Over its 10 seasons, the hit crime procedural drama CSI: Miami wowed viewers with its science-based approach to solving crimes. As the name suggests, the show follows a team of detectives from the Miami Crime Scene Investigation Unit as they try to catch bad guys committing twisted crimes in the coastal city.
Like the original “CSI” series and its spin-offs “CSI: New York” and “CSI: Cyber,” “CSI: Miami” featured a cast of regulars and recurring stars. The main cast included Adam Rodriguez as Eric Delko, Emily Proctor as Calleigh Duquesne and, of course, David Caruso as Horatio Caine, whose character became the butt of an internet joke thanks to his cheesy sunglasses.
One character whose story was interrupted in CSI: Miami was Megan Donner, played by Kim Delaney. Megan was introduced in the pilot after taking a six-month leave of absence to deal with the tragic death of her husband. Unfortunately, Megan didn’t make it past 10 episodes as Delaney’s character was written out of the show, and the reason behind her departure may surprise you.
Despite Kim Delaney’s talent, the Emmy Award-winning actress was written out of CSI: Miami due to a lack of on-screen chemistry with David Caruso and other cast members. According to CBS what was reported in the production is that, “Megan Donner’s character was becoming less integral to the series as the season progressed.”
For the original CSI, lead detectives Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) had such great chemistry that the producers of CSI: Miami hoped to recreate that magic with the characters of Delaney and Caruso. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the same effect. Delaney’s character was quickly dropped, in the 11th episode of the first season, which reveals that Megan Donner resigned from the Crime Scene Investigation Unit because she couldn’t handle a job that reminded her so much of her husband’s death.
It is clear that the character of Kim Delaney was not what the producers expected for the story of CSI Miami, much less for the growth of the character of David Caruso. The truth is that the criminal series decided to approach the story from another point of view, and Megan was one of the characters that ended up being left over.
