Why Did Most of the Original Sliders Cast Leave the Series?

Most of the main cast of Sliders, including Jerry O'Connell and John Rhys-Davies, left before the Sci-Fi Channel show was completed. The multiverse is all the rage these days, thanks in large part to Marvel. But if you were a kid growing up in the late ‘90s, your first introduction to the many-worlds hypothesis was probably Sliders (streaming now on Peacock). With a premise lovingly lifted from Quantum Leap, Sliders took us to a new reality every week alongside Quinn Mallory (Jerry O’Connell) and his universe-hopping friends Wade (Sabrina Lloyd), Professor Arturo (John Rhys-Davies), and Rembrandt Brown (Cleavant Derricks).

The show ran for three seasons on Fox and two seasons on SYFY (then the Sci-Fi Channel) between 1995 and 2000, but most of the cast left before the show wrapped up. Of the central cast, only Cleavant Derricks (Rembrandt “Crying Man” Brown) remained through the show’s conclusion. Considering how popular Sliders was during its run, why did so many of the original cast jump ship?