Fans of The Good Wife will have to brace themselves for the departure of yet another beloved character  at the end of season 6. Archie Panjabi, who has played private investigator Kalinda Sharma since the series premiere, is leaving the CBS drama in preparation for her upcoming drama pilot for 20th Century Fox TV. According to The Hollywood Reporter, which  first reported the news, Panjabi is coming to the end of her contract and her exit is part of her holding deal with 20th Century Fox studio.

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“Archie is an amazing actress who helped build Kalinda from the ground up as an enigmatic, powerful, and sexy character,” The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King said in a statement. “It’s been a pleasure to write for her, and we’ll be sad to see her go; but we still have her for the rest of Season 6, so let’s not exhaust our good-byes yet. We look forward to meeting all the wonderful new characters Archie brings to the screen. But either way, we’re keeping the boots.”

Since playing Kalinda on The Good Wife, Panjabi has won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2010 and an NAACP Image Award in 2011 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

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“Archie is an Emmy-award winning dramatic actress, and rightly so. Her work on The Good Wife has been extraordinary, and the time has come for her to star in a project of her own,” said 20th Century Fox EVP Casting Sharon Klein.”We couldn’t be happier that it will be with us.”

Panjabi’s exit isn’t the first major departure on The Good Wife. Josh Charles’ Will Gardner was killed off last season, leaving fans shocked and devastated since his exit was kept under wraps.

How do you feel about Archie Panjabi’s exit on The Good Wife? Are you looking forward to her new series?

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Dean Bextor

Staff Writer, BuddyTV