The CW’s since-canceled Walker featured a number of surprises over the course of its four seasons, but I’m not sure anyone expected Lindsey Morgan to leave after two seasons. With that, her character, Micki Ramirez, was written out accordingly. Morgan didn’t provide specifics on her exit back in late 2021, as she merely cited personal reasons for the decision. Now, the actress is opening up about just why she opted to bow out of the role that she refers to as her “dream come true.”
Micki Ramirez said her goodbye in Walker Season 2’s emotional midseason finale, “Douglas Fir.” During the installment, Ramirez made the difficult decision to leave Austin and relocate back to San Antonio. Her choice was spurred by the death of her former fiancée, who was killed while assisting her with an undercover assignment. It was Ramirez’s hope that she’d be able to work on herself and begin a new phase of her life after leaving the Texas Rangers.
When it came to Lindsey Morgan, though, she was actually dealing with some personal issues of her own. She recently appeared on the I’ve Never Said This Before podcast (via THR), where she finally shared the specifics of her decision to leave the Jared Padalecki-led drama series. Morgan explained that, at the time, she was dealing with a serious medical emergency:
I had a spinal injury, which was affecting my nervous system and my brainstem.
That brief description alone sounds very painful, and it’s immediately easy to understand just why the now-34-year-old actress decided to step away from her job. However, she went on to explain that the injury didn’t just affect her on a physical level. Apparently, it spurred severe anxiety within her, which negatively impacted her work performance. An aspect of the situation that was particularly distressing for her was that it caused her to back out of what she considered to be her ideal acting role. When recalling her path to landing Walker, she said:
Up until this point, I had been manifesting. I really wanted to be a lead. I wanted to get a promotion in my career journey. When Walker came, I was the lead female. That was my dream come true. … But, looking back, I realized my mistake in the sense of, like an athlete, I was working, working, working out putting, outputting, outputting, outputting, but I wasn’t recovering. All my dreams were coming true, and I was a mess. Me, personally, was not in a good place. My anxiety was through the roof.
The 100 alum continued to paint a picture of what seems to have been a truly trying time in her life. Given everything that was going on at that point, she now doesn’t think too highly of the work she was putting in:
I feel like I did not do good work. And looking back on it now, it was because I was so stressed out in my body — mentally and physically. I was a mess. I couldn’t figure out why. I have all of this responsibility on my shoulders, and I felt like I was failing everyone — and myself. … I’m somebody that really pushes themselves and has really high standards, and I never want to let anyone around me down. I felt a little bit like I let Jared down, or let the show down, and that was the hardest part for me, because it still makes me emotional, which I know is silly, because I was doing what I needed to do to take care of myself, and that’s more important.
Despite all of that, I’d give Lindsey Morgan the benefit of the doubt and say that she was surely trying her best amid the circumstances. It’s unfortunate that Morgan – who previously expressed interest in returning to the show at some point – had to endure such pain and mental anguish. However, I’m glad she ultimately made the decision to prioritize her own health above all else.
All four seasons of Walker can be streamed with a Max subscription now. Those in search of newer viable titles to watch can take a look at the 2024 TV schedule.