Elementary: John Noble Not Returning as Series Regular for Season 5

Morland Holmes’ story on Elementary has come to an end — for now.
John Noble will not return as a series regular for Season 5 of the CBS drama, TVLine has learned.

After taking over Moriarty’s organization in order to protect Sherlock and Joan, the senior Holmes said goodbye to New York City during Sunday’s Season 4 finale. (Get scoop on that twist and more here.)

“This was always the plan that we would have John aboard for Season 4,” and he would then exit, executive producer Rob Doherty tells TVLine. “We wanted Morland — and, by extension, John — to help us define Season 4, and he absolutely did that. I feel like we told the one long story we wanted to, but we [also] got to tell a lot of smaller stories about Sherlock and his father, and then Morland trying to develop a relationship with Joan. We feel like we did everything we set out to do.”

Doherty goes on to add, “We’ve also left the door very open to seeing John again next year.”