Just when it looked like
House’s original team was heading for a sweet reunion this season,
rumors are flying that Jennifer Morrison, who plays Dr. Cameron, may be leaving the show for good.
TV Guide Magazine spoke exclusively with the show’s executive producer, Katie Jacobs, after word circulated that Morrison filmed her last scene this week for a final appearance to air in November. Jacobs stopped short of confirming that Morrison is exiting for good, but she did admit Cameron is at least taking a leave of absence.
“There is a story coming that has a major consequence for Cameron and a direct impact on her role on House’s team and on her marriage [to Dr. Chase, played by Jesse Spencer],” Jacobs acknowledged. The storyline begins after a visiting African dictator, played by James Earl Jones, receives a controversial treatment at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital in the October 5 episode. “Cameron’s reaction [to the situation] is that she needs to separate from her husband and marriage and proximity from the hospital,” Jacobs explained.
That’s especially sad news for fans of Cameron and Chase, who waited five long seasons for the couple to get married at the end of last season. And though
House’s original team, which had been disbanded for two seasons to make way for a trio of new interns, will be back together for the early part of the season, it’s only a matter of time before the diagnosis-spouting crew breaks up again. “On our show, actions have consequences and the drama [involving Jones’s character] creates different points of view that force Cameron to remove herself.”
Whether that means Morrison is departing the show remains unclear. “If I wanted to make an announcement that Jennifer was leaving the show, I would say that,” Jacobs said. “The fact is, we still don’t know how the season is going to end for Cameron or for Jennifer.” As of now, scripts have only been written for 11 of the 24 episodes. “Unlike
Grey’s Anatomy, we don’t know in advance what the last line of the final episode of each season will be.” That said, Jacobs acknowledged that Cameron stops appearing in the ninth episode. “If you want to tell me what happens in 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and beyond, please do, because I don’t have an answer,” she said.
Asked if there is anything more personal in play that forced Morrison to take leave (for instance, her relationship with Spencer, to whom she was engaged briefly in 2007 before the marriage was called off) Jacobs said absolutely not. “We do not have dramas behind the scenes on the show. This is all driven by the storytelling, and the story tells us Cameron needs to take a break from the hospital.”
Rumors about Morrison’s uncertain future with the show began flying when the actor did not show up in Hollywood last week for a movie-style premiere of
House’s two-hour season opener. Yesterday on set, meanwhile, Morrison appeared calm aside from the usual tension of having to deliver rapid-fire dialogue loaded with Latinate medical terminology. She said, “The show has been a gift in many ways. I feel so grateful to have landed on something with this much intelligence, this much wit and that is so popular.” Still, she made no hint of a departure.
Jacobs said whatever the reason for the upcoming changes involving Cameron, it’s nothing personal about Morrison, who remains a series regular on the show.
“I will say this,” Jacobs said. “Jennifer and I have a spa day planned together.”