Nicole Moschella
Sophia Bush is ready to talk about the real reason why she decided to leave “Chicago P.D.”
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The actress addressed her departure from the series briefly in October, when she told a fan she left “because [she] wanted to. End of story,” in the comments section of an Instagram post. But now, she’s sharing more of her reasoning.
“I don’t have to give everyone the specific breakdown of exactly why I left until I’m ready to do that. But the overarching theme for me was that I landed my dream job. I landed this job that, since I was 20 years old and trying to become an actor, I said I wanted. And aspects of it, don’t get me wrong, were wonderful. But … I knew by the end of the second season I couldn’t do that job anymore,” she said on Refinery29’s “Unstyled” podcast.
Bushed played Detective Erin Lindsay on all four franchises in the “Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Justice” and “Chicago Fire” crossovers since 2014.
She revealed that in the summer between seasons three and four, she sat down with executives and told them that if drastic changes didn’t happen, she would leave.
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She explained:
I said, “I’m giving you not two weeks notice, and I’m not coming in here throwing s**t and breaking lamps and saying I’m never coming back. I’m giving you 23 episodes’ notice. I’m giving you that much time. So there will be no conversation in which I was hysterical, emotional, in which I was being a quote ‘irrational female’ or whatever you want to put on it. I’m literally sitting in front of you, like. cool as a cucumber. If this has to be like a big swinging d**k competition, I promise you I will win. But know this now: if we’re not having a very different conversation by Christmas, then you know with 100 percent certainty in December that come the end of April, I’m leaving.”
Bush likened her feelings on set to watching a building going up in flames while remaining inside.
“For me, not to put it on anybody else, but for me, it felt like I was trapped in a burning building. I was just so unhappy, and it was my dream job, and I was miserable, and I had to go,” she said.
Season four wrapped up with viewers learning that Detective Lindsay had accepted a job offer in New York City with the FBI.
“Chicago P.D.” airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
(H/T PEOPLE)
