9-1-1: Rockmond Dunbar exits series after more than four seasons over vaccine mandate

Fans of 9-1-1 were delivered a bit of a shock on Monday when original series cast member Rockmond Dunbar, who played Michael Grant, was abruptly written off. As it turns out, per “Deadline“, Dunbar’s sudden exit was due to the new Covid protocols on the series which require all actors to be vaccinated.

9-1-1 is produced by Disney TV Studios 20th Television and they have been pretty strict about these protocols since they have been put in place. Dunbar is not believed to be an anti-vaxxer but he did request a medical exemption and later sought a religious exemption and both were reviewed and rejected by Disney. Based on these factors, Dunbar refused to comply with the vaccine mandate and this led to the parting of the ways between him and the show. Here is the following statement released by Dunbar regarding the situation:

“I applied for religious and medical accommodations pursuant to the law and unfortunately was denied by my employer. My sincerely held beliefs and private medical history are very intimate and personal aspects of my life that I do not publicly discuss and have no desire to start now. I’ve been an actor in this business for 30 years, but my greatest roles are as a husband and father to our 4 small children. As a man that walks in faith, I look forward to what the future holds. I have enjoyed the last 5 seasons with this wonderful cast and crew and will cherish the time I’ve been blessed to spend with this series and wish everyone involved nothing but the best.“

This is something we are going to see more of moving forward as studios start to enforce new Covid vaccination mandates. The mandates stipulate that everyone in Zone A, which includes the casts and crew members who interact with them, require a vaccination. Ice Cube just recently walked away from a $9 million payday on a film due to the requirement. In response to “Deadline” reaching out to the studio regarding the story a spokesperson said, “We take the health and safety of all of our employees very seriously, and have implemented a mandatory vaccination confirmation process for those working in Zone A on our productions. In order to ensure a safer workplace for all, Zone A personnel who do not confirm their vaccination status and do not meet the criteria for exemption will not be eligible to work.”

The good news is that Dunbar has a close relationship with 9-1-1 co-creator/executive producer/showrunner Tim Minear and they deliberately left his storyline open-ended just in case the vaccination issue is resolved and he is allowed to return to the show. As of now, that doesn’t seem likely, but Dunbar is well-respected by the cast and crew so they would welcome him back if that were to happen.

Dunbar has been a regular on 9-1-1 since the beginning of its run and was originally married to Athena, played by Angela Bassett. The character eventually came out as gay and the two divorced by the end of the first season. The break-up did lead to a reduction in screen time for the character in seasons 2-4 but he remained a series regular and even received a salary bump ahead of the current fifth season. He was front and center with a strong storyline at the start of this season as he and Athen dealt with the kidnapping and rescue of their son Harry.

What are YOUR thoughts on Rockmond Dunbar’s exit from 9-1-1?