The Real Reason Shalita Grant Left NCIS: NOLA

It wasn't until late in the first season of NCIS: New Orleans that viewers met ATF agent Sonja Percy, played by Tony-nominated actress Shalita Grant. Once she became a regular on the show in season two, she quickly became a favorite thanks to her penchant for calling out BS and her great chemistry with Agent Christopher LaSalle, played by Lucas Black.

As anybody who watches network crime procedurals will tell you, all good things must come to an end, and no NCIS agent is forever. After three seasons on the show, Grant decided to hand in her badge, and the character of Agent Percy was retired. Any time an actor leaves a hit show, it always raises the question: was their ouster a natural progression of the story, or was something going on behind the scenes?

Throughout the fourth season of the show, it was clear to the NCIS: New Orleans team that something was eating at Agent Percy. She seemed restless and distracted, and made a few bad calls that were out of character. In her penultimate episode on the show, "Welcome to the Jungle," Percy revealed that she interviewed for a position with the FBI. Her issues, it seems, were caused by a nagging feeling that she needed to move on to something new.

Although she was offered the FBI job, Percy initially declined it, as she didn't want to upset her NCIS squadmates. In Percy's final episode, "High Stakes," she and Agent LaSalle were assigned to work a sting operation at a poker game. Percy ended up in an SUV with the perp they were tracking and, in a split-second decision, she rolled the vehicle to prevent him from getting the upper hand on her.

It was a very risky move that ended up paying off, but it was further proof that Percy's instincts were being affected by her feeling of restlessness. In the end, Percy realized that the only reason she turned down the FBI job was to avoid disappointing other people, which wasn't the correct decision to make for herself. At the end of the episode, she announced her departure from the team.

When Variety originally reported on Grant's decision to leave, they cited sources who said:

"The departure is amicable, and mutually agreed upon between the actress and the producers."

In a later report on Deadline, the actress herself claimed she was ready to move on. The year after exiting the show, Grant landed a recurring role on the final season of Santa Clarita Diet.

"Good afternoon everyone. I'm Special Agent Tess Rogers with the FBI."

In 2017, while Grant was still on NCIS: New Orleans, she did open up about the difficulties of transitioning from theater to the world of primetime crime dramas. In an interview with Lenny Letter, Grant said:

"I didn't realize just how different a procedural is [...] I do come from theater, and I am always looking for ways to be human and be alive and in the moment. It is challenging to do that with a procedural."

She's far from the first actor to speak up about the grind of filming twenty-two episode seasons. Although she didn't cite those particular issues when speaking about her exit, it seems likely that they played a role in her decision to move on to different projects. One of those different projects may also shine some light on what factors motivated her to leave the show.

It wasn't just her role on Santa Clarita Diet that kept Grant busy after she left NCIS: New Orleans. The enterprising actress launched a hair care line specifically for black women with Type 4 hair called Four Naturals. On the company's website, Grant opened up about what inspired her to launch her haircare line. She said:

"I found myself utterly wrecked after three years on a television show that decimated my natural hair and my self-image [...] My tight Type 4 hair was not welcome; instead, the producers and hair department had no issue with my natural hair suffering or falling out to comply with the mandate to wear a ponytail with little to no curl. After quitting what was once a dream job, I told myself that I would turn that pain into a platform."

Although she didn't specify which show caused the damage, NCIS: New Orleans is the actress' only three-year-long stint on any series. It seems likely that it's the culprit, and it seems this difficult environment could be another reason Grant decided to leave.

#ShalitaGrant #NCIS

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