I don’t think they really ended the TV show, I want to believe that they are leaving a gap of a few years like you said. It was unfortunate about the actor being a sleazy dickbag and needing to write his character out but gives us an opportunity to bring book characters that might not have been reasonable to have originally in the show but now could work because Alex is dead. I don’t think a recast would work because of the chemistry and everyone having to fake the banter as if it is the exact same person meanwhile everyone watching has to ignore the dissonance of the new actor.