What happened to Dr. Cain in The Resident? (Why Morris Chestnut left)

We absolutely hate cast departures, and one that hit us hard was Morris Chestnut's exit from The Resident. Now that all six seasons of the medical drama series are streaming on Netflix, we're seeing many questions about the show. As expected, Morris Chestnut's departure is one of the hot topics. People want to know why he left the series and how his character's exit was explained. No worries! We shared everything we know about his departure below.

Chestnut played the role of Dr. Barrett Cain, a cocky neurosurgeon and Chief of Surgery at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital. He joined the medical drama as a series regular in its third season and continued to be a series regular into the fourth season. However, he would not return for the show's fifth or sixth season.

Back in May 2021, it was announced that Chestnut would not be returning as a series regular in a potential fifth season. I say potential because this news broke before the show was renewed. It was reported that he would continue to appear on the show as a recurring instead. However, this didn't end up happening at all. The season 4 finale, titled "Past, Present, Future," would be the last time viewers see Chestnut appear as Dr. Cain in The Resident.

The way the show chose to close out Dr. Cain's story is by writing the character off the show. In the season 4 finale, Dr. Cain wrestles with the decision to leave Chastain Park Memorial Hospital behind to accept a better-paying job offer at Johns Hopkins. Although we never actually see him make a decision in the finale on whether to leave or stay, we find out in the fifth season that he chose to leave.

So, why did Chestnut exit The Resident? Well, it had something to do with him signing on to do other projects, specifically the short-lived Fox drama series Our Kind of People. He starred in one of the leading roles as Raymond Dupont. Since this new role would conflict with his schedule for The Resident, he wouldn't be able to return to the medical drama as a series regular. Although he was supposed to come back as recurring for the fifth season, that didn't end up happening.

It looks like the reason was because of scheduling conflicts, according to The Resident showrunner Andrew Chapman. In a 2023 interview with TV Insider, Chapman spoke about how he and the rest of the show's creative team were planning to bring Chestnut back for a couple of episodes in season 5, but those plans fell through. He also mentioned why Chestnut wasn't brought back for the sixth and final season, saying that they "didn't have room for him."

"We almost brought him in for a three or four-episode run in Season 5, but his timing was no good; he was on something else, and then this past season, we just didn’t have room for him. So possibly."

Andrew Chapman

How did you feel about Morris Chestnut's departure from The Resident?