‘Madam Secretary’ Season 6: Sara Ramirez Bows Out as Series Regular

Madam Secretary will need more people to beef up her political policies now more than ever. Massive changes will happen once the CBS political drama returns for its final season this fall. But it also comes with unfortunate news—Sara Ramirez, who plays Kat Sandoval, the brilliant political strategist and policy adviser to Téa Leoni’s Secretary Elizabeth McCord, will not be returning as a series regular (via TVLine). Ramirez joined the show in Season 4.

Ramirez exit comes as a huge indication of where Madam Secretary is heading after her stint at the State Department. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the show is bringing Elizabeth directly to the White House. Season 5 ended with Elizabeth announcing her campaign for the presidency, and the last season will follow her story as the new and first woman President of the United States. Sandoval’s exit could only mean one thing—Elizabeth needs a new political adviser as she takes on bigger responsibilities.

A bigger stage for ‘Madam Secretary’

Madam Secretary Season 6 picks up two years after her presidential campaign, and it will also deal with the events leading to the McCord presidency. “We are doing about a two-year time jump,” CBS’ executive vice president of current affairs Amy Reisenbach. “When we come back, Elizabeth will be president. It will be about 100 days into her presidency.” Series creators Barbara Hall and Lori McCreary previously dropped clues as to where the previously-in-the-works season 6 would go, saying that it would likely be a story of how Elizabeth went through the tough atmosphere of the political primaries and the presidential election itself. Elizabeth will be succeeding Keith Carradine’s President Conrad Dalton, an independent.

However, the show will maintain the Madam Secretary title, despite discussions about it being made (but Madam President does sound very impressive and on-brand).

Following Ramirez’s departure, the former Grey’s Anatomy alum expressed her gratitude on Twitter. “I know there’s a lot going on in the world. So much,” Ramirez tweeted. “And for just a quick moment I want to wish everyone at Madam Secretary a fantastic final Season 6 [at] CBS! It was an honor to bring Kat Sandoval into your universe!”