The original post: /r/television by /u/WinchesterMediaUK on 2026-05-03 20:17:45+00:00.
There are still conflicting accounts of why he left Bridgerton after one season, with nothing to really substantiate any of them.
But just five years ago, he had the world at his feet:
* Emmy nomination.
* Guest hosting Saturday Night Live.
* Doing Cbeebies Bedtime Stories (which regularly gets big names like Chris Evans (the Marvel one), Eddie Redmayne and Dolly Parton) twice in six months.
* Tipped to star in a remake of The Saint.
* Various outlets pitching him as the new Doctor Who and James Bond.
Five years later, that remake of The Saint still has yet to materialise, and he has only had a handful of supporting movie roles before finally getting the lead in You, Me, And Tuscany, releasing recently.
It would be unfair to call it a David Caruso situation without knowing the full story (particularly since Covid could be a factor), but the speed and level of his drop-off is still pretty astonishing when you consider that his Bridgerton co-stars Nicola Coughlan and Jonathan Bailey have gone nowhere but up on the back of it, and that his onscreen wife Phoebe Dyneover still returned for five episodes of Season 2.
I also wonder if this phenomenon is something that could affect Ncuti Gatwa moving forward. He has several new projects in the works, but his premature and abrupt departure from Doctor Who last year included a lot of obfuscation and outright lies, particularly from the BBC and production company Bad Wolf.