Why Is Freema Agyeman leaving New Amsterdam, Helen Sharpe?

Why is Freema Agyeman leaving New Amsterdam and her character of Dr. Helen Sharpe? The news was just announced earlier today, and we’ll admit that our reaction is immediate shock. Why in the world would this happen before the final season? Given that there are only thirteen episodes left, the hope was obviously that we’d get the entire cast until the very end.

However, that hope is now dashed, and we’re going to spend some time thinking about the reasoning behind this for a moment…

We should note that Agyeman put out a statement today (read here), and in it she is incredibly gracious and thankful to the show and its fans for their support the past four years. She’s clearly aware of the massive fanbase out there for Helen Sharpe, as well as the #Sharpwin relationship as a whole.

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However, it’s also important to remember that acting is a profession, and sometimes actors want to stretch their legs and do different things. It was Freema’s decision to move forward, and we already know that she has a new TV gig lined up in the UK. Our original thought was that she’d be able to potentially balance both, but that may not be the case. A number of UK actors in general do prefer to have a wide array of different roles as opposed to staying in one job for many years — remember that overseas, television shows are often shorter, and don’t take up so much of the year. The model is different and there is flexibility to do other things. This feels in many ways similar to Antonia Thomas’ departure from The Good Doctor after four years.

Also, isn’t it just possible that Freema as a performer wanted to work closer to home? This has become much more important for people following the global health crisis, and we know that travel and/or being away from home is the reason behind Maia Mitchell’s departure from Good Trouble. Priorities are different following what we’ve gone through the past few years.

No matter the reason, we’re grateful to have four years of Helen Sharpe and excited for what she does next…

Are you still shocked that Freema Agyeman is leaving New Amsterdam and her role of Helen Sharpe?

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