Pauley Perrette Officially Leaving ‘NCIS’

Plenty of TV stars have exited their respective shows this season, but NCIS is about to take give fans the biggest departure of all.

Pauley Perrette, who stars as Abby Sciuto on the CBS drama, has announced that she will be exiting the series after the current season. Perrette has been a series regular, and fan-favorite, on NCIS since the very first episode in 2003.

Perrette tweeted the news early Wednesday morning. There had been rumors about her departure and she put them to rest by saying that she is leaving. The good news is, she won’t be heading out until the 15th season is over.

The actress also put away a couple of other rumors regarding her departure. The tweet stated that she’s not leaving due to problems with the show’s creative team, and she’s not leaving to start her own skin care line.

Abby has been a TV mainstay for the last 15 years, and it’s time for Perrette to move on to something different.

The biggest question still remains — will fans be as interested in NCIS once Abby’s gone?

New episodes of NCIS air on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.