George Eads Exits ‘MacGyver’ in New Preview

CBS released the first teaser for George Eads‘ last MacGyver episode, showing Jack Dalton giving his final goodbye.

In this week’s episode, titled “Father + Bride + Betrayal,” Matty (Meredith Eaton) gets an offer from a crime boss she has to say yes to. The criminal will turn himself in and return to the U.S., but only if he is allowed to be at his daughter’s wedding. MacGyver (Lucas Till) and the team attend the wedding to make sure the criminal does not leave the wedding early, only to discover they are not the only wedding crashers.

The preview includes scenes of Jack saying his last words to the Phoenix Foundation team, including a conversation with MacGyver.

“You invited me here to…?” Mac began.

“…To say goodbye to a good friend,” Jack said.

Another scene shows Jack with his bags packed, leaving the Phoenix Foundation behind.

Eads announced his plan to leave MacGyver after two and a half seasons on the reboot in November. According to The Hollywood Reporter, there was allegedly an on-set altercation in October, which ended with Eads storming off the set. Once he returned, he asked to be released from his contract so he could move back to Los Angeles and be with his daughter, reports TVLine.

CBS and Eads never officially commented on the altercation report, but confirmed he would be leaving.

This is the second time Eads has left a CBS show early. After being one of the constants on CSI during much of its run, he left in Season 14 after an on-set altercation with a writer in 2013. In 2004, he and Jorja Fox were infamously fired when they missed the start of Season 5 production during salary negotiations. Eads, who played Nick Stokes on the series, was also on of the original cast members who missed the 2015 finale.

Despite the difficult relationship with CBS, Eads told Australian News he was eager to join MacGyver because he liked the original series.

“They called me and the name alone had me running as fast as I could to get over there (to sign on),” Eads told the outlet. “I was familiar with the original program (with Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver) and always thought it was an idea that would stand the test of time.”

Eads’ first post-MacGyver project is the Korean-produced war movie Jangsa-ri 9.15, reports Variety. The film is set during the Korean War and stars Eads as a U.S. colonel under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. Megan Fox will play a war correspondent and pop star Choi Min-ho plays a soldier. Kwak Kyung-taek is directing.

Eads’ other credits include the DC Comics animated series Young Justice and the 2004 Evel Knievel TV biopic.

MacGyver airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo credit: CBS