Mekhi Phifer to leave 'Lie To Me'

Mekhi Phifer will reportedly not appear in the third season of Lie To Me.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the show's executive producer David Graziano suggested that Phifer is leaving the series for creative reasons.

He explained that the Lightman Group will no longer work alongside the FBI, meaning that Phifer's character Special Agent Ben Reynolds will not be involved in the new storylines.

"We're going rogue a little bit," Graziano said. "Lightman [Tim Roth] is going to act slightly in the more old-school PI model of a TV protagonist, [so] we're doing away with the FBI contract [and] Mekhi is unfortunately no longer going to be on the show."

He added: "The FBI franchise limited our storytelling a little bit because it had to adhere to the FBI structures of, 'Would the FBI take this case or not?'"

Graziano also revealed details of Monique Curnen's role on the series.

"The character that's going to be our badge this season is a bent cop, Wolowsky [Curnen], who goes about business in a similar way to Lightman," he said. "There's a mutual respect from the get-go. We're working hard to make the Lightman Group a dysfunctional family."

The third season of Lie To Me is expected to begin in November on Fox.