Why Andre Braugher Really Left Homicide: Life On The Street

TV star Andre Braugher has died at the age of 61. While the actor is known for his recent credits, including Captain Holt on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and Ri'Chard Lane in "The Good Fight," longtime fans may point to his role on the classic police procedural "Homicide: Life on the Street" as one of his most iconic projects. For the first six seasons of the series, Braugher portrayed Detective Frank Pembleton. However, despite being one of the show's standout characters, Braugher abruptly left the series prior to its seventh and final season.

In a 2020 interview with Variety, Braugher spoke about why he decided to leave "Homicide: Life on the Street" behind. According to the actor, he sought to break into the mainstream of film at the time, though he did not find the same level of success on this front. "I've always been frustrated with the roles that are available," he said. "I've been very fortunate in that I've been able to book these jobs, but it's not as though I had a lot of auditions. It's not as though there's been a platter laid out for me to feast at in terms of roles."

At the time of his exit, Braugher gave similar comments, noting a desire to appear in more stage plays as well. "After years with the show the characterization could begin to take over Andre — rather than Andre playing Frank," the actor said at the 13th annual Television Critics Association awards ceremony (covered by The Spokesman-Review). "I have to make a little room for Andre to explore the things he needs to do."

With Andre Braugher seeking to part ways with "Homicide: Life on the Street" in order to pursue a film career, the end of the show's sixth season had to write the character off. So, how does the show go about finishing up Frank Pembleton's story? Many procedurals are notorious for killing characters off when their actors are ready to depart. The conclusion for Pembleton fortunately isn't so morbid, but it's still quite the depressing plot thread.

The Season 6 finale of "Homicide: Life on the Street" sees Pembleton and his partner Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) in a tense shoot-out with members of a drug ring. During a critical moment, Pembleton hesitates when aiming his gun at a suspect, leaving Bayliss to push him out of the way and sustain a bullet wound. Wracked with guilt over Bayliss' injury and disenfranchised with his department's handling of other sensitive matters, he ultimately makes the decision to quit.

While Pembleton's exit in the original "Homicide: Life on the Street" is pretty sad, it's actually not the complete end of the character's arc. The series is one of the many TV shows that got a movie to wrap up the ending, and Braugher returned as his iconic detective for "Homicide: The Movie." The finale film sees Pembleton reunite with Bayliss and other members of the force in order to solve the shooting of longtime shift commander Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto), and gives a brighter send-off for Braugher's character.