Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones Are Leaving 'Parks and Recreation' Halfway Through the Upcoming Season

This is literally awful news. Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones are leaving Parks and Recreation. According to a BuzzFeed report, the duo — who are kind of a couple on the show — will depart the series after this season's 13th episode. From executive producer Mike Schur:

“The news about Rob and Rashida is true — they will be leaving the show after the 13th episode of the upcoming season six. We’ve been working on their storyline (on and off) for four seasons now, and heading into this year, with the two of them contemplating parenthood, it felt like a natural time to move them into the next phase. 

We absolutely love both Rashida and Rob, and will be sad to see them go. Rashida was one of the very first people we knew we wanted in the cast, and as important as Ann is to Leslie (and vice-versa), she’ll certainly never be far from Pawnee. Rob we initially thought we could only have for six or eight episodes, and we couldn’t be happier that he will have stuck around for 75. 

They are wonderful, funny, committed actors, they’ve been a huge part of the Parks and Rec family, and we think we have a great Pawnee send-off in the works for them.”

Lowe's Chris Traeger and Jones' Ann Perkins have long been Parks and Rec staples, with Lowe joining as guest star at the end of Season 2 and Jones being a part of the show's cast since Day One. Actually, if my memory serves correctly, Jones was one of the first people cast for Parks and Rec, way back when the show was originally conceived as a spinoff of The Office.

Parks and Recreation's sixth season kicks off on Sept. 26.