How 'Leverage: Redemption' Wrote Timothy Hutton's Lead Role Off Revival

It was announced in April 2020 that the beloved TNT show Leverage would be returning for a revival, but that lead actor Timothy Hutton would no be returning after being accused of rape last year. Leverage: Redemption has returned, with the first eight episodes of the season dropping on IMDb TV, showing the familiar crew of good-hearted criminals doing what they can to help those in a tough spot. However, Hutton's Nate Ford, the former leader of the group, was nowhere to be seen.

When the original series wrapped after five seasons in 2012, Ford walked off into the sunset with fiancée Sophie (Gina Bellman) to leave the life of crime behind for good. For Leverage: Redemption, the writers decided to handle Hutton's absence in a way that would never allow him to return: by killing off Ford. The rest of the characters reunite at Ford's grave to honor the anniversary of his death, and actor Noah Wyle stepped in to fill the void.

Leverage initially ran for five seasons on TNT from 2008 through 2012. It followed a five-person team that used their skills to fight corporate greed and reward ordinary people. The Robin Hood-inspired group included a thief, a grifter, a hacker and a retrieval specialist, who were led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford (Hutton).

Back in March 2020, Buzzfeed News posted an interview with Canadian model and actress Sera Johnston, where she claimed the actor assaulted her in Vancouver back in 1983 when she was only 14-years-old. While Hutton was in the area at the time filming the movie Iceman, he has since denied the allegations in a statement to the outlet, calling Johnston's interview part of "multiple extortion attempts by a woman named Sera Dale Johnston to extract millions of dollars from me. He added that he "will not stop fighting to expose this story for what it is: a failed extortion attempt based on something that never happened."

Hutton's most recent foray into television, Almost Family, was canceled by Fox in March 2020. Based on the Australian series Sisters, it starred a group of women who discover they all have the same father: a fertility clinic doctor, played by Hutton. While the cancellation was also announced on the same day as the allegations, it's unclear if that led to the decision, or it was simply axed due to low ratings.