Kal Penn Leaves Greg House For The White House

In an exclusive interview with Michael Ausiello, Kal Penn and executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs talked about why Lawrence Kutner committed suicide so abruptly. Penn told the producers that he was leaving the show this season to take another job. Penn’s new job will be in the Obama Administration in Washington DC. He worked on the Obama campaign during the election. Penn will assume the role of the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. It’s similar to the job he was doing durning the campaign. Penn said that for the time being, he won’t be acting.

Shore and Jacobs reveal that Kutner’s suicide will have a big impact on the show. “The suicide was essential to [the story]. The lack of reason behind it — the lack of answers — was what I responded to and is what I got excited about. House, the man of answers, doesn’t have an answer about this guy who he has worked with for two years. It makes him question the most important aspect of himself, which is the ability to find answers. It’s the one thing about himself that he feels good about” explains Shore. Jacobs went on to explain, “And he didn’t see it coming. It gets under his skin. He is the man who can’t rest until the puzzle is solved. So the idea that he worked in such close proximity to Kutner and didn’t see it coming [was an interesting story to us].”

The producers say they won’t fill Kutner’s role just yet, probably not until next year. Neither Chase nor Cameron will take Kutner’s place, but his death will have an affect on them as a couple. The good news is that there won’t be any more cast shake-ups this season.