Blue Bloods season 12: Where is Officer Rachel Witten, Lauren Patten?

Where is Rachel Witten on Blue Bloods season 12? Has actress Lauren Patten left the show? Maybe you’re wondering some of this during tonight’s new episode; after all, Eddie is getting a new partner! Let’s just say that a few minutes into this story, she may be wishing that she had her former partner back.

So why is Witten gone? Just in case you missed the storyline from a little bit earlier on in the season, there are a handful of things to get into here. The character chose to resign from the NYPD after thinking about it for a few episodes. While there were skills she brought to the table with the job, the mental toll was getting to her and you could see that there were some other things that she wanted out of her life. Frank left the door open for her to return in a year, but we will have to wait and see if anything comes of that.

Really, it feels like Witten’s resignation is a byproduct more of Patten the actress having more on her plate. We saw her more over the past 18 months because of Broadway being by and large closed; however, with live theater coming back, her commitments to Jagged Little Pill make it so much harder for her to stop in and appear on this show here and there. She was never a series regular, which always gave her the creative freedom to come and go on this show.

Regardless of whether or not we ever see Witten again as Eddie’s partner, it would be nice just to see her back in general. After all, she proved herself to be a great friend to Vanessa Ray’s character over the years! We’ll just have to wait and see what happens there…

Do you miss Lauren Patten and her Blue Bloods character of Rachel Witten already?

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(Photo: CBS.)

This article was written by Jess Carter.