Amanda Righetti has confirmed that she will, in fact, be leaving The Mentalist. Her last appearance on the hit CBS show will come in early December. Righetti isn’t the only actor bidding The Mentalist adieu either. Owain Yeoman has announced that he is leaving, too. This means huge changes are coming to the show. These two have played such major roles on the show that it certainly won’t be easy to fill their shoes. This will no doubt mean Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon–portrayed by Simon Baker and Robin Tunney, respectively, will have even larger roles in the coming seasons.

Amanda plays the role of Grace Van Pelt on The Mentalist. Owain Yeoman plays her fairly new TV husband, Agent Wayne Rigsby. The two tied the knot, following a surprise engagement, in a romantic wedding ceremony during the sixth season of the show.

“I feel like the time is probably right,” Amanda Righetti says of leaving The Mentalist, during an interview with TV Line, adding, “It’s the end of one thing but the beginning of something new.”

She also spills the beans about the show’s post-Red John era, which begins on December 1st, explaining that the show will then jump two years ahead of the Red John saga.

“Basically, they have their own private security company,” Righetti says of Grace Van Pelt and Wayne Rigsby. “So we sort of are outsourced and freelanced with the FBI, and that’s how we fit in.”

Sadly, this means that Amanda Righetti and Owain Yeoman will only appear in two December episodes before they leave The Mentalist. Do you think their absence will be strongly felt by fans? It definitely will be interesting to learn who producers will bring on board as new characters on the show.

Might the departure of these popular characters seriously impact the viewership of The Mentalist? Or do Simon Baker and Robin Tunney carry the majority of the show?

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