Why Rob Lowe Left The West Wing During Its Peak

One of the riskiest things an actor can do when they're starring on a hit TV show is to leave that show. It's not always the case, partially depending on the series in question, but when some TV actors have attempted to leap from the small screen elsewhere, they only end up squandering their chance. It's true, of course, that you can look at a guy like George Clooney, who had acted steadily for about a decade prior to his prominent role on the NBC hospital drama "ER" and was able to make the jump to the big screen ... eventually. (Clooney has managed to be a very good sport about his ill-fated turn as Batman in the late 1990s, but few people will argue with a straight face that it's secretly a good movie.) But you can also look at David Caruso, who seemed to jump off the screen in the ABC police drama "NYPD Blue" in its first season, and then chose to leave the show to pursue a film career ... before heading back to the world of TV with the CBS procedural "CSI: Miami."

In other words: Leaving a TV show at its zenith isn't unheard of, and it can work, but not always. Consider the case of Rob Lowe and the NBC political drama "The West Wing." Premiering in 1999, "The West Wing" was perhaps the perfect distillation of Aaron Sorkin's style of writing and storytelling, depicting a fictional version of the White House as overseen by President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen). But while Bartlet was the Commander-in-Chief, and although the show did have a vast ensemble, Lowe's good-looking speechwriter Sam Seaborn was kind of the main focus of the series' first season. And yet, as the show progressed, Lowe chose to depart "The West Wing" as a regular player in its fourth season. Why leave a good thing behind? Well, the answer's more complicated than you may think, and it might well have worked out for everyone in the long run.

Especially in the current American political climate, "The West Wing" seems like a most fascinating dream of a show, in which major players in Washington may disagree with each other but major global catastrophes are typically averted and even the most in-opposition power lobbyists can get along at the end of the day (and do so while rattling off hyper-literate dialogue). Lowe's character Sam Seaborn, first glimpsed in the show's pilot, has the kind of day that may have gotten him fired in the early-2000s' real world. After spending a night with a charming and beautiful woman (Lisa Edelstein), he realizes to his dismay that she's a high-priced call girl, yet can't stop himself from revealing this to a teacher on a field trip to the White House ... before learning that teacher is the daughter of White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (the late John Spencer). But in spite of (or perhaps because of) these flaws, Sam is something of an audience surrogate in the first season, as well as an immensely charismatic lead whose presence allows us to meet McGarry, Bartlet, press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney), his own boss Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford).

The first two seasons of "The West Wing" feel like something of an apotheosis of modern network drama, encapsulating slow-burn arcs that encompass more than one episode, capturing the zeitgeist of the country as it approached a new millennium, and offering purportedly pointed insights into all sorts of hot-button issues, from religion to drug use to abortion, all under the guise of being political commentary. The show was also a massive hit, becoming one of the most popular shows on television by its third season (which ran from the fall of 2001 to the spring of 2002, ensuring that its own tone would shift post-9/11). Critics loved it, audiences loved it, and the show got showered with Emmys (including a nomination for Lowe). 

So, why would he leave? Although both Lowe and Sorkin departed after the show's fourth season, they didn't leave for the same reason. (Sorkin, for his part, hadn't even planned on making "The West Wing" and did it basically by accident.) For Lowe, though, it was a simple case of being "undervalued," as he described it in an interview with the "Podcrushed" podcast in 2023 (via Entertainment Weekly). Though he noted that he shared some stories of his experience in his then-recent memoir, much of it remained known only to him and those around him, with Lowe noting that his stories apparently put others' examples of a difficult workplace to shame. 

Just as Lowe's presence on "The West Wing" felt like something of a revelation after his appearances in silly comedies like the "Austin Powers" films and "Tommy Boy" (a movie whose stars once got into a huge fight over Lowe, strangely enough), it also felt like a dangerous choice for him to leave that same show. That was especially the case since, at the time of his departure, rumors abounded that the actor had stepped away due to a salary dispute.

But hindsight is everything, and with that, it's hard to look at Lowe's life and feel too bad for him (nor is he asking for that kind of reaction). Although the first two shows he would headline afterwards, "The Lyon's Den" and "Dr. Vegas," didn't hit big with audiences, he would join the ABC drama "Brothers and Sisters" in 2006 and appear on that show for four seasons. Most notably, perhaps, he soon after made the leap to weekly network comedy as a key player on "Parks and Recreation," playing the fit and exuberant civil servant Chris Traeger. These days, Lowe can also be seen on Fox as the host of the flashy game show "The Floor," which served as the post-Super Bowl special in 2025.

So, all in all, Lowe is doing just fine in spite of the fact that he left one of the biggest titles on his resume at what appeared to be its height. Granted, he would return to "The West Wing" before it concluded for a couple of guest appearances, but his departure ended up paying dividends. (There's also apparently a world in which he, not Patrick Dempsey, played McDreamy on "Grey's Anatomy," which would have been pretty nice for him.) Though Lowe has chosen not to reveal all the details, it's worth reminding ourselves that even the most charming, attractive actors can still feel challenged and unwelcome on a set. Speaking up for yourself might seem dangerous in the moment, but it's usually the best thing to do all the same.