Jesse Metcalfe Reveals Why He Was Fired From Desperate Housewives

Wisteria Lane’s hedges were never quite as trimmed as they were in the Desperate Housewives’ first season, before the street’s resident gardener was let go. Though he played an iconic main role when ABC’s soupy drama debuted in 2004, Jesse Metcalfe suddenly vanished from the series in Season 2. Over 20 years later, the actor is revealing he was fired, although he didn’t take it too hard.

Metcalfe’s character John Rowland was integral to one of Desperate Housewives’ most memorable storylines, as he continued a covert affair with his employer Gabrielle Solis. However, once John told Gabrielle’s husband about their relationship in Season 1’s finale, Gabrielle dumped him, and he only returned for a few brief appearances in the remaining seven seasons.

Metcalfe opened up about his firing for the first time during his March 17 appearance on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. “I was fired from Desperate Housewives. After the first season, they didn't really know where else to take my storyline,” Metcalfe said. “Our creator Marc Cherry was sort of like, ‘OK, this isn't Desperate House-Gardeners. This is Desperate Housewives. So unfortunately, you're not going to be a series regular moving forward on the show. We're going to bring you back intermittently.’”

Metcalfe went on to reprise his role in four Season 2 episodes, an episode in Season 3, an episode in Season 4, and two Season 6 episodes.

Although Desperate Housewives was a popular show, Metcalfe said that the firing didn’t affect him too much, since he had just gotten a big movie offer. “At that time I had been offered John Tucker Must Die from 20th Century Fox, so I was like, ‘Hey, cool, no big deal. I'm going to be a movie star. But thanks.’”

“I wasn't hit super hard by like, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm being fired from a mega-hit show,’” he continued. “I took it in stride because I thought, ‘This is only the beginning.’”