If you were watching The Chi back in 2019, the shift between Season 2 and Season 3 felt like walking into a different house. One minute, Brandon Johnson is the heart of the show—this ambitious, talented chef trying to navigate the South Side—and the next, he’s just... gone. No big goodbye scene. No dramatic final stand. Just a funeral and a lot of confused fans.
People were asking why did brandon leave the chi because, on paper, it made zero sense for the lead actor to vanish from a hit series he practically carried.
Honestly, the truth is way messier than anything the writers put on screen. It wasn’t a creative choice or a contract dispute about money. It was a total behind-the-scenes meltdown involving HR reports, multiple allegations, and a production that finally hit a breaking point.
The Breaking Point for Jason Mitchell
Jason Mitchell didn't leave by choice. He was fired.
The decision came down in May 2019, right as the show was peaking in popularity. While fans were rooting for Brandon to win, the people working with the actor who played him, Jason Mitchell, were reportedly dealing with a nightmare.
The most public part of this involved Tiffany Boone, who played Brandon’s girlfriend, Jerrika. She was a fan favorite, but she actually asked to be released from the show because she felt so unsafe working with Mitchell. Think about that for a second. She walked away from a steady, high-profile gig just to get away from a co-worker.
Reports later surfaced that Boone’s fiancé, Marque Richardson, even had to come to the set during her scenes with Mitchell just to make sure she felt okay. That’s not a "creative difference." That’s a serious workplace safety issue.
It Wasn’t Just One Person
It’s easy to think this was a one-off argument, but the paper trail says otherwise. Ayanna Floyd Davis, who was the showrunner for Season 2, went on the record saying she also became a target of Mitchell’s "rage and inappropriateness."
She basically said that everyone—including the show’s creator, Lena Waithe—knew what was going on.
Waithe later admitted on The Breakfast Club that she wished she’d handled things differently. She had a "get real" talk with Mitchell after Season 1, hoping he’d fix his behavior, but it clearly didn't stick. By the time they were filming a Netflix movie called Desperados in Mexico, another incident occurred. That was the final straw. Netflix fired him, and shortly after, Showtime and the agencies representing him followed suit.
Why Brandon Leave The Chi: How the Show Handled the Exit
When a lead actor gets fired, writers usually have two choices: recast or kill the character.
The Chi chose the latter, but they did it in a way that felt incredibly abrupt. If you remember the Season 3 premiere, it opens with a wedding, but the shadow of Brandon’s death hangs over everything. We never see him die. His mother, Laverne, delivers a eulogy that basically blames the city for taking both her sons.
The show basically used the "off-screen death" trope to scrub Mitchell from the narrative as fast as possible.
The Plot Holes Left Behind
Because the firing happened so fast, a ton of storylines just died on the vine.
- The Douda Connection: At the end of Season 2, Brandon was in deep with Otis "Douda" Perry. He was supposed to be the one to take him down.
- The Detective Arc: He was working with the police to flip on the mob.
- The Food Truck: All that growth for his business just evaporated.
Fans have speculated for years that Emmett (Jacob Latimore) ended up inheriting a lot of Brandon’s planned storylines. If you notice Emmett’s shift from a comic-relief "baby mama drama" character to a serious businessman working for Douda, that feels like the "Brandon script" being repurposed for a new lead.
What Jason Mitchell Said About the Firing
For his part, Mitchell didn’t go down quietly. He’s spent years claiming he was a victim of the #MeToo movement being used as a "weapon."
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In various interviews, he’s tried to frame it as a misunderstanding or a power struggle. He once claimed that Disney (which had recently acquired the studio) just didn't want to pay him what he was worth. But that story doesn't really hold water when you look at the fact that his own agents and managers dropped him at the same time.
Usually, if an agency thinks their star is just being "difficult" or "underpaid," they fight for them. When they cut ties entirely, it’s because the liability is too high.
The Lasting Impact on the Show
Does The Chi still work without Brandon? It’s been on the air for years since he left, so clearly, it found its footing. But the "vibe" changed. It moved away from being a focused character study of a young man trying to make it and became more of a sprawling ensemble soap opera.
The exit of Brandon Johnson wasn't just a casting change; it was the moment the show lost its original protagonist.
Actionable Takeaway for Fans
If you’re just starting the series or rewatching, keep these things in mind to make sense of the sudden shifts:
- Watch the Season 2 Finale closely: Notice how Brandon is set up as the hero who will bring down the villains.
- Ignore the lack of a "death scene": You won't find one. The show was legally and professionally done with Mitchell before cameras even rolled for Season 3.
- Track Emmett’s growth: If you feel like Emmett suddenly became a different character in Season 3, you’re right. He’s essentially filling the narrative vacuum Brandon left behind.
The real answer to why did brandon leave the chi is a reminder that what happens when the cameras stop rolling is often more dramatic than what’s in the script. It was a case of a rising star losing it all because he couldn't maintain professional boundaries on set.
Next time you see a character "suddenly move away" or "die off-screen" in a major show, look for the HR reports. Usually, that’s where the real story is.