The Night Shift season 4: Ken Leung leaving; here’s why

It’s true: Ken Leung is gone from The Night Shift. Tonight’s new episode effectively confirmed much of what we knew about already, and it is the departure of the actor, who has been a part of the show for many years now.

So why did it happen? Then simple answer to that is simply that Leung opted to depart the show last fall. There was no specific reason given, but with the hospital in revolt, there was a way for the writers to not include him back on the story. It was a fairly clean break in that sense, but the end somehow was still devastating tonight courtesy of the news that Topher had been killed in an accident.

Why go to this measure? One of the simplest reasons may be because it would have been fairly hard in order to justify the character not being around. The people at the hospital were his family, and to have him suddenly off-camera would have felt almost out of character for him. This is a move that we’ve seen happen with other characters over time in similar circumstances.

In terms of how this will impact the story, more than likely the aftereffects are going to be severe. So many characters all looked up to Topher and treated him like he was a beacon and a mentor. They were willing to walk out of the hospital if it meant that he wasn’t around. This will likely cause all of them to spend a few minutes and reflect back upon their own lives and journeys.

There are still some venues that you can watch Leung in — namely, he is a part of Inhumans coming onto ABC a little bit later this fall. This is a show that is wildly anticipated, and the full trailer for that just came out earlier today. Of course, we wish him and that show all of the success in the world; we’ve rooted for the actor ever since he was a part of Lost, so there are clear reasons to continue doing so.

What did you think about the way that The Night Shift handled the departure of Ken Leung? Share in the comments below now!

Meanwhile, head over here to score some further news, including a full review of tonight’s new installment. (Photo: NBC.)