How and why did Brandon Jason Mitchell die

If you’re a casual fan of “The Chi,” the South Side Chicago drama series that premiered in 2018, you were probably confused when main character Brandon Johnson (Jason Mitchell) was suddenly taken off the show. Season 2 ended with the character in a difficult and complicated place, allowing fans to wonder in the break between seasons how he was dealing with all the chaos. The opening of Season 3 revealed that he wouldn’t deal with it at all. He died off-screen between seasons — or as “The Simpsons” fans say, Brandon He died on his way back to his home planet.

It’s no different than what happened in the sixth and final season of House of Cards, where Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) His death is revealed off-screenalthough the audience certainly knew that this wasn’t the writers’ plan for him when they were wrapping up Season 5. It’s always awkward when real-life circumstances violate a fantasy world, and “The Chi” was no exception. If you want to know why Brandon died suddenly, you have to understand what happened with actor Jason Mitchell first…

It’s hard to know exactly What happened is because it appears that many of the people involved have signed non-disclosure agreements, or are uncomfortable providing too many details. But the gist is that Mitchell was responsible for a lot of sexual misconduct behind the scenes, especially toward star Tiffany Boone. Boone played Brandon’s girlfriend, Jerrica, but requested to be removed from the show due to frequent harassment from Mitchell. Model Ayanna Floyd Davis I talked about the situation In 2019:

“I discussed Tiffany’s allegations with the studio’s (Human Resources) department and prepared HR presentations for the writers, cast, and crew. In the end, everyone was well aware of Jason’s behavior and his multiple HR incidents, including Lena (Waithe), the creator and Executive producer of the series, heavily involved at the studio and network levels… As director of the series, I did everything I could to address his behavior, by speaking with the studio’s HR department several times and directing one actress to contact the department HR itself, before I became the target of his anger and inappropriateness and had to report it to HR as well.”

In May 2019, Johnson was officially fired from the series. Creator Lena Waithe shed some light on the decision as well in an interview on Today The Breakfast Club PodcastExplaining how she heard about Mitchell’s troubling behavior after the first season, confronted him and tried to resolve the situation with him to no avail. “There was definitely a conversation that connected with him and it became real,” she explained. “You have to respect any woman on set. “You have to respect everyone… Don’t treat any woman differently the way you treat me.”

In the first two seasons, Brandon seemed to be on an upward journey: slowly but surely achieving his dreams of becoming a chef despite South Side life constantly getting in his way. He starts a food truck in the first season of “The Chi” and quickly becomes one of the series’ most sympathetic, moral characters, serving as a much-needed mentor to younger characters like Kevin (Alex Hibbert). As Season 2 continues, he comes to the disturbing attention of Otis “Duda” Perry (Curtis Cook), a conspirator who will somehow soon become the mayor of Chicago. Douda is gradually revealed to be the worst, and by the end of Season 2, Brandon is arrested and Jerrica disposes of him. He seemingly ended the season deciding to talk to the police and turn on Duda, but we never got to see that happen.

How would this issue have been resolved had it not been for Mitchell’s alleged misconduct behind the scenes that led to the story being interrupted? Many fans believe that Brandon would have redeemed himself in season 3 of The Chi, and that he would have teamed up with the detective who arrested him (Alice Toussaint, played by Crystal Dickinson) to take down Duda. Brandon may have gotten Jerrica back, stayed out of prison, and eventually fulfilled most of his restaurant dreams.

Fans have also speculated that the Season 5 storyline with Emmett (Jacob Lattimore), where he works at a restaurant with Duda, would likely go to Brandon if the character isn’t written out. Emmett overall, with his constant relationship drama and dreams of bettering himself, seems like he’s been given a lot of material in later seasons that could have been given to Brandon.

Season 3 of The Chi begins with Brandon Laverne’s mother (Sonia Sohn) giving a eulogy at his funeral, mourning his death and blaming Chicago’s problems for keeping him away from her. “I should never have raised them in a city that would rather see their pictures painted on a brick wall than see them graduate from college… They were all I had, and this city took them from me.” It’s a continuation of the show’s many critiques of the city’s systemic issues, except this time it rings hollow because we know it’s not Chicago’s fault that it’s crying here; It’s Jason Mitchell.

The rest of Season 3 takes place outside of Brandon’s story. The once important character of Alice Toussaint is suddenly dropped, as is any mention of the Federals who shot down Doda. Oddly enough, the show isn’t interested in explaining how or why Brandon died, though it finally does explain it in the Season 4 story arc where Laverne returns to Chicago and shoots Duda. (He lives, unfortunately, but at least we know for sure that he was the one who killed Brandon.) The whole thing was just kind of a mess. The early seasons were often compared to “The Wire” in its scope and stylebut by season three, the show had eliminated any chance of it ever being considered in the same league.

The general consensus among fans is that the first two seasons were some of the best that “The Chi” had to offer, and that things started to unravel a little once Brandon was taken off the show. Fans have often wondered whether recasting Brandon was the smarter choice, or whether they could have found a way to end his story more gracefully.

In addition to being dropped from “The Chi,” in 2019, Jason Mitchell was fired from producing the film Drama film “Desperados” He was dropped by his talent agency. Mitchell’s firing from “The Chi” wasn’t the complete end of his career, as he starred in some little-known, low-budget films in the years that followed, but it was certainly the end of him being a promising star in Hollywood. Whose films It will get rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival.

That same year, Mitchell denounced the accusations against him that led to his firing from The Chi. in Interview with The Breakfast Club podcastHe said: “I really hate to say this, because I totally support the Me Too movement… and I have two beautiful daughters that I would like to be in this space, so I totally support the Me Too movement but I think in this situation, Ayanna tried ( “Floyd Davis) using it as a weapon is really ugly.”

In May 2020, he was arrested in Mississippi on multiple drug and weapons charges. As the deadline I mentioned At the time, “Mitchell was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and two counts of possession of a weapon by a felon. During a traffic stop, Mitchell was found in possession of an AK-47 assault rifle.” A Glock pistol, 2 pounds of marijuana, as well as ecstasy, records show.

Mitchell addressed this position a Interview 2023 After a few years. “I was on my way to New Orleans to see my family, and I jumped in the wrong car with the wrong people,” he said. “It just wasn’t the same, you know what I mean? … All those charges were dropped, completely dismissed, and I don’t deal with that anymore, but it was just kind of unfortunate and embarrassing at the time.” To deal with it.”