimes life dictates what art can be, and I hope that they will accept that we made this decision not because we were trying to mess with their heads at all.

"We made the decision because there were life considerations that came to bear on the decision."