It looks like Kalinda’s boots (and endless leather jackets) are made for walking! The Good Wife’s Archie Panjabi is exiting the hit CBS legal drama at the end of season 6, when her contract will expire, The Hollywood Reporter writes.
The actress, 42, who won a Best Supporting Actress Emmy for her role on The Good Wife in 2010, has signed a development/holding deal with 20th Century Fox Television, which will lead to her starring in a drama pilot for the studio in the spring.
“Archie is an Emmy Award-winning dramatic actress, and rightly so. Her work on The Good Wife has been extraordinary, and the time has come for her to star in a project of her own,” casting executive Sharon Klein told THR. “We couldn’t be happier that it will be with us.”
The Good Wife is no stranger to saying goodbye to some of its biggest stars. In March, the show wrote off Josh Charles’ Will Gardner in a dramatic episode in which the lawyer’s client accidentally shot him in a court room.
Considering Kalinda Sharma is a private investigator (first for the legal firm Lockhart and Gardner, and now for upstart firm Florrick, Agos, and Associates), who often finds herself in sticky situations with less-than-savory characters, Panjabi’s exit could lend itself to some captivating television. (Kalinda's departure will also be a sweet sorrow for her colleagues, which include Julianna Marguiles' Alicia Florrick and Matt Czuchry's Cary Agos, to whom Kalinda is romantically attached this season.)
The critically acclaimed series’ show runners Robert and Michelle King also spoke of Panjabi’s departure, telling Us Weekly, “Archie is an amazing actress who helped build Kalinda from the ground up as an enigmatic, powerful, and sexy character. It’s been a pleasure to write for her, and we’ll be sad to see her go; but we still have her for the rest of season six, so let’s not exhaust our goodbyes yet. We look forward to meeting all the wonderful new characters Archie brings to the screen. But either way, we’re keeping the boots.”
