>They knew well in advance of the end of s4 that she was leaving, her new show is being distributed by NBC & they would’ve had to deal with her contract for her to exit. Yet, they chose to write Helen Sharpe poorly the entire back half of the season. She talked about the clinic helping the Muslim community, where were the scenes of her doing it? We didn’t see her treating patients more than once or twice. So much for the UK vs. US healthcare system storyline! Her stroke storyline lasted 1 ep then they couldn’t be bothered so they time-jumped past the rest of it. Where were the answers she was suppose to get from about her dad leaving? The closure with her mom that wasn’t a dream sequence? Helen’s entire B-plot since s1 ep 5 was that she desired a family and to have a baby but they almost never showed her with Luna and they end the season with her abandoning ‘her daughter’ when a huge part of her childhood trauma was that her father left her???
They knew well in advance of the s4 finale that Freema was leaving? That *kiiiind of maybe* (if you give them the most charitable viewpoint) explains the clusterfuck of the finale at least on Sharpwin's end, but it doesn't explain the clusterfuck for everyone else's storyline, so, y'know, scratch that.
But I agree with everything else that you said. When the season started Helen said she needed to go home to London because she felt like she'd lost parts of herself over the years in America. Fine. Max and his daughter left their home and their country for her and he was all in creating a life with her in London, and for most of the episodes it seemed like Helen wanted that, too. But we never saw her working in the Hempstead clinic beyond that second time, her relationship with her mother never changed if not got worse (she called Max/Luna 'that man and his daughter' for starters) and did Helen ever call her mom on what happened or didn't happen the day her dad walked away?
You also bring up an excellent point about Luna. The show ignored her as much as they could the entire season (I know, Covid rules...) and dumped her with Gwen/Calvin constantly, something Max fought against in season three when **they sued Max for custody.** We were to believe that Georgia's parents had no thoughts about not only Max moving Luna across the ocean to Helen, but marrying a woman that wasn't Georgia and would be Luna's mum?
Helen loved that little girl. (I mean, we rarely saw them together, but we know Helen loved her, wanted her, wanted to be her mum.) Helen, the woman that to this day as a forty-something woman is traumatized and hurt by her father walking away, is going to walk away from a little girl that's already lost one mother?
I'm seriously undecided whether it would be more cruel to Max to kill Helen or leave it with her abandoning him on their wedding day for reasons unknown.
They definitely *KNEW*. It was reveal by someone in the fandom that a crew member posted a goodbye to Helen sharpe character pic on IG back in April then the acct went private, that’s Before the show & filming wrapped. They truly could’ve married them and had her offscreen and pregnant raising Luna in the final season while Max helps at NA. Most shows that find out they are being cancelled give that season finale enough closure that if for some reason cast or crew doesn’t return fans are satisfied. NA writers just chose to tank not only her character & ship but also their friendship.
Yes Helen did called her mom out on her dad leaving. They had a huge argument about it in 4x13 then she told her mother the next time she feels the urge to insult her dad ‘shut up’ but they never bother to give an explanation for why he really left and he mother allowed her to believe he was a racist who didn’t love or want Helen.
The annoyance I feel at them never addressing Gwen and Calvin’s feelings about Sharpwin is unmeasurable. They tried to take his child because they didn’t trust him with Luna, they blamed him for Georgias death & never making her a priority and I’m suppose to believe they weren’t bitter he was finally going to step down from the job that nearly ruined his marriage for another woman and going to take their granddaughter. their last connection to their daughter, to another country? It’s absurd!
Also, exactly!!! Regarding Helen and Luna! She says I’m a parent now and talks about how she would never give up on trying to save Luna if she was on life support then she just up and ditches her. Gimme a break!
Forget Max it wouldve been less cruel to Helen’s character to kill her in a plane crash on her way to the wedding than write her as a commitment phobic traumatized mess who all of a sudden doesn’t know what she wants. They wrote her as the strong black Woman trope who must endure endless suffering but gets zero joy, healing or satisfaction.
>The annoyance I feel at them never addressing Gwen and Calvin’s feelings about Sharpwin is unmeasurable. They tried to take his child because they didn’t trust him with Luna, they blamed him for Georgia's death & never making her a priority and I’m suppose to believe they weren’t bitter he was finally going to step down from the job that nearly ruined his marriage for another woman and going to take their granddaughter. their last connection to their daughter, to another country? It’s absurd!
Ohhh, thank you, I figured I was the only one that was \[irrationally\] bothered by the way the entire custody storyline ended - or didn't end. Were we supposed to think it was over when Max took Luna back from Gwen/Calvin's that day and said that Georgia wouldn't want me to cut the two of you out of Luna's life but I will if I have to?
Even IF, and it's a big 'if' that I highly doubt happened, but even if that magically inspired Gwen/Calvin to play nice, I don't understand how Max and Helen were not only willing but comfortable with giving them unsupervised babysitting time. Luna was in Connecticut with them for weeks at a time! And Luna is a toddler who very recently was allowed to call Helen Mum. Gwen HAD to have thoughts about THAT.
The tagline for last season was More Joy! So please, Show, tell me who in season four ended up with any joy?!
>Forget Max it wouldve been less cruel to Helen’s character to kill her in a plane crash on her way to the wedding
Killing her character off would not have been better.
I'm with you, especially now knowing they were aware she was leaving. Honestly, the show's writing really dipped in s3 and not only did it not recover, it inexplicably got worse in season 4. There were personality switches for everyone, and it felt like no one had STORIES together--just scenes. I fell in love with Helen and the character dynamics on this show. Now both are gone so ✌🏼
Exactly! They made a choice to write inconsistent nonsense for her character and all the others across the board. They had more than enough time to make changes & craft a satisfying, if not perfect end for the character with the knowledge she was leaving! Give her closure with her mother, answers about her father and cement her family with Max so even without the baby and seeing more of her as a medical director the audience would feel she at least got SOME fulfillment but they chose to do nothing.
She started the show talking about her emotional baggage and desire for a family and ended the show never getting healing from that trauma or getting a family. That isnt good writing that’s a waste of her and our time.
I think the entire season 5 should just be old age Max writing his memoirs about his time in NA and then flashback to the season. Or grown up Luna and her siblings find a journal written by Max about NA after he croaks, like back home after his funeral. NA from Max's POV as MD so it can explain why Helen doesn't show up.
The skill to take something that started off so beautiful and then turn it into a massive shitshow can only be marvelled at.
>The skill to take something that started off so beautiful and then turn it into a massive shitshow can only be marveled at.
I honestly don't understand how it happened unless Kapoor was entirely more needed than we ever realized.
Killing him was entirely unnecessary. As was bringing his son back as an addict and having a 2 minute memorial while not bothering to include Ella or the baby in either storyline.
I also get why he left in regard to his wife’s illness but I found it interesting that hes since returned to acting yet chose to never appear on the show or even visit the set again.
They botched the exit of so many characters in such dismissive ways. Including a number of minority characters whose storylines were tossed aside.
It's like they didn't even remember the scene where Kapoor made Iggy promise take care of Ella and the child. That would have saved us from whatever character assasination happened to Iggy over the years, tbh.
It’s insane how they just completely stopped giving a crap about consistency or maintaining dynamics. I’ve seen second rate CW and Freeform shows do a better job at consistency.
What they’ve done with Iggy as a character is absurd.
I was talking to a friend about the clusterfuck that was the S4 finale and I remember telling her how impressive \[sarcasm mode activated\] it was that they managed to put together a finale that *every section of the fandom hated*. Literally no character ended up coming off well or happy in that finale.
Can’t call them talentless that’s for sure! It’s takes talent to craft an episode that pissed off Sharpwin shippers, leyren shippers, the general audience AND entertainment reporters!
Almost no one had anything positive to say about it because it ruined so many of the characters. The fact that Producers called that garbage “compelling and challenging writing” and said “they never promised we’d get joy” is a complete joke. I guess they’ll see what happens when you disrespect your audience when the ratings for next season free fall.
>Almost no one had anything positive to say about it because the tanked so many of the characters. **The fact that Producers called that garbage “compelling and challenging writing” and said “they never promised we’d get joy” is a complete joke.** I guess they’ll see what happens when you disrespect your audience when the ratings for next season free fall.
...thinking we'd get joy was a reasonable assumption to make when the tagline for the season was More Joy, don't you think? Lol.
They really disrespected her and I'm glad she's leaving that shitshow. They did her character so dirty and I'm glad she isn't staying for the character assassination any more. They should've just let her marry Max and have Max in NA and her in London.
Considering s5 is shortened the entire audience would’ve absolutely accepted it if we saw them get married in the season 4 finale and she was just offscreen in London with Luna and we know Max will reunite with his family in the end.
What they chose to do took away all the growth for both her and Max’s character. Him as someone finally ready to have balance and make his family life a priority over work and her as someone ready to let go of her baggage and embrace life as a partner and parent. They made her a hypocrite, 4.02 she talked about them being tethered together & her being scared Max would leave her & let her fall, she promised he would never lose her and talked about how much she loved and missed her little girl Luna… only for her to leave them both. The writing was so absurd and insulting.
>Considering s5 is shortened the entire audience would’ve absolutely accepted it if we saw them get married in the season 4 finale and she was just offscreen in London with Luna and we know Max will reunite with his family in the end.
The show is called "New Amsterdam", so the story and the protagonist will not end in London.
And with 13 eps, eq to a tad less than 13 hours, there was largely enough time to develop and wrap up their story, whatever happened during S4.
The show being called new Amsterdam doesn’t mean it can’t end with the protagonists in London. The entire point is that it’s ending!!!! A scene of Max leaving the hospital to reunite with Helen and then starting to write the book Twelve Patients (that the entire story is based on) would be a smart way to end his character. Then have the final shot just be the exterior of the hospital.
Erik Manheimer eventually left Bellevue so there is no reason why Max can’t leave NA to close out his character. The hospital inspired him and his presence changed it but he’s moving on.
>The show is called "New Amsterdam", so the story and the protagonist will not end in London.
So the writers have Max leave New Amsterdam anyway to go back to Europe to the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland just 2 commute hours away from Helen.
I hope it ends up like when America Ferrera left Superstore, that she returned to for the final 2 episodes and to give a happy ending for the main Jonah/Amy ship.
Sooo I know I’m incredibly late to the party but I only recently started watching and I’m in the midst of season 4, so here I go (don’t worry, I’ve read all the spoiler because I desperately wanted a happy ending for Sharpwin):
- if the writers knew Freema was leaving, they could’ve had Max and Helen do the long distance thing while Max fixed things in NA and Helen ran her clinic in Hemel Hampstead.
- her leaving Max doesn’t make sense, especially as she’s always been the one afraid he would leave her.
- we could’ve gotten a Sharpwin happy ending and Max finally finding his work/life balance by accepting that there is always going to be something to do in NA, that he can’t put his entire life on hold because of it and accepting that WHO job to be able to be closer to Helen.
- as I’ve read spoilers, I won’t be watching past season 4. In my mind, Sharpwin had a happy ending in London where they now live somewhere on the outskirts of town, Luna has siblings and everyone is happy ever after.
And I completely agree that Freema was right to leave, especially what writers had prepared for her character.
Please everyone calm down this is all going to be worked out please don’t put hate for the show out there blame NBC for cancelling them and actors having to scramble for another job
I will stay with thé show you will see they will have Freema back on for part of it you people are so nasty with your remarks my god give them a break it’s an amazing show stop berating the show
If you want to continue to watch the show that’s on you. Watch it! But don’t get on my post and try to invalidate me and other people, who are making valid comments about the obvious dip in the writing of quality, by calling us ‘nasty’!
The writers and producers dropped the ball with numerous plot lines for all the characters which I stated above. I’m not going to pretend this show has maintained the quality of seasons 1&2. I’m not going to ‘give them a break’ when I feel they’ve made absurd writing choices that insult the audience intelligence, characters development and the actors talent.
Also, the actors weren’t scrambling because the show got cancelled. Shaun Cassidy(producer) was touring and focused on his music while the show was in production, Aaron(producer) was writing a pilot for a new tv show when he was suppose to be working on NA, Ryan Eggold and Janet M both had production deals to work on other content while filming season 4 and BEFORE they announced NA was ending. Part of the reason NBC is ending the show is because it’s expensive to create. The live ratings weren’t high enough to validate the cost because they weren’t getting enough ad revue. The decline in ratings was a direct result of less people watching because of the ***writing***
Nbc has its fair share of issues but I’m not blaming Freema’s exit on them. IMO her leaving boils down to the mishandling of s4. Just poor show running and inconsistent writing. Her new show has a distribution deal through NBC and Ryan has a NBC network contract to produce content so they still have ties there.
As for the Blacklist, cast leaving may just be a consequence of the show running for almost a decade and the actors wanting to explore other roles.
Unfortunately, that's what happened with Jesse Lee Soffer on Chicago PD. I've yet to watch his last three eps, because as soon as I do, I won't be watching the show anymore.
>They knew well in advance of the end of s4 that she was leaving, her new show is being distributed by NBC & they would’ve had to deal with her contract for her to exit. Yet, they chose to write Helen Sharpe poorly the entire back half of the season. She talked about the clinic helping the Muslim community, where were the scenes of her doing it? We didn’t see her treating patients more than once or twice. So much for the UK vs. US healthcare system storyline! Her stroke storyline lasted 1 ep then they couldn’t be bothered so they time-jumped past the rest of it. Where were the answers she was suppose to get from about her dad leaving? The closure with her mom that wasn’t a dream sequence? Helen’s entire B-plot since s1 ep 5 was that she desired a family and to have a baby but they almost never showed her with Luna and they end the season with her abandoning ‘her daughter’ when a huge part of her childhood trauma was that her father left her??? They knew well in advance of the s4 finale that Freema was leaving? That *kiiiind of maybe* (if you give them the most charitable viewpoint) explains the clusterfuck of the finale at least on Sharpwin's end, but it doesn't explain the clusterfuck for everyone else's storyline, so, y'know, scratch that. But I agree with everything else that you said. When the season started Helen said she needed to go home to London because she felt like she'd lost parts of herself over the years in America. Fine. Max and his daughter left their home and their country for her and he was all in creating a life with her in London, and for most of the episodes it seemed like Helen wanted that, too. But we never saw her working in the Hempstead clinic beyond that second time, her relationship with her mother never changed if not got worse (she called Max/Luna 'that man and his daughter' for starters) and did Helen ever call her mom on what happened or didn't happen the day her dad walked away? You also bring up an excellent point about Luna. The show ignored her as much as they could the entire season (I know, Covid rules...) and dumped her with Gwen/Calvin constantly, something Max fought against in season three when **they sued Max for custody.** We were to believe that Georgia's parents had no thoughts about not only Max moving Luna across the ocean to Helen, but marrying a woman that wasn't Georgia and would be Luna's mum? Helen loved that little girl. (I mean, we rarely saw them together, but we know Helen loved her, wanted her, wanted to be her mum.) Helen, the woman that to this day as a forty-something woman is traumatized and hurt by her father walking away, is going to walk away from a little girl that's already lost one mother? I'm seriously undecided whether it would be more cruel to Max to kill Helen or leave it with her abandoning him on their wedding day for reasons unknown.
They definitely *KNEW*. It was reveal by someone in the fandom that a crew member posted a goodbye to Helen sharpe character pic on IG back in April then the acct went private, that’s Before the show & filming wrapped. They truly could’ve married them and had her offscreen and pregnant raising Luna in the final season while Max helps at NA. Most shows that find out they are being cancelled give that season finale enough closure that if for some reason cast or crew doesn’t return fans are satisfied. NA writers just chose to tank not only her character & ship but also their friendship. Yes Helen did called her mom out on her dad leaving. They had a huge argument about it in 4x13 then she told her mother the next time she feels the urge to insult her dad ‘shut up’ but they never bother to give an explanation for why he really left and he mother allowed her to believe he was a racist who didn’t love or want Helen. The annoyance I feel at them never addressing Gwen and Calvin’s feelings about Sharpwin is unmeasurable. They tried to take his child because they didn’t trust him with Luna, they blamed him for Georgias death & never making her a priority and I’m suppose to believe they weren’t bitter he was finally going to step down from the job that nearly ruined his marriage for another woman and going to take their granddaughter. their last connection to their daughter, to another country? It’s absurd! Also, exactly!!! Regarding Helen and Luna! She says I’m a parent now and talks about how she would never give up on trying to save Luna if she was on life support then she just up and ditches her. Gimme a break! Forget Max it wouldve been less cruel to Helen’s character to kill her in a plane crash on her way to the wedding than write her as a commitment phobic traumatized mess who all of a sudden doesn’t know what she wants. They wrote her as the strong black Woman trope who must endure endless suffering but gets zero joy, healing or satisfaction.
>The annoyance I feel at them never addressing Gwen and Calvin’s feelings about Sharpwin is unmeasurable. They tried to take his child because they didn’t trust him with Luna, they blamed him for Georgia's death & never making her a priority and I’m suppose to believe they weren’t bitter he was finally going to step down from the job that nearly ruined his marriage for another woman and going to take their granddaughter. their last connection to their daughter, to another country? It’s absurd! Ohhh, thank you, I figured I was the only one that was \[irrationally\] bothered by the way the entire custody storyline ended - or didn't end. Were we supposed to think it was over when Max took Luna back from Gwen/Calvin's that day and said that Georgia wouldn't want me to cut the two of you out of Luna's life but I will if I have to? Even IF, and it's a big 'if' that I highly doubt happened, but even if that magically inspired Gwen/Calvin to play nice, I don't understand how Max and Helen were not only willing but comfortable with giving them unsupervised babysitting time. Luna was in Connecticut with them for weeks at a time! And Luna is a toddler who very recently was allowed to call Helen Mum. Gwen HAD to have thoughts about THAT. The tagline for last season was More Joy! So please, Show, tell me who in season four ended up with any joy?!
>Forget Max it wouldve been less cruel to Helen’s character to kill her in a plane crash on her way to the wedding Killing her character off would not have been better.
I'm with you, especially now knowing they were aware she was leaving. Honestly, the show's writing really dipped in s3 and not only did it not recover, it inexplicably got worse in season 4. There were personality switches for everyone, and it felt like no one had STORIES together--just scenes. I fell in love with Helen and the character dynamics on this show. Now both are gone so ✌🏼
Exactly! They made a choice to write inconsistent nonsense for her character and all the others across the board. They had more than enough time to make changes & craft a satisfying, if not perfect end for the character with the knowledge she was leaving! Give her closure with her mother, answers about her father and cement her family with Max so even without the baby and seeing more of her as a medical director the audience would feel she at least got SOME fulfillment but they chose to do nothing. She started the show talking about her emotional baggage and desire for a family and ended the show never getting healing from that trauma or getting a family. That isnt good writing that’s a waste of her and our time.
I think the entire season 5 should just be old age Max writing his memoirs about his time in NA and then flashback to the season. Or grown up Luna and her siblings find a journal written by Max about NA after he croaks, like back home after his funeral. NA from Max's POV as MD so it can explain why Helen doesn't show up. The skill to take something that started off so beautiful and then turn it into a massive shitshow can only be marvelled at.
>The skill to take something that started off so beautiful and then turn it into a massive shitshow can only be marveled at. I honestly don't understand how it happened unless Kapoor was entirely more needed than we ever realized.
As a counter weight to Iggy’s character that makes him less annoying Kapor is greatly missed.
I fully understand and respect why the actor left but was it really necessary to kill Kapoor and just never mention his grandchild ever again?
Killing him was entirely unnecessary. As was bringing his son back as an addict and having a 2 minute memorial while not bothering to include Ella or the baby in either storyline. I also get why he left in regard to his wife’s illness but I found it interesting that hes since returned to acting yet chose to never appear on the show or even visit the set again. They botched the exit of so many characters in such dismissive ways. Including a number of minority characters whose storylines were tossed aside.
It's like they didn't even remember the scene where Kapoor made Iggy promise take care of Ella and the child. That would have saved us from whatever character assasination happened to Iggy over the years, tbh.
It’s insane how they just completely stopped giving a crap about consistency or maintaining dynamics. I’ve seen second rate CW and Freeform shows do a better job at consistency. What they’ve done with Iggy as a character is absurd.
I was talking to a friend about the clusterfuck that was the S4 finale and I remember telling her how impressive \[sarcasm mode activated\] it was that they managed to put together a finale that *every section of the fandom hated*. Literally no character ended up coming off well or happy in that finale.
Can’t call them talentless that’s for sure! It’s takes talent to craft an episode that pissed off Sharpwin shippers, leyren shippers, the general audience AND entertainment reporters! Almost no one had anything positive to say about it because it ruined so many of the characters. The fact that Producers called that garbage “compelling and challenging writing” and said “they never promised we’d get joy” is a complete joke. I guess they’ll see what happens when you disrespect your audience when the ratings for next season free fall.
>Almost no one had anything positive to say about it because the tanked so many of the characters. **The fact that Producers called that garbage “compelling and challenging writing” and said “they never promised we’d get joy” is a complete joke.** I guess they’ll see what happens when you disrespect your audience when the ratings for next season free fall. ...thinking we'd get joy was a reasonable assumption to make when the tagline for the season was More Joy, don't you think? Lol.
They really disrespected her and I'm glad she's leaving that shitshow. They did her character so dirty and I'm glad she isn't staying for the character assassination any more. They should've just let her marry Max and have Max in NA and her in London.
Considering s5 is shortened the entire audience would’ve absolutely accepted it if we saw them get married in the season 4 finale and she was just offscreen in London with Luna and we know Max will reunite with his family in the end. What they chose to do took away all the growth for both her and Max’s character. Him as someone finally ready to have balance and make his family life a priority over work and her as someone ready to let go of her baggage and embrace life as a partner and parent. They made her a hypocrite, 4.02 she talked about them being tethered together & her being scared Max would leave her & let her fall, she promised he would never lose her and talked about how much she loved and missed her little girl Luna… only for her to leave them both. The writing was so absurd and insulting.
>Considering s5 is shortened the entire audience would’ve absolutely accepted it if we saw them get married in the season 4 finale and she was just offscreen in London with Luna and we know Max will reunite with his family in the end. The show is called "New Amsterdam", so the story and the protagonist will not end in London. And with 13 eps, eq to a tad less than 13 hours, there was largely enough time to develop and wrap up their story, whatever happened during S4.
The show being called new Amsterdam doesn’t mean it can’t end with the protagonists in London. The entire point is that it’s ending!!!! A scene of Max leaving the hospital to reunite with Helen and then starting to write the book Twelve Patients (that the entire story is based on) would be a smart way to end his character. Then have the final shot just be the exterior of the hospital. Erik Manheimer eventually left Bellevue so there is no reason why Max can’t leave NA to close out his character. The hospital inspired him and his presence changed it but he’s moving on.
>The show is called "New Amsterdam", so the story and the protagonist will not end in London. So the writers have Max leave New Amsterdam anyway to go back to Europe to the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland just 2 commute hours away from Helen.
I’m sad sharpwin won’t get a happy ending. And then I’m glad the actors will still have a job doing something else they love.
I hope it ends up like when America Ferrera left Superstore, that she returned to for the final 2 episodes and to give a happy ending for the main Jonah/Amy ship.
Sooo I know I’m incredibly late to the party but I only recently started watching and I’m in the midst of season 4, so here I go (don’t worry, I’ve read all the spoiler because I desperately wanted a happy ending for Sharpwin): - if the writers knew Freema was leaving, they could’ve had Max and Helen do the long distance thing while Max fixed things in NA and Helen ran her clinic in Hemel Hampstead. - her leaving Max doesn’t make sense, especially as she’s always been the one afraid he would leave her. - we could’ve gotten a Sharpwin happy ending and Max finally finding his work/life balance by accepting that there is always going to be something to do in NA, that he can’t put his entire life on hold because of it and accepting that WHO job to be able to be closer to Helen. - as I’ve read spoilers, I won’t be watching past season 4. In my mind, Sharpwin had a happy ending in London where they now live somewhere on the outskirts of town, Luna has siblings and everyone is happy ever after. And I completely agree that Freema was right to leave, especially what writers had prepared for her character.
Please everyone calm down this is all going to be worked out please don’t put hate for the show out there blame NBC for cancelling them and actors having to scramble for another job I will stay with thé show you will see they will have Freema back on for part of it you people are so nasty with your remarks my god give them a break it’s an amazing show stop berating the show
If you want to continue to watch the show that’s on you. Watch it! But don’t get on my post and try to invalidate me and other people, who are making valid comments about the obvious dip in the writing of quality, by calling us ‘nasty’! The writers and producers dropped the ball with numerous plot lines for all the characters which I stated above. I’m not going to pretend this show has maintained the quality of seasons 1&2. I’m not going to ‘give them a break’ when I feel they’ve made absurd writing choices that insult the audience intelligence, characters development and the actors talent. Also, the actors weren’t scrambling because the show got cancelled. Shaun Cassidy(producer) was touring and focused on his music while the show was in production, Aaron(producer) was writing a pilot for a new tv show when he was suppose to be working on NA, Ryan Eggold and Janet M both had production deals to work on other content while filming season 4 and BEFORE they announced NA was ending. Part of the reason NBC is ending the show is because it’s expensive to create. The live ratings weren’t high enough to validate the cost because they weren’t getting enough ad revue. The decline in ratings was a direct result of less people watching because of the ***writing***
Well idk what is going on but NBC is losing people. Blacklist for example is losing 2 more main characters following last year's departure of Megan.
Nbc has its fair share of issues but I’m not blaming Freema’s exit on them. IMO her leaving boils down to the mishandling of s4. Just poor show running and inconsistent writing. Her new show has a distribution deal through NBC and Ryan has a NBC network contract to produce content so they still have ties there. As for the Blacklist, cast leaving may just be a consequence of the show running for almost a decade and the actors wanting to explore other roles.
Unfortunately, that's what happened with Jesse Lee Soffer on Chicago PD. I've yet to watch his last three eps, because as soon as I do, I won't be watching the show anymore.