THE MINDY PROJECT’s Chris Messina Dropping Down From Series Regular Next Season

Recently renewed for a fifth season by Hulu, in the last 24 hours it was announced that The Mindy Project star Chris Messina, who plays leading man Danny Castellano, will not be a regular cast member for season five, but a recurring guest star. While this news first reported by TVLine may come as a shock to some fans, this announcement basically makes the actor’s status this past season more official. Away filming other projects, Messina was not in every episode this season – his absence explained by his character going halfway across the country to care for his sick estranged father during a good portion of the first half of the season and then leaving the practice after Danny and Mindy split in the second half of this season. The show has managed to work around Messina not being involved with the show on a full time capacity and we’re sure they’ll continue to be able to do so.

That being said, while it’s been great to see a more realistic portrayal of the complexity relationships in the modern world on the show, I am a little blue over this news. The hopeless romantic in me who watches way too many romantic comedies misses the early days of their romantic relationship in season two where she inspired him to be a better and less gruff man. I want to see Danny realise how stubborn he was being about Mindy being a working mom and work towards winning Mindy back. (I want him to dance, dammit!) Who knows, maybe Mindy and Danny being endgame is still a possibility? Maybe the show will get picked up for a sixth or seventh season and Messina will return to a full time capacity? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, despite this announcement I am looking forward to seeing where the show will go moving forward and grateful over the fact that we’ll even see Messina on the show at all. #inmindywetrust

New episodes of The Mindy Project are released on Hulu every Tuesday.