Daniella Alonso isn’t returning for the second season of NBC’s “The Night Shift.”
Alonso’s role as the night shift’s lone psychiatrist, Dr. Landry De La Cruz, won’t continue amid a change in creative direction on Season 2.
“We’re opening up and getting more surgery and more of the paramedic world,” executive producer Jeff Judah said during Friday’s Television Critics Association press tour panel for the show.
After the panel, executive producer Gabe Sachs elaborated on Alonso’s departure. “She’s amazing,” he told TheWrap.
“But the way the stories went,” he continued,” creatively we just decided to focus more on the ER stuff. We have a huge cast.”
Previously, Alonso starred on NBC’s “Revolution” and ABC’s “My Generation.”
“The Night Shift” follows the the lives of the staff who work the late night shift in the ER at a San Antonio medical center.
Returning stars Freddy Rodriguez, Brendan Fehr, Jill Flint and Eoin Macken joined the producers on the panel. And so far, Season 2’s guest stars include Adam Rodriguez (“Ugly Betty”), Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”) and Merle Dandridge (“Sons of Anarchy”).
Sachs also said there’s one other creative change for Season 2.
“One thing we’re doing that is a tiny bit different is we realized how important it is to pace your stories,” he says. “The first season, everyone was related to everyone just to tell stories. And now, we tell the important ones. You’ll hear from the patients and you sympathize with them.”