As NBC’s Chicago Med is nearing the end of their 6th season, Chicago says goodbye to two original cast members, Yaya DaCosta and Torrey DeVitto.
The departures come as the initial contracts of Chicago Med’s original cast are up for renewal. DeCosta chose to leave at the end of her contract and quickly received an offer for the lead in the new drama, thriller TV series, Our Kind Of People. DeVitto has joined the cast of indie feature film Skelly which is scheduled to begin filming May 20 in Berkshires, Massachusetts.
Both actors confirmed their departure in an Instagram post today.
The other Chicago Med original cast members, including S. Epatha Merkerson and Oliver Platt, are expected to return for Season 7. Merkerson is believed to have closed a new deal, with the remaining actors, Platt, Nick Gehlfuss, Brian Tee and Marlyne Barrett, in various stages of negotiations to continue on the show.
For the past six seasons, DaCosta starred as ER nurse April Sexton and we have witnessed her character navigate through various ups and downs as she makes career threatening decisions.
Yaya DaCosta 
Torrey DeVitto
DeVitto played Dr. Natalie Manning, an emergency pediatrics specialist, on Chicago Med as well as in crossover episodes on Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. Manning has also had her fair share of life altering decisions as well, not to mention her romantic entanglements.
Like the other One Chicago series’, Chicago Med is one year into a three-season renewal that was announced last year. The medical drama joined NBC’s dominant One Chicago Wednesday lineup in 2015 and it is the most watched NBC series this season. All three Chicago dramas are produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television and filmed at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios in Chicago.
DeVitto joins John Palladino, Brian Cox and Judah Abner Paul in the cast of Skelly, written/directed by Matthew Greene-DeLange and produced by Rob Goodrich and Jason Armstrong of Walk Like A Duck Entertainment and Ellyn Vander Wyden.
Skelly centers on 11-year-old Jonah whose grandfather dies plunging his dad into a state of grief that Jonah can’t comprehend. It triggers an obsession with mortality for Jonah as he and his friends put together the annual haunted house. DeVitto will play the boy’s mom.
“Skelly is a heartwarming film that takes children and parents alike back to the curiosity and creativity of Halloween and family bonding. Torrey embodies the warmth and encouragement of a Mom supporting her son and his friends and brings a world class talent to what we expect to be a inviting and fun film for Halloween this year,” the film’s production company, Walk Like A Duck Entertainment, said in a statement.
Yaya DaCosta is set to lead the drama series Our Kind of People from writer/executive producer Karin Gist, executive producer Lee Daniels, 20th Television and Fox Entertainment. The Fox series reunites DaCosta with Daniels after co-starring in his 2013 feature The Butler.
Written by Gist inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s provocative, critically praised book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, the drama, which received a straight-to-series order for the 2021-22 season, takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful black elite have come to play for more than 50 years. Our Kind of People follows strong-willed, single mom Angela Vaughn (DaCosta) as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary hair care line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her mother’s past that will turn her world upside-down and shake up this community forever.
The pilot episode was shot in Wilmington NC in March 2020. Unfortunately, filming was stopped due to the pandemic, however, crews returned in late 2020 to resume work and wrapped production earlier this year.
We will miss Nat and April, but we wish Torrey DeVitto and Yaya DaCosta all the best in their future endeavors!
Chicago Med is on Wednesday nights at 8pm with all new episodes each week until the exciting season finale on May 26, 2021.
ALSO READ: MORE ONE CHICAGO
“Chicago Med” is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment.
Executive producers:
Dick Wolf, Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider, Matt Olmstead, Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Michael Pressman, Stephen Hootstein, Arthur W. Forney, Peter Jankowski
Created by:
Dick Wolf & Matt Olmstead
