Did Mina really leave Chastain on The Resident?
It’s always hard to say goodbye to an original cast member, and there’s no doubt we were rooting for a miracle on The Resident Season 4.
For the last few episodes, The Resident had us concerned about Mina’s future at Chastain. There’d been no word on actress Shaunette Renée Wilson leaving the show, but this isn’t the first time a series has kept an exit secret to make the storyline more impactful.
That’s what happened with the recent storyline. Mina’s visa had expired. She was at the risk of being deported, and initially, she looked at ways to remain in the U.S. She even asked AJ to marry her to keep herself in the country.
In the end, she realized that she had to go back to Nigeria. Not only would it look better her leaving and reapplying to return, but it meant she could help a broken healthcare system in her home country. But would she really leave or would there be a miracle at the end?
Shaunette Renée Wilson has officially left The Resident
Sadly, Wilson’s time on the series has come to an end. Mina has officially left for Nigeria.
It was originally going to be with AJ. He was excited about it, but then his mother fell ill. It turned out she had stage 4 lung cancer with an average of two years left. Mina knew AJ wouldn’t be able to leave with her, and she wasn’t going to fight for him to choose between her and his mother. That wouldn’t be fair.
However, there was no hail Mary to get Mina to remain in the country.
And it turns out that this storyline was written at the actress’s request. TVLine reports that Wilson asked to leave the series and it led to this powerful storyline.
The best thing is the showrunners didn’t kill Mina off as an act of revenge (yes, showrunners have done that!) or write her out in a way that made us hate her (again, it’s happened!). Instead, we got this storyline that was emotional but beautiful, and it does leave the door open for Wilson to return if she wants to.
That doesn’t mean we’re happy. Mina is one of the best characters on the series, and she’ll be missed at Chastain.
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The Resident airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on FOX. Catch up on Hulu the following day.