The Resident: Morris Chestnut Not Returning as Series Regular in Season 5

Dr. Barrett Cain will be scrubbing out of The Resident — or at least scrubbing in a lot less.

Morris Chestnut, who has played the polarizing neurosurgeon since Season 3 of the Fox drama, will not return as a series regular for its potential fifth season. Instead, the actor has been tapped to star opposite Chicago Med‘s Yaya DaCosta in Fox’s upcoming family drama Our Kind of People.

According to our sister site Deadline, Chestnut has fulfilled his contractual obligation to The Resident, but he’ll continue to recur on the medical drama if it’s renewed for Season 5. (A formal renewal is likely imminent; keep tabs on our 2021 Renewal Scorecard for the latest.)

It’s not clear if Chestnut’s status change will be foreshadowed in The Resident‘s Season 4 finale, airing Tuesday at 8/7c. But if his Dr. Cain does make an exit, it wouldn’t be a complete surprise: Following Mina Okafor’s sudden return to Nigeria earlier this season, which was set in motion by Cain, executive producer Andrew Chapman told TVLine that a showdown between Dr. Cain and Dr. Austin was imminent.

“[Dr. Austin is] dealing with the loss of the love of his life, he’s dealing with his mom being sick, and now in the last couple episodes, he has to deal with the fact that here’s this guy who he blames for a huge amount of his problems,” Chapman teased. “They have to come to some kind of understanding, or one of them absolutely has to leave.”

Chestnut’s pseudo-departure follows the exit of actress Shaunette Renée Wilson, who fully left The Resident in April when Mina went home to Africa. “After deeply thoughtful reflection, I approached the producers some time ago asking to leave the show and they agreed — and gave my character a wonderful sendoff,” Wilson said at the time. “I am appreciative of them for allowing me to embody as beautiful of a soul as Dr. Mina Okafor.”

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