Ken Leung will not return as as Dr. Topher Zia in the fourth season of The Night Shift TV series on NBC. (Photo by: Cathy Kanavy/NBC.)
File this under: whatever happened happened. Deadline reports actor Ken Leung will not be back for the fourth season of The Night Shift on NBC. The Lost alum was reportedly invited to return, but took advantage of an option in his contract to leave the corridors of San Antonio Memorial. The medical drama also stars Eoin Macken, Jill Flint, Brendan Fehr, Robert Bailey Jr., JR Lemon, Tanaya Beatty, and Scott Wolf.
Part of the cast since the pilot, his quick-witted character, Dr. Topher Zia, is best friends with the unorthodox Dr. T.C. Callahan (Macken). The most recent season of The Night Shift ended with Dr. Julian Cummings (James McDaniel) buying the hospital and firing Topher, so the character will not be hard to write off.
Ken Leung exits The Night Shift TV show prior to season four, on NBC. (Photo by: Cathy Kanavy/NBC.)
Ken Leung Exits The Night Shift for New Opportunities
According to the report, Leung — who also recurred as Leon Tao on the recently ended Person of Interest with Lost colleague Michael Emerson — is leaving The Night Shift to pursue other opportunities. The article did not speculate on what those opportunities might be.
In addition to The Night Shift and Person of Interest, since his days of playing Miles Straume on Lost ended, Leung has recurred on NBC‘s Deception and ABC‘s Zero Hour. Both series were cancelled after one season, in 2013.
NBC just renewed The Night Shift for season four, last week. It seems The Peacock Network already knew about Leung’s departure. Looking back, we now see it did not include his name among the cast, in the renewal press release. Don’t worry. Macken, Flint, Fehr, Bailey, Lemon, Beatty, and Wolf’s names are all there.
Jennifer Beals, who began recurring as Dr. Sydney Jennings is not mentioned in the renewal press release, either. That said, the NBC press site includes her name and bio, along with those of the main cast, as well as creators Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. She is the only recurring actor listed — if indeed, she is still classified as such.
Will Beals return as a series regular in season four? Season three ended with Syd and TC unconscious, after missiles struck their camp. Could she help fill the void Leung’s departure will leave?
Ken Leung (Photo by: Jeff Riedel/NBC).
What do you think? Are you a Ken Leung fan? Will you miss him on The Night Shift? What do you hope he does next?
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