‘NCIS: New Orleans’ actress Shalita Grant to leave show (EXCLUSIVE)

Shalita Grant, who plays Sonja Percy on “NCIS: New Orleans,” is leaving the drama, Variety has learned exclusively.

Sources say the departure is amicable and mutually agreed upon between the actress and the producers of the CBS procedural, which is shot in the Crescent City.

Grant recurred as Percy, a former ATF agent recruited to the NCIS unit, in the show’s first season. She was elevated to a series regular for the second, third, and fourth seasons of the program. Grant’s final episode will be the 17th installment of the fourth season, which will air April 3.

“It’s just time for a change,” said her manager, Didi Rea. “This is about moving on to the next great thing.”

A veteran of many Broadway productions and a Juilliard graduate, Grant has also appeared on the PBS Civil War drama “Mercy Street,” “Bones,” and “The Good Wife.” Her character also appeared on “NCIS.”

Sources say the departure of the actress, who is African-American, is completely unrelated to a recent Variety report about the drama’s showrunner, Brad Kern, who is alleged to have made racially insensitive remarks and engaged in sexual harassment. In December, CBS said that it had taken action to “address behavior and management style” after two HR investigations in 2016. Kern remains the showrunner of “NCIS: New Orleans.”

RELATED: See Pauley Perrette on 'NCIS'