Look through this gallery of stars who departed successful TV shows.
Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton – One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill was dealt a huge blow when both Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton decided to part ways with the show at the conclusion of Season 6. They got a fairytale send off and Murray even popped back up in the final season. Murray was most recently on Marvel’s Agent Carter, while Burton is recurring on Forever.
Alyssa Milano- Mistresses
Milano decided to depart the sudsy summer series after it was announced that the show would be moving production and the star didn’t want to leave her family behind.
Britt Robertson – Under The Dome
Robertson quickly became a fan favorite, so it was shocking when she was axed to death on the second season premiere of the show. The star has moved on to movies.
Charlie Sheen – Two and A Half Men
Sheen thought he was invincible, but the TV gods proved otherwise and was swiftly replaced with Ashton Kutcher who brought the show BIG ratings. The show concluded in February.
Claire Holt – The Originals
Claire Holt left fans reeling when she departed The Originals near the end of the first season. She has popped up here and there and thanks to a body swap storyline the character will continue to be part of the show.
Cory Montieth – Glee
Monteith passed away during production of the fifth season and the show aired a touching tribute to the young star.
Cote De Pablo – NCIS
How do you keep a star on the number 1 TV show? You can’t. Cote wanted to spend time with her family and wanted to move on to other projects. She was most recently seen on miniseries, The Dovekeepers.
Crystal Reed – Teen Wolf
Crystal Reed said goodbye to Teen Wolf in Season 3. The actress felt the character had run her course and this came as a shock to some fans, considering there was no prior knowledge of her intention to leave. She is now focusing on her movie career.
Damian Lewis – Homeland
This one wasn’t much of a shock, since it had been widely reported that there was a good chance he was leaving. He was killed off in the season 3 finale.
Josh Bowman – Revenge
Josh Bowman made it clear early last year that he had pitched his death to the showrunner of Revenge, but we never expected this to actually happen. Daniel Grayson was sort of redeemed during his final episode and the star is moving on to a movie career.
Josh Charles – The Good Wife
Charles departed early in The Good Wife’s fifth season. He was killed in the courtroom. It was revealed after that his departure was a year in the making. He is focusing on his family before taking on new projects.
Kristin Kreuk- Smallville
Kreuk waved Smallville goodbye in 2009, but she returned a year later to tie up her characters storyline. The star is currently appears Beauty and The Beast, which was recently renewed for a fourth season.
Lauren German – Chicago Fire
We knew going into the Season 3 premiere of Chicago Fire that we would lose someone. We didn’t expect to lose Shay and she is arguably one of the biggest characters we have lost to date. German is currently attached to Fox’s Lucifer pilot, so you might be seeing the actress sooner or later.
Mischa Barton – The OC
Mischa Barton’s character was killed off in the third season finale. It wasn’t much of a shock considering there was some behind the scenes drama as Barton went off the rails during production of the third season. The once promising star is now very little in the public eye.
Shannen Doherty – Charmed
Another case of behind the scenes drama. Doherty’s character Prue was killed off in the third season finale, but this one was quite shocking since the show largely focused on her.
Steve Carrel – The Office
Carrel waved goodbye to his popular character at the conclusion of season 7 to focus on his film career. The show lasted two seasons without him.
Taraji P Henson – Person of Interest
She might be a pain in Lucious Lyon’s ass over on Fox’s Empire now, but before that she played Joss, a much more tame character than Cookie Lyon. Her departure from the CBS series was very shocking, but expect the character to pop back up in an episode next month
William Petersen – CSI
Petersen bid adieu to CSI back in 2009, but has returned for several guest appearances. The star hasn’t kept busy, but has booked a series regular role in the second season of WGN’s Manhattan.
Nina Dobrev – The Vampire Diaries
The most recent and shocking star to announce they are departing a show. The Vampire Diaries will lose Nina at the conclusion of season 6, but with season 7 already announced, where will the show go without her?
Ruby Rose – Batwoman
This one came as a huge shocker. Rose played the role of Kate Kane, and while the role was initially supposed to be recast.
However, it has now been decided that a new character will arrive in Gotham City to take up the Batwoman mantle.
Will the show even be worth watching? We’re not sure.
Jussie Smollett – Empire
Smollett played Jamal Lyon on Empire during the first five seasons of the series.
However, he was let go from the series after reports emerged that he falsified a police report after an alleged attack he endured in Chicago.
The character was shoddily written out.
Jason Dohring – Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars fans thought their dreams were about to come true when Hulu picked up a revival of the CW series.
Unfortunately, fans were treated to a contrived plot that culminated with Dohring’s Logan Echolls being blown to smithereens on his wedding day.
Many fans refuse to believe the season existed, and the response from the creative forces that it was needed to harden Veronica was balked at.
Hulu decided against ordering a fifth season.
Nathalie Kelley – Dynasty
Dynasty has lost a lot of leads throughout the years, but the biggest of which was Cristal 2.0. Kelley was excellent in the role and was one of the strongest parts of the show.
