“Charmed” star Brian Krause says show slashed his screen time in final season: ‘It was a bummer’

Key Points

• Brian Krause looks back on the bittersweet final season of Charmed 20 years after it originally aired.

• Krause didn’t feature in the eighth and final season of the series, a decision he told PEOPLE came after he had already been told he’d appear in all episodes.

• “It was a bit of a bummer because I knew the show was coming to an end,” Krause said. “But I knew all along the show was never about Leo. It was about the Charmed Ones.”

Brian Krause is reflecting on the bittersweet final season of Charmed 20 years after it originally aired on The WB.

Krause played Leo Wyatt, the guardian angel (whitelighter) of the show’s titular Charmed Ones, San Francisco–based sisters who battle the dark forces of the magical world after discovering they’re witches in the first season. Krause was one of the few actors to star in all eight seasons of the beloved supernatural series, with his whitelighter becoming more prominent as the primary love interest to Holly Marie Combs’ Piper Halliwell for the majority of the series.

But in the eighth and final season of the series, Krause wasn’t as prominently featured as he was in previous installments, a decision he told PEOPLE came after he had been told he’d appear in all episodes of the final chapter.

“The last season, I kind of just did half the season. It was a bummer,” Krause shared. “I had been promised all episodes and then they changed that last minute.”

“And it was a bit of a bummer because I knew the show was coming to an end,” Krause added. “But I knew all along the show was never about Leo. It was about the Charmed Ones.”

The first iteration of Charmed starred Combs, Shannen Doherty (Prue Halliwell), and Alyssa Milano (Phoebe Halliwell) as sisters who, along with their inherited Book of Shadows, used magic to protect their home from the dark forces of the demon world.

However, Doherty was unceremoniously fired from the show after season 3 — something she and Combs have both said was instigated by Milano — and her character was killed off. Prue was replaced by half-sister Paige Matthews, played by Rose McGowan, in the subsequent five seasons.

While appearing as a guest on iHeartRadio’s The House of Halliwell, a Charmed rewatch podcast hosted by costars Krause, Combs, and their TV son Drew Fuller, Doherty spoke about her relationship to the show years later. “I never watched it, really, when I was on it, except the episodes I directed,” she said. “I just rewatched four or five episodes the other day, and my mouth dropped. I was like, ‘Oh my god, what show is this?’ I was pretty amazed by it all.”

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star died of cancer in 2024 at 53, which has made rewatching episodes for their podcast hard, Krause admitted.

“It’s been difficult to watch [the replacement of Doherty], especially with her passing and how close Holly and her were,” Krause told PEOPLE.

But the actor said he appreciates being able to stay connected to the fans, which includes attending conventions to meet them in person.

“I always thought it was a little cheesy to go do [conventions] until you start meeting people,” Krause added. “It’s one thing my mom had said to me before she passed was, ‘Your fans are everything. If someone writes you a letter, you write back. Without them, there’s nothing.’ So meeting people and seeing, hearing their stories and their tears, I love it.”

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Despite feeling “old” meeting new fans of the series, Krause admitted it’s fascinating meeting “generations of Charmed fans.”

“It’s so much what the women did, the Charmed Ones, Shannen and Holly and Rose and Alyssa. Just how good they were,” he added. “And then I also think it’s a storyline of the show that you could be different and you could still be kickass. And I think that really resonates with people.”

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