William Paul "Will" Gardner was a named partner at Lockhart/Gardner and an old friend of Alicia Florrick. In " Dramatics, Your Honor ", one of his clients, who is accused of murder, shoots him dead during a court session.
Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and Cary (Matt Czuchry) had left Lockhart/Gardner and by extension Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) and Will Gardner (Josh Charles) to form their own firm. They had done this in secret—covertly plotting their defection. Alicia had lied to Will’s face. He felt betrayed. She felt justified.
And then came the bombshell moment that had viewers searching for the rewind button on their remote controls: Gardner died. Gunned down by an unhinged client during a court proceeding. Here, Charles chats about that episode and his time with the show. Q: How often are people coming up to you and just saying, “Why?”
CBS legal drama The Good Wife got a shot in the arm in its fifth season, fired up by the decision of Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) to break free from Lockhart/Gardner, the central law firm in the series, to start her own enterprise.
The character was written off because Charles himself decided not to renew his contract after doing some soul-searching about his future. As sad as fans were to see Charles go, it didn't take away from the impact that his portrayal of Will Gardner had on the show.
Of course, Cary is soon proved wrong when Diane proposes making Alicia a name partner. Both David and Cary oppose, but when Diane offers David more money, he decides to leave Cary in the dust. So, Alicia is made name partner on The Good Wife , but, to her surprise, Cary quits the firm.
In episode 15 of the fifth season, he is shot and killed in the courtroom by his client Jeffrey Grant (played by Hunter Parrish). Following his death, he appeared in dream sequences in episodes "Minds Eye" and the series finale, "End".
She eventually had to leave town to escape the wrath of Bishop and his team. Considering her well-documented disdain for politics, it was a little — ok, very — disconcerting to see Alicia abandon the firm she and Cary had built from the ground up to step into the spotlight and run for office.
“I never saw the last episode,” he says. “Of course I read it, but that was an episode where it was all about, for me personally, being with the crew and the cast and saying goodbye. So I had watched all the episodes up until that point for research; that one I wanted to leave as just something special on set.”
In the fourth season, it is revealed that Kalinda has an estranged abusive husband, Nick Saverese, played by Marc Warren.
Archie Panjabi Decided To Leave 'The Good Wife' After Kissing Gillian Anderson. Archie Panjabi decided to leave "The Good Wife" because of a pretty intense kiss. The actor, who plays Kalinda in the acclaimed CBS drama, opened up to Radio Times about her decision to leave the show.
He moved to Chicago after a breakup to help his sister Alicia Florrick with her kids while Zach's father was in the prison.
And I can honestly say I did NOT see that twist coming. Will Gardner (played by the beloved Josh Charles) is dead. Really dead. Jeffrey Grant (returning guest star Hunter Parrish) went on a shooting spree in the middle of his trial, and Will was one of the victims.
“My time with you as your friend was the best I ever had and I'm sorry,” Kalinda told Alicia in a rare emotional moment for the normally stoic investigator.
After reports of voter fraud surface, Landau reveals to Alicia that he rigged the voting machines in order to preserve the Democratic supermajority in the Illinois state legislature. However, in order to maintain the façade of a fair election, Landau forces Alicia to resign.
Alicia restarts her law career in bond court. At the end of the series, Alicia and Peter agree to divorce.
Josh Charles as Will Gardner on 'The Good Wife'. Image Credit: CBS. Last season, Josh Charles’ Will Gardner joined the inestimable Dead TV Characters Society. CBS legal drama The Good Wife got a shot in the arm in its fifth season, fired up by the decision of Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) to break free from Lockhart/Gardner, ...
Pushing much of the tension forward was renegade lawyer Will, played by Charles ( Dead Poets Society, Sports Night ), and his anger at what he deemed a betrayal committed by his former flame. Desks were manhandled, clients were fought over.
Diane accuses him of wanting to take away the partner that votes with her. When fellow named partner Jonas Stern returns to the law firm hoping to represent himself after being charged with a DUI and battery, Will decides that this is an opportunity to push Stern out.
When Alicia listens to wire-taps made by the FBI she realizes that Will has left her a second voice message. She goes to his office to ask him about it, but Tammy is there. When Alicia confronts Will about the second message, he lies to her and says that he thinks she made the right choice staying with Peter.
When the assistant asks Will if Alicia retrieved her laptop, Will knows that there is hope. The two are set to have a dinner date in "Boom", but because Peter Florrick runs after Alicia to stop her going out, setting his monitoring alarm off, Alicia is forced to cancel.
Like Alicia, Diane is frustrated with the fragility colleagues attempt to ascribe to her after Will's death. Throughout the series, particularly seasons 5 and 6, a parallel is drawn between the relationship between Will and Diane, and that of Cary and Alicia.
Will begins to date Tammy, a sports news journalist, in Season 2. Tammy is said to be the sister of a girl that Will dated. She tells him that she will leave him as soon as he falls in love with her. In the finale of Season 2, Tammy leaves for London hoping that Will would stop her from leaving, only to be caught up in a case with Alicia. Tammy returns in Season 3 and during an interview with Alicia, blames her for their break up.
Will stringently defends his friend, until he makes the connection that Baxter has made a deal with the detention center to receive money from all those boys he sends there. He confronts Baxter and tells him he is going to jail. While Will is clearly attracted to Alicia, he is also shown to be somewhat of a ladies man.
Will and Diane have an intense, but longstanding, friendship and business partnership. Though they achieved a great working balance and lead well together, they sometimes found themselves in explosive arguments regarding business and personal decisions.
The actor, whose character Will Gardner was killed off Sunday on the legal drama, tried to clear things up during a visit to the "Late Show with David Letterman" on Monday.
Charles and the rest of the cast members had to keep their lips sealed about his pending departure for about a year. Charles, though, said he told a couple of family members he "knew could keep a secret.".
In the fourteenth episode of the season, Will and Alicia travel to New York for the annual American Bar Association meeting where Alicia is slated to give the keynote address.
Kalinda runs to the courtroom to find Will lying on the floor covered in blood with ADA Finn Polmar (Matthew Goode) desperately trying to stop the bleeding.