It has officially been confirmed that Rob Lowe will depart Brothers & Sisters at the end of the season. Lowe has expressed disappointment with the direction of his character, U.S. Sen. Robert McCallister’s, storyline and felt that he had been underutilized. As a result, ABC granted Lowe’s request to be released from his contract, but network President Steve McPherson says ABC would still like to keep Lowe on the air.

“We would like to keep Rob at ABC; we feel he should be anchoring his own franchise,” McPherson said. “We are in talks now.”

Lowe was brought onto the show in the middle of the first season and then became a series regular when his character married Kitty (Calista Flockhart).

The producers of Brothers & Sisters are keeping quiet on how exactly they will write Lowe’s character out of the show. Last season, his character suffered a heart attack, so they could always play that card again or use his rocky marriage to Kitty as an out.

In other Brothers & Sisters news, they will stage a special two-hour episode in April. The episode will flash back to 1973 and 1986. “The episode is in search of two secrets from the past,” reveals executive producer David Marshall Grant, “one is devastating, and one is trying to uncover the hidden value to Ojai Foods.”