Sara Ramirez Leaving Madam Secretary Ahead of Final Season

In the season four finale of The Magicians, Jason Ralph’s character Quentin completed his quest to save Eliot (Hale Appleman), but it cost him his life. Quentin saved his friends and completed a ritual to send the Monster into the seam, and in the process sacrificed himself. While the show does feature dead characters—it’s called The Magicians after all—Ralph will not return for season five.

Ahead of the final season, Arrow‘s Emily Bett Rickards announced her exit in a poem of sorts.

“Felicity and I
are a very tight two
But after one through seven
we will be saying goodbye to you,” she wrote.

Hot on the heels of Lauren Cohan and Andrew Linconln bidding farewell to the zombie drama comes Danai Gurira’s exit. THR reports she’ll depart during season 10 of the series.

A recurring player in season one and series regular in season two, Nicollette Sheridan played the iconic character Alexis Carrington. She announced plans to exit The CW’s Dynasty reboot ahead of season three to spend time with her ailing mother.

George Eads will exit the CBS remake in 2019. He expressed his desire to exit and spend more time with his family.

Lauren Cohan said goodbye, for now, to The Walking Dead following prolonged contract negotiations. Cohan appeared in a handful of season nine episodes, but after a six-year time jump her character Maggie Greene is nowhere to be seen. Producers are hopeful she’ll return in some capacity for season 10. Cohan is set to star opposite Whiskey Cavalier on ABC.

Fox’s Lethal Weapon is no stranger to cast exit drama. Clayne Crawford was fired from the series after the second season and his former TV partner Damon Wayans announced his plans to exit the hit drama after the 13-episode third season. “I’m going to be quitting the show in December after we finish the initial 13, so I really don’t know what they’re planning, but that’s what I’m planning,” he said. “I’m a 58-year-old diabetic and I’m working 16-hour days… Murtaugh said, ‘too old for this.'”

However, this might not be happening now…

Ian Gallagher went to the slammer. Cameron Monaghan left Shameless during its ninth season, his character was locked up. In reality Monaghan was ready to explore new projects after nine years on the show, but in a true TV twist has signed on to return for season 10.

Chelsea Peretti will appear in Brooklyn Nine-Nine when it makes its NBC debut, but she won’t stick around for the whole run. In a series of tweets, the actress announced her plans to leave the comedy, but maintained she would be back. She even used Emmy Rossum‘s farewell letter to Shameless as the basis of her own. Peretti welcomed a son with husband Jordan Peele in 2017. Her character was on maternity leave and sat out several episodes in season five.

After nine seasons as Fiona Gallagher, Emmy Rossum announced plans to leave Shameless.

“Emmy Rossum will forever be part of the Shameless family. She has been integral to the show’s success, from her wonderful portrayal of Fiona to her leadership role on set, as well as directing multiple episodes of the series. We are hard at work now creating a season nine finale for Shameless which we hope will provide a Gallagher-worthy sendoff for Fiona that honors the great work Emmy has done. It is always bittersweet when an ensemble member decides to move out of the proverbial house, but our door will always remain open for Fiona to return home for a visit, or to move back in. I look forward to continuing the stories of this wildly unpredictable family and all of us on Shameless will miss Emmy and her wonderful Fiona,” Shameless executive producer John Wells said in a statement.

Andrew Lincoln said goodbye to the blood, sweat and dirt of the zombie apocalypse and leaving The Walking Dead sometime in season nine. “These guys have been the best surrogate family I could have hoped for. But I do have a real family and it is time for me to go home,” Lincoln said at San Diego Comic-Con.

After 15 years, Pauley Perrette hung up her lab coat and left NCIS. “I believe in God and the universe so firmly, and it just suddenly became blindingly apparent that now was the time,” she said. “After a lot of thought, I decided to announce it myself on Twitter because I didn’t want it to be turned into anything ‘shocking. Abby leaving is more than a cheap TV ploy.”

Speedy’s headed off on her own! Original cast member Willa Holland‘s exit from The CW’s Arrow has been in the works for a while, boss Marc Guggenheim told TVLine. She asked to have her episode count reduced and then to be written out in season six. Her exit just happened to coincide with the return of Thea’s boyfriend, Roy (Colton Haynes), and so they headed off into the sunset together to destroy the dangerous Lazarus Pits that her late father had discovered. 

While Oliver (Stephen Amell) has now lost yet another member of his family, at least now he’s got a wife and a kid to keep him company! 

Grace Park, who shot to fame on Battlestar Galactica, left Hawaii Five-0 ahead of its eighth season. Reports indicate she and costar Daniel Dae Kim were trying to renegotiate a higher salary to match their costars.

Daniel Dae Kim and his costar Grace Park left the CBS drama in between seasons seven and eight. In a Facebook post, Kim said the choice to leave was difficult, and that he made himself available to come back, “CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contract.”

Season four of the NBC drama ended with Sophia Bush’s character entertaining a job offer in New York with the FBI and it sounds like she’s taking it and leaving the show. The show is called Chicago PD after all…

After four seasons on the HBO comedy, T.J. Miller is departing, calling it an “organic ending.” “Also, in a weird way, it’s interesting to me to leave a show at its height. It’s interesting to me to see how the show will grow and change with the exit of this character,” he told EW.

After just one season on the CBS comedy, there was quite a shakeup afoot. Erinn Hayes, who played wife to Kevin James, left as part of a creative shakeup. However, from the sounds of her tweet, it wasn’t a mutual decision. “True, I’ve been let go from the show. Very sad, I had a great experience season 1,” Hayes said on Twitter. “Thank you for all the support from our wonderful fans.”

Kevin then moved on, in a way, with former costar Leah Remini. 

Emma Swan is leaving Storybrooke. Jennifer Morrison announced her departure from Once Upon a Time, but then appeared in an episode of the rebooted series in season seven to help say goodbye to her character, who simply went off to have a happy ending in a different universe. She will also return for the series finale to help say goodbye to her show.

Y’all heard the rumors about a Connie Britton‘s potential exit from the series once it was revived by CMT, but Britton herself downplayed them…for a time. Britton’s character Rayna died from injuries sustained in a car accident. She took to Instagram to pay tribute to the character and the show after the episode aired. “It has been an honor to be a part of that creation. And as I know she would want it, the show must, and will go on. Long live Rayna Jaymes,” she wrote.

Castle without Beckett? You better believe it. After eight seasons of solving crimes and falling in love, Stana Katic was let go from the long-running series by ABC (along with her co-star Tamala Jones) prior to a potential season nine renewal, leaving Nathan Fillion‘s Castle to handle things on his own, should the series return. Following the surprising announcement, Katic released a statement to E! News, saying, “Rather than distract from what was an amazing experience I would just like to say that I’m very grateful to ABC for giving me the opportunity to be a part of a much beloved show. Thank you to the fans.”

The series did not end up returning.

Sleepy Hollow star Nicole Beharie confirmed following the show’s season three finale that her character, Abbie Mills, was really dead. As in not supernaturally coming back somehow should the show be renewed for a fourth season. It lasted one more season without her before being canceled. 

After 13 years with the show, Michael Weatherly, who was with the series from the start, announced he would be leaving NCIS. “He is a valued part of the CBS family, and the immense charm and talent he brings to the screen as ‘Very’ Special Agent Tony DiNozzo has helped make NCIS what it is today—the No. 1 drama in the world,” CBS said in a statement. “We thank Michael for all of his contributions to this successful franchise and look forward to continuing to develop projects with him as part of our ongoing development deal.”

TVD‘s fandom was left speechless when its leading lady revealed she would be exiting the show after six seasons…and  that the show was still going on without her. Delena and Stelena fans alike were devastated. “I always knew I wanted Elena’s story to be a six season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime,” Nina Dobrev wrote in an open letter. “I myself made some of the best friends I’ll ever know and built an extended family I will love forever.” BRB, sobbing!

Dobrev returned for the series finale to give both Elena and Katherine a final ending.

What to do when you’re on one of TV’s hottest shows, but get a job at the White House? If you’re Kal Penn on House, your character commits suicide and you go work for President Obama!

Law & Order: SVU was about Benson and Stabler for 12 years…until Meloni left the series after tense contract negotiations. Everyone assumed things would work out and the two would continue to bust perps, but life doesn’t always work out and Benson was left Stabler-less. However, the show was reinvigorated and is now in season 17.

Ziva left the building on her own accord. Cote de Pablo has spoken out about leaving the hit CBS series after close to 200 episodes, saying it was a personal decision. “As far as my decision to leave, that’s a personal thing, and I’d rather leave it at that,” she said. “The idea of leaving was not something I toyed around with for a long time. It was an overwhelmingly hard thing—at times terrifying.” Her exit shocked fans, especially those who shipped her character’s relationship with Michael Weatherly‘s character.

Marnie (Allison Williams) and Charlie (Christopher Abbott) were finally happy together…but then Abbott left the show between seasons, citing he was unable to relate to the world Lena Dunham crafted.

Whenever anybody left ER, the question came up: Why would you leave TV’s hottest show? Well, Kellie Martin, whose character Lucy Knight was a bright up and coming med student, gave several reasons for her exit, including having a personal tragedy mar her time on the series. Lucy was brutally stabbed by a patient, her death forever haunting viewers.

Another “Did he really just leave one of TV’s biggest shows?” moments—David Caruso left NYPD Blue after one season due to contract issues. He wanted more money. He didn’t get more money.

The official reason behind Michael Vartan‘s late exit from the spy drama remains a mystery, but rumors have swirled it was due to his break-up with co-star Jennifer Garner. (He did return for the ultimate series ending, after it was revealed his character faked his own death.) Fans were NOT happy.

The HBO hit series shocked fans when Jimmy Darmody was offed in the season two finale. While there were rumors about Michael Pitt‘s on-set behavior causing issues, producers maintained that the death was a creative decision.

TV’s quintessential bad girl, Shannen Doherty left 90210 after four seasons amidst rumors of bad behavior. She reprised the character of Brenda Walsh for the first time in 2008 on The CW’s 90210. Doherty exited her next big show, Charmed, after three seasons with—surprise—even more rumors of behind-the-scenes drama and feuds. 90210‘s Brenda went to acting school and Charmed‘s Prue was killed off.

Katherine Heigl‘s exit was less than shocking, due to her headline-making comments over not getting enough material to warrant nominations and complaints over lying in a hospital bed for long hours due to her film schedule. T.R. Knight‘s exit was a bit more shocking, highlighting his lack of storyline and character growth in an interview with EW. Shonda Rhimes, of course, has no time for actors not wanting to be an attraction at Shondaland, so Izzy and George both scrubbed out of the ABC hit drama.

After so many ups and downs, Dan Stevens‘ Matthew Crawley finally landed the girl and had the baby…and then died. Stevens’ Downton exit riled viewers—where was the happy ending?!—and even pissed off his costar Michelle Dockery, but ultimately it did wonders for the show and Dockery’s Lady Mary.

Josh Charles‘ exit from The Good Wife is hands down one of TV’s best kept secrets. Yes, his death was shocking, but the fact that producers were able to keep it a secret is what really stands out. Star Julianna Margulies convinced Charles to stay with the show for 15 episodes of season five to craft a fitting exit. The powers that be explained they needed to kill him so his character wasn’t out there, always a possibility for Alicia.

After three seasons, Crystal Reed went to producers and asked to be written off the show in order to pursue other opportunities. Choosing not to give fans a heads up, the viewers were stunned when Allison died in her first love Scott’s arms in the penultimate episode of season three. “It’s an interesting thing when the actor says, ‘Hey, I want to try something new,'” boss Jeff Davis told us of actors leaving the show (Colton Haynes, Daniel Sharman and Tyler Hoechlin have all exited). “You to have to decide whether you’re going to say, ‘Can we convince you to stay?’ And as a producer, I don’t want anyone to work on the show who feels like they want to move on.”

Unbeknownst to fans, Colton Haynes, fresh off his exit from Teen Wolf, only signed a two-year deal to play Roy, an unusual move for the studio. Arrow then shocked fans by faking his character’s death at first, only to reveal it was a cruel joke. Still, it left the door open for him to return (which he has, and will again).

Mer lost her Der in an unthinkable twist. Patrick Dempsey was killed off, leaving Ellen Pompeo‘s character to move on without McDreamy. Series creator Shonda Rhimes cited a similar reason to The Good Wife for killing off the character. “The decision to have the character die the way that he did was not a difficult one in the sense of what were the options?” Rhimes said at the 2015 Summer TCA press tour. “Either Derek was going to walk out on Meredith, and leave her high and dry, and what was that going to mean? That was going to suggest that the love was not true, the thing we had said for 11 years was a lie and McDreamy wasn’t McDreamy. For me, that was untenable.”

The OC without Marissa Cooper?! The thought alone was blasphemous at the time of the Fox show’s heyday…but then it happened. Rumors about whether or not it was MischaBarton‘s decision to leave swirled for years, but Josh Schwartz has come out and said it was a mutual decision made to shake up the series.

MORE PHOTOS: Shocking TV deaths