SPOILER ALERT: Did Jennifer Morrison Choose to Leave House MD?

As I state in a previous blog posting, there’s recently been talk of Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) partially leaving House MD, expected to only return as a guest star. This departure was confirmed on last night’s episode (“Teamwork”) when she left her husband (Chase (Jesse Spencer)), the hospital (Princeton-Plainsboro), and presumably moved away.

As I suspected, Cameron's departure did not result from any decision of Jennifer Morrison. She talks about her own surprise at the writers' decision for Cameron to leave the hospital in this Entertainment Weekly article. She does imply that the writers are simply remaining true to the character (though she almost evades stating that directly).

I think Cameron’s departure is true to her character; she runs away from things she doesn't want to continue to face. When Amber died, she advised Wilson not to run away like he wanted to, because he could never run away from the memory of Amber or the painful memory of her death. She knew this because she had run far away when her first husband died, but no matter where she is, the memories stay with her.

So it isn’t at all surprising that Cameron would run away when her marriage with Chase fails, or that she would run away when she realizes she can't face what she sees as House's and Chase's remorseless immorality.

Speaking of morality, I’m very happy to see (in the same article mentioned above) that Jennifer Morrison will be paid for the rest of the season even if she’s not in it, since she clearly did not expect to be (partially) written out of the show.

I’m rather sad to see Cameron (the character) and Jennifer Morrison (the actress) partially leave House MD. This does not contradict what I’ve said in the previous blog posting (mentioned above), where I have stated that I would rather see Cameron go then Thirteen; that does not mean that I do want to see Cameron go, and I heart Cameron, but I heart Thirteen more. Anyhoo, Cameron adds elements of morality and compassion that are somewhat (or in some cases very) lacking in other characters (whom I also love), and I think that added some balance to the show. Hopefully her occasional reappearances will suffice. But as I have said in that blog posting I mentioned above, I would be a lot more upset if other characters (like Thirteen) were to leave. So overall, I’m happy.