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Edwards Checking Out of "ER"--But When?
Nearly seven years after Anthony Edwards first appeared as the balding, bespectacled good doctor, the actor says he'll hang up his stethoscope after the 2001-2002 season, when his contract expires.
"I think that will be it," Edwards tells the Associated Press. "It has been eight years of my family working around my schedule. It has been a long time playing Dr. Greene."
NBC signed a deal keeping the top-rated medical drama around at least through the 2003-04 season. Edwards, 37, remains one of just a handful of actors still around from ER's original cast, but the show continues to thrive despite the departures of George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, Sherry Stringfield and Kellie Martin. This season, ER has remained the most watched series on TV, averaging 24.6 million viewers.
Although Edwards says he'll leave at the end of next season, sources close to the show recently told E! Online's TV columnist Wanda that Edwards actually asked to leave the show before his contract ends in 2002--meaning Edwards would be written off the show during May sweeps. NBC reps could not immediately be reached for comment.
Regardless, the most obvious method of departure, of course, would be that oft-used TV exit vehicle: death. Edwards' character is currently battling brain cancer and recently went to New York for experimental surgery.
Edwards tells the AP his decision was not about creative direction or money or Clooney-like movie deals. He picked up a $1 million bonus two years ago, when Warner Bros. Television agreed to a new licensing deal with NBC. He says it's about spending more time with his family.
"I'll be almost 40 when this is over," he says. "It will be almost 24 years since I started. I love to act, but to act every day for 10 months a year and not see your kids...It's more of a family thing."
ER's executive producer John Wells offered his support for Edwards' decision.
"Tony is an integral part of ER and has been essential to the success of the show," he says. "Though we would love to have him stay, we understand if he wants to move on and we will miss him greatly."
Still remaining from the original cast are fellow docs Noah Wyle and Eriq LaSalle, whose contracts also run out at the end of next season. A spokesman for LaSalle told the AP no decision has been made about his future on the show, and Wyle's rep has not yet commented on the matter.
Cancer death theories aside, Edwards tells AP he'd like to see his character leave the show "in flames."
"There are a lot of El trains in Chicago," he cracks. "You could trip in front of any one of them."
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