Gina Torres played the role of Jessica Pearson in the hit series Suits for multiple years, but she has since left the show. Why did she leave before the finale?
USA Network’s popular serialized drama Suits is now on Netflix, so new viewers are starting to acquaint themselves with the show’s colorful cast.
One member of that cast is Gina Torres, who played the no-nonsense yet empathetic Jessica Pearson for six seasons.
However, Torres left the show after the Season 6 finale, and fans are wondering why a main player would up and leave before the final episode. Let’s break down what we know.
Why did Jessica leave Suits?
Jessica left Suits to escape the constant pressure of running a high-power law firm.
For the first six seasons of Suits, Jessica was a commanding presence as she was one of the managing partners of Pearson Darby Specter.
Despite butting heads with fellow partner Harvey Specter and his mentee Mike Ross, Jessica always put her neck on the line for her employees, like when she allowed Mike to practice law at the firm without a license.
However, after dealing with all of the complications that come with defending high-profile clients, Jessica found herself feeling burnt out and decided to move to Chicago to start a more low-profile legal career and be with her partner, Jeff Malone (D.B. Woodside).
Jessica’s exit mirrored the reason behind Torres’ real-life exit from the show, as the actress told The New York Times in 2016, “My personal life needed to be tended to.”
Torres explained that the constant travel from her home in Los Angeles to Toronto, where the show was filmed, put an extreme strain on her relationship with her husband, Laurence Fishburne, and their daughter.
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Despite leaving Suits to spend more time with her family, Fishburne filed for divorce in November 2017, which was finalized in April 2018.
Though Torres officially left her role as a Suits regular after the Season 6 finale, she made a few cameo appearances in Season 7 to wrap up Jessica’s storyline in the main show and set up a spinoff for the character.
Because she took sole responsibility for Mike’s crime to save Harvey and the firm, she was disbarred in New York.
However, Jessica could still practice law in Chicago but decided to get into politics by working in the mayor’s office when some of her old enemies also tried to get her disbarred from Chicago’s courts.
This storyline led to Jessica’s spinoff series Pearson, which premiered in July 2019 on USA Network. Unfortunately, the show only lasted one season before it was canceled.
While Suits fans were sad to see Jessica go, many hoped to see her in the upcoming spinoff show Suits: L.A.
However, Torres is done playing the role and won’t be featured in the franchise reboot, telling ScreenRant,”[Suits: L.A.] is in a completely different universe that Jessica is not a part of.”
Suits lovers can still see their favorite law firm partner whenever they want, as Seasons 1 through 9 are available to stream on Netflix.
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