It's more than official now, Rob Lowe will be leaving Brothers & Sisters sometime this season. The news first broke on Deadline Hollywood and has now been confirmed by both ABC and the actor's spokesperson.
The story is that Lowe felt like he was being underutilized on the show and asked to be released from his contract. The network obliged but was quick to point out that they hope to keep Lowe at ABC.
"We would like to keep Rob at ABC," the network’s entertainment president Steve McPherson said in a statement. "We feel he should be anchoring his own franchise. We are in talks now."
Rob Lowe joined the series in the fall of 2006, not long after it started. He began as a recurring character and was quickly upgraded to a regular. While he's certainly seemed to be a more prominent character lately, especially with Kitty's cancer storyline, however his character has never had the level of prominence that the rest of the Walker family has, which is how it should be, since they are the central part of the storyline.
It's still unclear how Lowe will exit the show, though a divorce between him and Kitty is a possibility due to all of the problems their marriage has had lately. Another possibility would be that he has another heart attack that he doesn't survive through. Not only would this make his departure simple but it would also add to Kitty's storyline because of what she'd have to go through. Still, the writers may come up with something even more out of the blue to explain his departure.
So what do you think about Rob Lowe leaving Brothers & Sisters?
Source: THR
A divorce doesn't seem plausible considering the evolution of the last couple of episodes. Some impossible-to-resist government job in Washington could be a way out, and a way to keep him in the show for guest spots, especially if Kitty wins the seat of his senatorship.
I like Rob Lowe a lot, but I'm starting to think he thinks pretty highly of himself. He left The West Wing four seasons in, too.