Why did Morris Chestnut leave The Resident? Details explored 

Morris Chestnut debuted as Dr. Barrett Cain on the third season premiere episode of The Resident. Chestnut appeared regularly on The Resident through the third and fourth seasons, until his rather unceremonious exit from the show at the end of the fourth season.

The narrative arc of The Resident had the character of Dr. Barrett Cain leaving Chastain Park Memorial Hospital to assume a new and comparatively high-paying job at John Hopkins. In real life, Morris Chestnut's exit from the show was necessitated by the end of his contract.

Dr. Barrett Cain has often been portrayed as a sort of antagonist in The Resident. He was that one doctor who was remarkably cynical about his job. Although he tried his best to conceal his true nature under a veneer of extreme confidence, he was initially just concerned about his own self-interest and not the wellbeing of his patients.

Dr. Cain often went to the absurd extent of claiming that he wouldn't let anyone die in his operation room. However, it was soon revealed that all he cared about, at least during his early days on The Resident was to make a quick buck.

Here's everything that we know.

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Dr. Cain's journey on The Resident explored

Dr. Barrett Cain, a neurosurgeon, was brought in by the management of Red Rock Medical with the hopes that he would be able to take the financial situation at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital to a better place than it was at before.

During his first appearance on The Resident season three episode, 'From The Ashes,' Dr. Cain came across as an affable and pleasant doctor who wanted to ensure the best interests of his patients. Nevertheless, all of his swagger served as a front for his real character, which was that of an ambitious doctor who wanted to extract as much money as possible from his patients while being oblivious to their suffering.

In an interesting turn of events, the fourth season of The Resident presented a significant change for Dr. Cain. While attempting to save a woman, he was struck by an ambulance and spent almost the entirety of that season recovering from what possibly could have been a career-ending setback.

Simultanouesly, he was facing a lawsuit for his unlawful acts during the COVID-19 outbreak. All of this added up to a very humiliating season for the otherwise pompous doctor, who was thus chastised by adversity.

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Showrunner opens up about Morris Chestnut's Dr. Cain

An exclusive TV Insider interview with showrunner, Andrew Chapman, from January 2023, shed light on the character played by Morris Chestnut and his exit from the show. Chapman commented:

"We love Morris, he certainly loves the show, and we’ve talked to him a bunch about coming back. We almost brought him in for a three or four-episode run in Season 5, but his timing was no good; he was on something else, and then this past season, we just didn’t have room for him. So possibly."

He further added:

"In an alternate universe, Billie’s son would come back from working at a pharmaceutical company and be tempted by (Cain), who had been running clinical trials at another hospital. We would run a story about the temptations of big pharma money, and the big pharma money would have been represented by (Cain) as a surgeon who also cared deeply about money and sort of a little bit of the temptations of the dark side of pharma.”

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The Resident is exclusively available on Hulu.