1.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Patrick J. Adams left Suits after starring in the series as Mike Ross for seven seasons. He admitted he’d first thought about leaving at the end of Season 6 after Mike was released from prison and working at Pearson Specter Litt. He explained, “From a story point of view, I was a little unsure of what was left for him to do.” He also wanted to be closer to his wife, Troian Bellisario.
2.
GOT FIRED: Suzanne Sommers got fired from Three’s Company after asking for a raise. After starring in four seasons of the series, she asked for her paycheck to be increased from $30,000 an episode to $150,000 an episode to match what her costar, John Ritter, was being paid. “The show’s response was, ‘Who do you think you are?’” she said. “They said, ‘John Ritter is the star.’ ”
3.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Sandra Oh decided to leave Grey’s Anatomy after Season 10. “Creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let [Cristina Yang] go,” she explained. “It’s such an interesting thing to play a character for so long and to actually get the sense that she wants to be let go as well. [Cristina] wants to be let go, and I am ready to let her go.”
4.
GOT FIRED: Shannen Doherty got fired from Beverly Hills, 90210 after her costar, Tori Spelling, made a call to her producer father, Aaron Spelling. During her time on the show, Shannen gained a reputation for being difficult to work with, and she allegedly got into a physical altercation with Jennie Garth.
5.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Nina Dobrev left The Vampire Diaries at the end of Season 6 and shared that she’d only planned on doing six years of the show when she first signed her contract. “I’ve loved working on this show,” she added. “It’s been such a crazy, awesome adventure, and I’ve been surrounded by so many people who I consider family. I know this is a new, exciting step in the right direction for me, but it’s going to be so strange not to be with them.”
6.
GOT FIRED: Chadwick Boseman was fired from his first acting role on the soap opera All My Children. He felt like his character was being written stereotypically and spoke up against the writers. Michael B. Jordan replaced him in the role. “I remember going home and thinking, ‘Do I say something to them about this? Do I just do it?’ And I couldn’t just do it,” Chadwick said. “I had to voice my opinions and put my stamp on it. And the good thing about it was, it changed it a little bit for [Jordan]. They said, ‘You are too much trouble,’ but they took my suggestions, or some of them. And for me, honestly, that’s what this is about.”
7.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Meghan Markle left after Season 7 of Suits to fulfill her duties as a member of the British royal family. In 2017, she explained, “I think what’s been really exciting as we talk about the transition out of my career and into my role is the causes that are really important to me that I can focus even more energy on.”
8.
GOT FIRED: Thomas Gibson was fired from Criminal Minds after a violent incident on set. It was reported that he got into an altercation and kicked a producer. “Thomas Gibson has been dismissed from Criminal Minds,” said ABC and CBS in an official statement. “Creative details for how the character’s exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date.”
9.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Emmy Rossum left Shameless after starring as Fiona Gallagher for eight seasons. In a thoughtful social media post, Emmy explained that her reason for leaving was an opportunity to take on other projects. “Until Shameless came into my life 8 years ago, I led that kind of transient wonderful life of an actor,” she wrote. “And I never realized how much I actually craved the kind of continuity this show has given me. And given all of us in the crew. Season after season, I’m amazed that our same crew comes back. And it’s not just because it’s a wonderfully written, wonderfully layered show. There are these real connections, real friendships that bring us back season after season after season.”
10.
GOT FIRED: Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute were fired from Vanderpump Rules after it was revealed that they reported Faith Stowers to the police for a crime she didn’t commit. “There was this article on Daily Mail where there was an African American lady,” Faith recalled during an Instagram Live chat in 2020. “It was a weird photo, so she looked very light-skinned and had these different, weird tattoos. They showcased her, and I guess this woman was robbing people. And they called the cops and said it was me. This is like, a true story. I heard this from actually Stassi during an interview.”
11.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Reneé Rapp said she was leaving The Sex Lives of College Girls after the show’s third season. In an interview with Zane Lowe, she mentioned she’s much happier making music than acting. “I love it so much. It’s like, I don’t even care,” she said. “And I don’t know if that’s because I’ve had different experiences on the other side because I’ve also had amazing experiences on the other side, but it just doesn’t fucking matter to me in music. Everybody’s like, ‘Music is so psychotic. This business is crazy. Don’t you wish you could just go back to not having that?’ And I’m like, ‘No. No. I am so much happier when I’m doing this.'”
12.
GOT FIRED: Isaiah Washington was fired from Grey’s Anatomy after he used an anti-gay slur aimed at costar T.R. Knight, who identifies as gay. During a heated argument on set, he reportedly pinned Patrick Dempsey against a wall. “I think one of them had been late to set one day and the other one then decided to pay him back by being late himself. Then it sort of exploded,” explained Grey‘s producer Mark Wilding. “They got into an arguing match, and then before you know it they were physically fighting. I was standing there in video village. I’m, like, six feet four inches. I’m bigger than both of them. But I didn’t really jump in right away because I’m like, I don’t know if I want to get involved.”
13.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Donald Glover left Community during the show’s fifth season. At first, he cited his reason for leaving as being because he “wanted to be on [his] own.” He later admitted that he quit the show because his “heart really wasn’t in it.” “I didn’t leave Community to rap. I don’t wanna rap. I wanted to be on my own,” he said at the time. “I’ve been sick this year. I’ve seen a bunch of people die this year. This is the first time I’ve felt helpless. But I’m not on that. Kept looking for something to be in with. Follow someone’s blueprint. But you have to be on your own.”
14.
GOT FIRED: Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian after she published tweets that compared being a Republican today to being Jewish during the Holocaust. Her agency also dropped her because of the tweets. “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” said the official Lucasfilm statement. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
15.
LEFT ON THEIR OWN TERMS: Finally, America Ferrera anticipated leaving Superstore at the end of its fifth season, but because of the pandemic, she left at the beginning of the series’ last season, Season 6. However, she ended up returning for the finale. “I expected and hoped that the show would go on after my departure for many, many years,” she told Variety. “So it was definitely coming back sooner than I think any of us imagined. But at the same time, we knew that in the setup of how Amy left, it really lent itself to how she could come back.”