The Chi: How & Why Jason Mitchell's Brandon Died

If you were a casual fan of "The Chi," the South Side Chicago drama series that premiered in 2018, you were probably a bit confused when major character Brandon Johnson (Jason Mitchell) was suddenly written out of the show. Season 2 ended with the character in a rough, complicated spot, letting fans wonder in the break between seasons just how he was going to handle all the chaos. The opening of season 3 revealed that he wouldn't be handling it at all. He died off-screen between seasons — or, as fans of "The Simpsons" might put it, Brandon died on the way back to his home planet. 

It's not unlike what happened in the sixth and final season of "House of Cards," where Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) was revealed to have died off-screen, even though audiences certainly knew this was not the writers' plan back for him when they were finishing up season 5. It's always awkward when real-life circumstances infringe on a fictional world, and "The Chi" was no exception. If you want to know why Brandon died so suddenly, you'll have to understand what happened with the actor Jason Mitchell first...

It's hard to know exactly what happened because so many people involved appear to have signed NDAs, or are otherwise just not that comfortable with giving too many details. The gist, though, is that Mitchell was allegedly responsible for a lot of sexual misconduct behind-the-scenes, especially towards co-star Tiffany Boone. Boone played Brandon's girlfriend Jerrika, but asked to be written out of the show due to repeated harassment from Mitchell. Showrunner Ayanna Floyd Davis spoke out about the situation in 2019:

"I discussed Tiffany's claims with the studio's [human resources] department and set up HR presentations for the writers, cast and crew. Ultimately, everyone was well aware of Jason's behavior and his multiple HR cases, including Lena [Waithe], the creator and an executive producer of the show, who is very involved at the studio and network level ... As showrunner, I did everything I could to deal with his behavior, by speaking with the studio's HR department multiple times and instructing one actress to call HR herself, before I became a target of his rage and inappropriateness, and had to report him to HR, as well."

In May 2019, Johnson was officially fired from the series. Creator Lena Waithe shed some light on the decision too in an interview on the Breakfast Club podcast, explaining how she had heard about Mitchell's troubling behavior after season 1, confronted him on it, and tried to work out the situation with him to no avail. "There was definitely a conversation where I called him and got really real," she explained. "'You need to be respectful of any woman on set. You need to be respectful of everybody ... Don't treat any woman differently the way you would treat me.'"

In the first two seasons, Brandon seemed to be on an upward journey: slowly but surely achieving his dreams to make it as a chef despite South Side life constantly getting in the way. He starts a food truck in "The Chi" season 1 and quickly becomes one of the show's most sympathetic, moral characters, serving as a much-needed mentor to younger characters like Kevin (Alex Hibbert). As season 2 went on, however, he drew the troublesome attention of Otis "Douda" Perry (Curtiss Cook), a schemer who would soon somehow become Mayor of Chicago. Douda is gradually revealed to be The Worst, and by the end of season 2 Brandon has been arrested and Jerrika's dumped him. He ends the season seemingly deciding to talk to the police and flip on Douda, but we never get to see that play out. 

How would this have been resolved if not for Mitchell's alleged behind-the-scenes misconduct interrupting the story? A lot of fans think Brandon would've redeemed himself in "The Chi" season 3, that he and the detective who arrested him (Alice Toussaint, played by Crystal Dickinson) would've teamed up to take down Douda. Maybe Brandon would've even won back Jerrika, stayed out of prison, and eventually achieved most of his restaurant dreams. 

Fans have also speculated that a season 5 storyline with Emmett (Jacob Latimore), where he works at a restaurant with Douda, likely would've gone to Brandon if the character hadn't been written out. Emmett in general, with his constant relationship drama and his dreams of bettering himself, seems like he was given a lot of material in later seasons that would've otherwise been given to Brandon. 

Season 3 of "The Chi" opens with Brandon's mother Laverne (Sonja Sohn) giving a eulogy at his funeral, mourning his death and blaming the problems of Chicago for taking him away from her. "I never should've raised them in a city that would rather see their likeness painted up on a brick wall than to see them graduate from college ... They were all I had, and this city took them from me." It's a continuation of the show's many critiques of the systemic issues in the city, except this time it rings hollow because, well, we know it's not Chicago's fault she's crying here; it's Jason Mitchell's. 

The rest of season 3 pivots hard away from Brandon's storyline. The once-important character of Alice Toussaint is abruptly dropped, as is any mention of the feds taking down Douda. The show is oddly uninterested in explaining how and why Brandon died, although it does finally explain it in a season 4 storyline where Laverne returns to Chicago and shoots Douda. (He lives, unfortunately, but at least we know for sure that he was the one who had Brandon killed.) The whole thing was just sort of a mess. The early seasons were often compared to "The Wire" in its scope and style, but by season 3 the show had killed any chance of it ever being considered in the same league.

The general fan consensus is that the first two seasons were some of the best "The Chi" had to offer, and that things started to fall apart a bit once Brandon was written out of the show. Fans often wondered if recasting Brandon would've been the smarter choice, or if they could've found a way to end his arc a little more gracefully. 

In addition to being dropped from "The Chi," in 2019 Jason Mitchell was dismissed from the production of the dramedy film "Desperados" and was dropped by his talent agency. Mitchell's firing from "The Chi" wasn't the total end of his career — he's starred in some little-known low-budget movies in the years since — but it was definitely the end of him being a promising Hollywood up-and-comer whose films would get rave reviews at the Sundance film festival.

That same year, Mitchell denounced the accusations against him that got him fired from "The Chi." In an interview with the Breakfast Club podcast, he said, "I really hate to say this, because I'm all for the Me Too movement... I have two beautiful daughters who I would like to be in the business, so I'm all for the Me Too movement. But I think in this situation, Ayanna [Floyd Davis] tried to use it as a really, really ugly weapon."

In May 2020, he was arrested in Mississippi on multiple felony drug and weapons charges. As Deadline reported at the time, "Mitchell was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and two counts of possession of a weapon by a felon. During a traffic stop, Mitchell was found in possession of an AK-47 assault rifle, a Glock pistol, and two pounds of marijuana, as well as the drug ecstasy, records show."

Mitchell addressed that situation a 2023 interview a few years later. "I was on my way to New Orleans to see family ... and I just kinda jumped in the wrong car with the wrong people," he said. "It wasn't what it was, you know what I mean? ... All of those charges have been dropped, fully dismissed, I'm not dealing with that anymore, but it was just kind of unfortunate and embarrassing at the time to deal with."