Why James Garner Quit His Hit '50s Western Series Maverick After Just Three Seasons

Not every great show can maintain its quality, which is exactly what happened when the late James Garner quit his hit 1957 Western series, "Maverick." But why did he leave in the first place? Garner became a household name playing the iconic hero, Bret Maverick, on the namesake ABC series created by Roy Huggins, but he ended up leaving the show over a breach of contract lawsuit he filed as a result of the 1960 entertainment industry strikes, and how they affected the work environment on the beloved show.

"['Maverick'] was on for five years, but I left after three. I sued the studio for breach of contract," Garner told People Magazine back in 2005. "But they were mad at me because I said a couple things about being under contract for Warner Bros. that they didn't like. We went to court and got out of my contract." TVLine has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment.

According to Garner, his dispute with Warner Bros. Television happened during the 1960 Writers Guild of America Strike, a 156-day period (for television) that coincided with a much shorter Screen Actors Guild Strike that lasted 42 days. After litigation, Garner would claim he won the lawsuit and requested not to renegotiate or resign a contract, but to leave altogether.

"I didn't want to be under contract to a studio anymore," the actor explained to the Television Academy in 1999. "They're making the decision of my career. And these are the people who don't really care about my career –  care about it. But they don't ... I wanted to be in control of my career." Despite choosing to leave a milestone part behind, Garner was lucky enough to have a second iconic role as Jim Rockford in 1974's "The Rockford Files".