American police action crime drama television series NCIS: New Orleans started airing its third season premiere last September. Recently, rumors surfaced that the show was suffering from low TV ratings. 

Since the premiere of the first episode of Season 3, fans wondered why one of the show's main casts departed from the show. The departure of actress Zoe McLellan, who portrayed the character of NCIS Special Agent Meredith Brody, had been reported as the cause of the show's low ratings.

According to Chatt Sports Net, Brody's exit had made quite an impact on the show's viewership performance. Since she left, the series has reportedly displayed a significant change in the number of audience, and fans suspect that the actress' departure may have something to do with this. 

The aforementioned source also reported that it was not personal issues between the actress and the production team that caused her to leave. Gack Hollywood reported that McLellan took on Instagram to bid goodbye to her fans that supported her character for the first and second seasons.

The actress revealed that the show runners had felt that her character, Meredith Brody, had 'run its course' and that it was time for her to go. But she admitted that she wasn't informed of the news earlier as she was still involved with her character and thought she would still appear on the third season. Even though this happened, McLellan was still thankful for the production team behind NCIS: New Orleans.

Meanwhile, on a report from Movie News Guide, there is still reportedly a chance that the actress comes back for the series' fourth season. As per the source, fans of the show think that her return could save the series' poor ratings and may prevent it from a further cancellation.

A lot has speculated that the actress could come back and reprise her role as a guest to solve a particular case or mystery. Some fans also think that she may appear in a possible flash back scenario.