However, what is clear is that there was some kind of dispute, or mix up, with the contracts which were offered to the cast for season five. Claudia Christian and J Michael Strazynski claim somewhat different details. The details of what happened are still in dispute. In order to protect O'Hare's career from any possible damage, Straczynski kept quiet about the reason for the actor's departure until after O'Hare's death in 2012. O'Hare would return to the show for the two part episode 'War Without End' in the third season. He and Straczynski ultimately decided to write Sinclair out of the show so that O'Hare could receive treatment. Straczynski offered to suspend production of the show so that O'Hare could receive treatment but O'Hare did not want the livelihoods or the other cast and crew upended due to his illness. O'Hare found it increasingly difficult to play Sinclair, a character who was suffering from mental problems of his own, and O'Hare's illness caused conflicts with some of the other cast and crew. However during the filming of the first season, actor Michael O'Hare, who played Sinclair, was battling a case of mental illness and began suffering from paranoid delusions.
No, the departure of the character of Commander Sinclair was not part of Straczynski's original plan for the series.
