Why Did Jennifer Esposito Leave NCIS?

Throughout its run of more than 2 decades, CBS’ long-standing franchise NCIS has surely seen lots of its characters come and go, but it seems like only one of them vanished without any reasonable explanation after the shortest appearance that the show has ever had.

Introduced in NCIS season 14, Jennifer Esposito’s Special Agent Alexandra "Alex" Quinn was quick to get involved in numerous cases the MCRT was dealing with, mostly due to Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ backing, which later on gave viewers a chance to get to know the character way better, especially since her personal tragedy was repeatedly highlighted during the season’s run.

Despite fans’ expectations, NCIS eventually never offered Quinn a proper development, and the real reason for Esposito's departure from the show is actually pretty weird.

What Happened to Alex Quinn on NCIS?

Though Alex Quinn was more of a guest star on the show, appearing in only 24 episodes of season 14, she was still quick to entice NCIS fans with an intriguing storyline that was unfairly cut off in the show’s following installments.

In season 14 episode 5, titled Philly, viewers are finally offered a sneak peek into Alex’s personal tragedy as it’s revealed that her former partner was killed while they were both on a mission. Her colleague’s death kept tormenting Alex who felt guilty because he got out of the car they were both in only to let Alex talk to her fiancee in private.

Her partner’s tragic passing turned Alex’s life into a real nightmare since she wasn’t able to reconcile with his death and even went to Philadelphia to visit his widow and son.

Everyone was surely waiting for NCIS to dive deeper into Alex’s dilemma and the way she would eventually resolve it, probably with some help from her teammates, but things went into a wrong direction and Alex was nowhere to be found ever since season 15.

The series later gave a weird explanation to this departure, stating that Alex had left NCIS to take care of her mother who had been dealing with Alzheimer’s. However, there had to be something else behind such a decision, and the show’s creators quickly responded to a common request by saying that they had a completely new idea for the way the series would follow, and somehow it didn’t include Alex Quinn.

The actress herself decided to make it clear for bewildered fans, saying in a tweet that she initially wasn’t even meant to stay on the show for long, yet was still happy to be there.

However, with all the new shows becoming part of the NCIS franchise, there’s clearly a chance for Esposito to make a comeback in one of them or even in the original series, if Alex Quinn suddenly has a change of heart.

Though the character might not be the most frequent choice when it comes to fans’ wishful thinking about some gone characters’ return, NCIS: Tony & Ziva is indeed a perfect place for those characters to be reintroduced, and Alex Quinn might potentially become one of them.