Madam Secretary: Sara Ramirez Not Returning as a Series Regular for CBS Drama's Game-Changing Final Season

Michael Ausiello

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Madam Secretary is taking a big leap forward in its final season, but not everyone will be making the jump. TVLine has confirmed that Sara Ramirez will not be returning as a series regular for the CBS political drama’s abbreviated sixth season. The Grey’s vet — who may return for a guest appearance in one of the show’s final 10 episodes — joined Madam Secretary in Season 4 as brilliant political strategist Kat Sandoval.

Ramirez’s departure comes amid word that Madam Secretary is shaking things up creatively in Season 6. As first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, the show’s Oct. 6 premiere will pick up two years after the events of the finale, and find Tea Leoni’s titular character answering to a different title: President of the United States.

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“We are doing about a two-year time jump,” Amy Reisenbach, CBS’ executive vice president of current affairs, told the paper. “When we come back, Elizabeth will be president. It will be about 100 days into her presidency.”

As viewers recall, the final moments of the Season 5 finale found Leoni’s Elizabeth announcing her run for the Oval Office. Series co-creators Barbara Hall and Lori McCreary initially told TVLine that a then-potential Season 6 would likely chronicle Elizabeth’s experiences as a candidate in a political primary and presidential election. The subsequent final-season development likely led the EPs to dramatically accelerate the narrative.

Ramirez hinted at her Madam Secretary exit early Tuesday on social media:

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