It’s the end of an era for NCIS: New Orleans. The CBS series, now in its sixth season, said goodbye to an original cast member in the Tuesday, Nov. 5 episode titled “Matthew 5:9.”
Warning, spoilers follow.
In the episode, Lasalle went on a quest to avenge he brother’s murder and tracked a drug ring in Alabama he believed to be responsible. The investigation turned deadly and Lasalle, who has been played by Lucas Black since the show began in 2014, paid the price. Lasalle died from injuries inflicted while trying to save a woman.
“We’re off on a big dramatic change in our world here for season six,” Scott Bakula says in the video below. “It was a great journey with him. It’s a huge hole that he’s going to be leaving.”
“The show has been so good to me over the years. Exceeded my expectations and goals. But this job isn’t easy for me. There’s a lot of priorities that get sacrificed for me to be there, but it’s time for me to focus on those priorities in my life,” Black says.
In the video above, Black’s costars opened up about working with him over the years, and why they understand it was time for him to go.
“The growing of becoming a movie star and becoming a this and becoming a that, that, the most important thing, is to be a family man. And I think he’s chosen that over all the other choices,” CCH Pounder says in the video.
Black isn’t the only actor to ever walk away from a successful series. See other shocking TV exits in our gallery above.
NCIS: New Orleans airs Tuesdays, 10 p.m. on CBS.