Why did Sandrine Holt leave MacGyver after one season? The original series of MacGyver debuted in the 1980s and starred Richard Dean Anderson (Stargate SG-1) as the title character. MacGyver is an action hero who famously eschewed guns in favor of science and building his own gadgets out of paperclips. The show was hugely popular in its heyday and came to an end in 1992 after seven seasons. Anderson has occasionally reprised the role for adverts or sketches, including making a cameo on SNL as the father of Will Forte's parody character MacGruber.
MacGyver was finally rebooted in 2016 with Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class) stepping into the title role. The show had a slightly messy development, with its original pilot testing badly and being reshot by James Wan (Saw). While everything has been given a 21st-century update, the basic formula for MacGyver remains the same. He's still a supersmart agent for the Phoenix Foundation who likes to improvise his way out of dangerous situations. The series has crossed over with the likes of Hawaii Five-0, meaning it also exists in the same universe as NCIS.
Fans probably shouldn't expect to see Richard Dean Anderson on the new MacGyver, however, with the actor revealing he's not a big fan of how the reboot has reimagined the character. In the first season of MacGyver, actress Sandrine Holt (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) starred as MacGyver and Jack's boss Patricia Thornton at the Phoneix Foundation. Thornton is eventually revealed as a traitor who has been working for a terrorist group midway through the season and was arrested.
Sandrine Holt's Thorton was replaced by Meredith Eaton as Matty Webber as the new head of the Phoenix Foundation. It appears the main reason Sandrine Holt departed MacGyver was for a leading role in ABC series The Crossing, which began filming a couple of months after Thorton's final appearance in 2017 episode "Screwdriver." While the behind-the-scenes shuffles on MacGyver may have played a role in Holt's exit, it's also possible the character was never supposed to be long-term anyway.
Fans were also left disappointed when George Eads exited MacGyver as Jack Dalton back in the third season. Jack had been a major part of the series since the first episode, though it's managed to live on and a fifth season was greenlit by CBS in May 2020. There's always the possibility Sandrine Holt or George Eads could make guest appearances in future episodes, though there's no sign of them returning thus far.