14 DAY TRIAL // The most recent episode of “The Good Wife,” which is now at its fifth season, forced fans to say goodbye to one of their favorite characters, who had been on board since day 1, Alicia Florrick’s partner and occasional lover Will Gardner.
Will was a regular on the show and, as far as fans knew, he would stay on board until the final episode. In reality, Josh Charles had long made up his mind to leave and only stayed for more episodes so that Will got the proper send-off.
In an interview with TV Line, Charles says he’s more than willing to take all the heat from the fans for Will’s shocking exit, which occurred when he was fatally shot by a deranged client in the courtroom. It was his decision and his alone, and no one else should be blamed for it.
“I know people will be shocked and some fans will be upset, and maybe even angry, and I can take the hit on that one. If they’re going to blame anybody, they can blame me. But I think it’s going to send the show in a new direction and it’s going to just keep being fantastic,” he tells the trade publication.
Charles wanted to leave at the end of season 4 because, he explains, “creatively,” he was ready to move on. He stresses that nothing bad has happened to make him reach this decision but, at the same time, that there was no talking him into continuing with the show.
After talking to the showrunners and Julianna Margulies, who plays Alicia but is also a producer on the series, he agreed to do a handful of new episodes from season 5 to offer proper closure for the character. All this time, the fans had no idea of the bomb that was about to be dropped on them.
The rest of the cast knew though, and Charles says this only made the final episode all that much more emotional.
“It’s sad, obviously. The beauty of television is the sense that, unlike any other medium, you develop relationships of such depth and length, more so than films or even theater. You see these crew members that work so hard and give so much and help contribute and collaborate to make the show what it is. You see them more than your own family. So the bonds are really deep. There are a lot of people on that show that I’m going to miss a great deal,” he adds.
Embedded below is a video posted to the official YouTube channel of “The Good Wife,” in which Charles and the rest of the cast react to Will’s death.
