The Biggest TV Cast Exits of the Year (So Far)

Yahoo

19-04-2025

Goodbyes are never easy — and for reasons that science can't quite tell us, the goodbyes said to fictional TV characters are some of life's toughest.
This year of television is far from over, but there have been plenty of those difficult farewells already, thanks to the cast exits outlined in our list below.
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Thus far, we're not sure any departure hits harder than 9-1-1 star Peter Krause — whose beloved Capt. Bobby Nash was killed off in the show's April 17 episode — but the year's scripted-TV exits also come from Alert: Missing Persons Unit, Chicago Fire and more shows. (The industry's unscripted side has had some surprises, too, which we've also included in our list.)
We'll keep updating this list as more small-screen departures make headlines in 2025. In the meantime, keep scrolling to see who's leaving what (so far) this year, and drop a comment with the stars you're saddest to see go!
Holt, who has served as anchor of NBC Nightly News since 2015, announced in February his decision to leave that role. He'll step away in early summer, at which point he'll be replaced by NBC News veteran Tom Llamas; Holt will focus more on NBC's Dateline, which he has anchored since 2011.
'After 10 years, 17 if you include my years on the weekends, the time has come for me to step away from my role as anchor of Nightly News,' Holt said in a statement to staffers at the time. 'It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to work with each of you every day, keeping journalism as our true north and our viewers at the center of everything we do… I am thrilled to be able to work more closely with my enormously talented friends at Dateline as the broadcast continues to grow and attract new viewers in new places.'
After a decade in the role of Days of Our Lives' Chad DiMera, Flynn is leaving the Peacock soap opera for a role on fellow sudser The Young and the Restless. Because Days films months in advance, though, Flynn will still appear as Chad well into 2026.
'I am grateful for my years at Days; it changed my life in the best ways,' Flynn told TV Insider, which broke the news in March. 'I've always said these stories we tell are like doing a play, and I've spent the last 10-plus years playing this amazing character and telling one of the all-time great love stories. And now I'm excited for this opportunity and to test myself in a new way.'
After a five-season run on RHOBH, Beauvais shared in March that she's exiting the Bravo staple, citing her desire to spend more time with family and embark on other projects.
'I have made the decision to leave RHOBH. My primary reason for stepping away is to focus on my sons and my upcoming producing and acting projects,' Beauvais said in a statement provided to TVLine. 'Thank you to everyone at NBCU, Andy Cohen, the producers, and especially the fans. I have deeply appreciated all of your support, this isn't goodbye — it's a see you later.'
Ramirez, a face of the Fox cop drama in its first two seasons, was surprisingly written out at the start of Season 3 in April, when her Nikki Batista was murdered via a gunshot to the head in Episode 2.
Speaking to TVLine after that fateful hour, showrunner Carla Kettner confirmed that 'Nikki is truly gone, and the emotional and professional fallout from her death echoes all the way through Season 3.' She added that the choice to kill off the series' female lead was a 'big swing, creatively,' but 'the best procedurals shake things up and find ways to deepen our understanding of the characters… It's sad to say goodbye, but I think those kind of bold changes make you sit up and pay attention.'
As first reported by Deadline in April, Kyri (aka Darren Ritter) and Lockett (aka Sam Carver) are leaving Chicago Fire at the end of the current season and won't return if the show is renewed for Season 14. According to the trade, the exits are 'part of an effort to trim the budget' of the long-running series and come 'amid rumblings about cuts across Wolf Entertainment's NBC series.'
Razat, who plays Emily's friend and Gabriel's ex-girlfriend Cami on the Netflix comedy, will not return to the show after four seasons as a series regular. When TVLine reached out to Netflix for confirmation in April, the streamer responded with a list of returning Season 5 cast members that did not feature Razat's name, but no further comment on her status was given.
9-1-1 fans were left heartbroken during the ABC drama's April 17 episode — the conclusion of its two-part 'Contagion' event — which ended with the death of Krause's Captain Bobby Nash. Showrunner Tim Minear told TVLine that the choice to kill off Bobby 'was entirely a creative decision on my part,' and not the result of Krause asking to leave the show.
'Look, am I crawling out on a skinny branch? Maybe,' Minear said. 'On the other hand, if the stakes are never real, if there's really no chance that any of this peril in which these characters find themselves amounts to anything, I think the show could die.'
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