‘Chicago Med’: Yaya DaCosta & Torrey DeVitto Exit NBC Drama, Remaining Original Cast Members To Return

EXCLUSIVE: As NBC’s Chicago Med is heading into its seventh season, the medical drama is bidding farewell to two original cast members, Yaya DaCosta and Torrey DeVitto. DaCosta already has lined up a new series starring role on Fox’s Our Kind Of People. Meanwhile, DeVitto has joined the cast of indie feature Skelly.

The departures come as the initial contracts of Chicago Med’s original cast are coming up at the end of Season 6. I hear DeCosta opted to leave at the end of her contract and quickly received an offer for the lead in Our Kind Of People.

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The other Chicago Med original cast members, led by S. Epatha Merkerson and Oliver Platt, are expected to return for Season 7, sources said. Merkerson is believed to have closed a new deal, with the remaining actors, including Platt, Nick Gehlfuss, Brian Tee and Marlyne Barrett, in various stages of negotiations to continue on the show, I hear.

For the past six seasons, DaCosta starred as ER nurse April Sexton, while DeVitto played Dr. Natalie Manning, an emergency pediatrics specialist, on Chicago Med as well as in crossover episodes on Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.

Like the other Chicago series, Chicago Med is one year into a three-season pickup. In Live+Same Day total viewers, it is the most watched NBC series this season. The medical drama has been anchoring NBC’s formidable One Chicago Wednesday lineup at 8 PM. All three Chicago dramas are produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television.

DeVitto joins John Palladino, Brian Cox and Judah Abner Paul in the cast of Skelly, written/directed by Matthew Greene-DeLange and produced by Rob Goodrich and Jason Armstrong of Walk Like A Duck Entertainment and Ellyn Vander Wyden.

Skelly centers on 11-year-old Jonah whose grandfather dies plunging his dad into a state of grief that Jonah can’t comprehend. It triggers an obsession with mortality for Jonah as he and his friends put together the annual haunted house. DeVitto will play the boy’s mom.

“Skelly is heartwarming film that takes children and parents alike back to the curiosity and creativity of Halloween and family bonding. Torrey embodies the warmth and encouragement of a Mom supporting her son and his friends and brings a world class talent to what we expect to be a inviting and fun film for Halloween this year,” the film’s production company, Walk Like A Duck Entertainment, said in a statement.

Filming on Skelly is slated to begin May 20 in Berkshires, Massachusetts.

UPDATE: Following Deadline’s story, DaCosta and DeVitto took to Instagram to confirm their exits and reflect on their six seasons on Chicago Med:

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