‘Chesapeake Shores’ Exit: Jesse Metcalfe Leaving in Season 5 of the Hallmark Channel Drama

Meredith Jacobs March 31, 2021, 2:42 pm

Jesse Metcalfe as Trace in Chesapeake Shores — Crown Media/Ricardo Hubbs

Is Trace (Jesse Metcalfe) and Abby’s (Meghan Ory) happily ever after in jeopardy?

That may be the case, since Metcalfe is leaving Chesapeake Shores when it returns this summer, TV Insider has confirmed. “His character’s storyline will wrap up early in Season 5,” Hallmark Channel said in a statement. Metcalfe has been with the series since it premiered in 2016.

'Chesapeake Shores' Boss on the Finale's Romantic Moments — Will There Be a Season 5?

Season 4 of the multi-generational family drama ended with exes Trace and Abby kissing after spending most of it exploring life apart. “It was important for Abby as a person to finally look at her life without Trace and for Trace to see what his life would be like without Abby,” executive producer Michael Berns told TV Insider at the time.

“When Nell [Diane Ladd] is giving her final speech to the family, it opens up Abby to realizing that while Jay [Greyston Holt] is wonderful — and Jay might still be in the picture — there’s this passion she’s had with Trace and will always have with Trace that always will pull the two together no matter where they are,” he continued.

As for what a potential Season 5 (at the time it hadn’t yet been renewed) held for the couple, Berns teased, “It’s whether or not they’re going to get back together again and the heat of the emotions of wanting one another. If they are going to be back together again, how is that relationship supposed to look and is there a marriage in the future?”

Jesse Metcalfe Meghan Ory Chesapeake Shores Trace Abby

Crown Media/Ricardo Hubbs

So how might Metcalfe’s exit affect their future? We’re a bit worried for them!

The series, based on Sherryl Woods’ novels, also stars Treat Williams, Barbara Niven, Laci J. Mailey, Emilie Ullerup, Brendan Penny, and Andrew Francis.

Although he’s leaving Chesapeake Shores, Metcalfe will remain in the Crown Media family with at least two new Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries movies, one of which is set to premiere on May 16 on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

Chesapeake Shores, Season 5, TBA, Hallmark Channel