The town of Pawnee will be saying farewell to two of its most beloved citizens next year. The cast of "Parks and Recreation" will be losing Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe, who have both decided to exit the NBC comedy this upcoming season. "Parks and Recreation," which will be entering its sixth season this fall, will lose Rashida Jones' character, nurse and Leslie Knope bff Ann Perkins, and Rob Lowe's character, fitness freak state auditor Chris Traeger.
Lowe and Jones will make their exit on the 13th episode of the new season, which will aptly air during February sweeps. According to TVLine, the reason for their departure has not yet been released, but executive producer Mike Schur hinted that it is due to the fact that the two characters will be having a child together. Although the characters Ann and Chris are no longer together, Ann's desire to have a baby prompted her to ask Chris to be the father of her child via in vitro fertilization. Chris agreed to the arrangement out of an equally strong desire to be a parent.
"The news about Rob and Rashida is true," Schur said. "We've been working on their storyline (on and off) for four seasons now, and heading into this year, with the two of them contemplating parenthood, it felt like a natural time to move them into the next phase."
Both actors have been integral members of the Parks and Rec cast for many seasons. Jones was an original cast member since its debut in April of 2009 and Lowe joined at the end of the second season.
"We absolutely love both Rashida and Rob, and will be sad to see them go," Schur added. "Rashida was one of the very first people we knew we wanted in the cast, and as important as Ann is to Leslie (and vice-versa), she'll certainly never be far from Pawnee. Rob we initially thought we could only have for six or eight episodes, and we couldn't be happier that he will have stuck around for 75."
"They are wonderful, funny, committed actors, they've been a huge part of the 'Parks and Rec' family, and we think we have a great Pawnee send-off in the works for them," Schur said.
"Parks and Recreation" premieres Sept. 26 on NBC.
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