well at least it says he wanted to leave from deadline hollywood
Tonight’s episode of The Good Wife featured the abrupt exit of original cast member and series male lead Josh Charles, whose character Will Gardner was shot dead in the courtroom by a deranged client. While the shocking development had been kept under wraps and came as a surprise to viewers, it had been in the works for almost year. About the same time last year, Charles told The Good Wife creators/showrunners Michelle and Robert King that he wanted to leave the series at the end of last season, the show’s fourth, when his contract was up. After playing the character for four years, Charles indicated he was ready to move on.
Charles, whose role on The Good Wife has earned him an Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, comes from a feature background and his only previous regular series gig was on ABC’s Sports Night, which ran for two seasons. He hadn’t entered a standard, long-term contract for The Good Wife, which gave him an out last May. I hear the Kings informed star Margulies, who also is a producer on the series, right away, and she was instrumental in convincing Charles to stay on for Season 5 with a new short-term deal. That gave the series’ writers a chance to plan his exit as one of the major plot twists for the fifth season. By the end of last season, the entire main Good Wife cast had been informed of Charles’ pending exit, so they knew going into Season 5 that it would be their last with Charles (The Good Wife already has been renewed for a sixth season). To ease the transition, Charles was booked to direct two episodes of The Good Wife this season, including one following his character’s exit. UPDATE: “Every moment has been a pleasure. We’ll more than miss you,” the Kings tweeted to Charles tonight. Responded Charles, “The pleasure has been all mine. I’ve learned so much working with both of you & I’m in awe of your talent & storytelling.”
In writing Charles off, The Good Wife followed a similar path Downton Abbey took with Dan Stevens whose character suffered a sudden tragic death when the actor opted the leave the show after three seasons. I hear The Good Wife producers considered going the “Dr. Ross route”, a reference to Margulies’ previous hit series ER where the actor playing her love interest, George Clooney, also left in the second part of Season 5. His character was not killed off but sent off to Seattle and later reunited with Marguies in her final episode on the medical drama. The possible scenarios for Gardner included the hot-shot attorney, already suspended once, getting disbarred. However, that would have been a softer blow, and the producers were looking for an event that would shake the show to its core.
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