Cost-cutting efforts are affecting scripted TV, with more and more shows reducing screen time for main cast members due to budget reasons.
NBC’s Law & Order and One Chicago franchises have become known for various cast exits across the franchise over the years. As Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. lose fan-favorite characters, NBC’s president of program planning Jeff Bader explained why he wasn’t concerned about the franchise’s revolving door of cast members.
“Cast comes in, cast goes out,” Bader told TVLine in an interview published in July 2024. “It’s interesting. Because every year there are cast changes, and every year someone asks the same question about what’s going on within the One Chicago universe. But [those shows] just keep going on.”
Bader pointed out that each of the Chicago shows have continued to find success, adding, “We’re thrilled with how the Chicagos do on Wednesday. We have no plans on changing anything on that night.”
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Meanwhile over at CBS, Fire Country and the FBI universe featured minimum guarantees getting reduced in addition to Billy Burke and Stephanie Arcila‘s departures.
“It’s a fire show. Anyone can go at any time,” showrunner Tia Napolitano exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2025 about the character deaths and departures. “But in terms of losing people, we’re also adding some really fun guest cast. It’s a revolving door of people from Sharon’s past and new faces that are exciting to bring conflict and secrets and twists and turns.”
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of how TV’s biggest shows have been affected — and how:
‘Fire Country’
Season 3 of the CBS series ended on a cliffhanger in the April 2025 finale where three characters’ lives were left in the balance. News broke hours after the episode aired that budget cuts led to Burke and Arcila’s exits.
“I had no idea ever. But at the same time, I know that this is the nature of the industry that I’m in, and I have accepted the flow of release and acceptance throughout my journey and knowing that when one door closes, another one always opens,” Arcila exclusively told Us at the time. “We have this beautiful eternal door of revolving desires in what we love in life. I believe that if we put resistance towards that, sometimes it stops us from fulfilling other things that we love.”
Burke has yet to address his exit, but his character, Vince, was killed off screen.
‘One Chicago’
The same month that Fire Country lost multiple cast members, it was announced that Daniel Kyri will not be a series regular on season 14. Jake Lockett, who played Sam Carver, was also leaving behind his full-time gig after joining the hit NBC series in 2022.
Deadline reported in April 2025 that the exits were “part of an effort to trim the budget” amid “rumblings about cuts across Wolf Entertainment’s NBC series.”
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‘Law & Order: SVU’
Ahead of season 27, Octavio Pisano and Juliana Aidén Martinez‘s exits were announced in May 2025 but no reason was given. Law and Order: SVU brought back Kelli Giddish‘s character that same season after the actress left SVU in 2022 after more than a decade on the show. She was a guest star in various episodes throughout seasons 25 and 26 before being confirmed as a series regular again.
Ice-T subsequently confirmed that he would be absent more as a result of Giddish’s return.
“It’s just basically business,” he explained to TMZ in November 2025 of his prolonged absence. “They brought Kelli back, and at the end of the day, they couldn’t really keep both of us on full-time, as far as budget-wise.”
‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Season 22 went through major changes, with Deadline reporting in fall 2025 that the show reduced the minimum guarantees for its veteran cast members from appearances in 18 episodes per season to 14. While some of Grey’s Anatomy‘s consistent stars won’t appear in four episodes each, Caterina Scorsone departed for eight episodes.
‘FBI’ Universe
In a cost-cutting move in 2024, FBI and FBI: Most Wanted also had minimum guarantees trimmed by 2 episodes. FBI: International was not impacted but was ultimately canceled in 2025 alongside FBI: Most Wanted.
