‘Matlock’ Actor David Del Rio Fired After Alleged Sexual Assault

David Del Rio has left the cast of Matlock.

PEOPLE can confirm the actor, 38, has departed the CBS series. It follows allegations that he sexually assaulted co-star Leah Lewis. The alleged incident occurred in late September and Del Rio was removed from the set on the Paramount lot in October, the same day the report was made, according to Deadline.

PEOPLE has learned an investigation was immediately conducted after an incident was raised involving Del Rio and the network has since parted ways with the actor.

CBS has declined to comment.

Del Rio played Billy Martinez in Matlock’s debut season last year — which is a gender-swap reboot of the classic 1980s legal drama by the same name.

His character was an associate at a prestigious New York law firm, Jacobson Moore, alongside Lewis’ Sarah Franklin.

The pair worked closely and shared the majority of their scenes portraying young lawyers who are part of Kathy Bates’ titular Madeline “Matty” Matlock’s team, under Skye P. Marshall’s Olympia Lawrence.

His character will be written out of the show.

Before joining the legal drama, Lewis starred in The Half of It, Netflix’s 2020 modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac. She also voiced the character Ember in Pixar’s Elemental and appeared in The CW’s Nancy Drew, which ran from 2019 to 2023.

Since the incident, production has resumed on season 2 of Matlock, which is set to begin airing on Oct. 12 but will go on a pre-planned hiatus next week until Thanksgiving. Along with Del Rio, Lewis, Marshall and Bates, the cast includes Jason Ritter.

Deadline also reported in August that Justina Machado was joining the cast for the second season in a major recurring role.

Season 1 ended with Billy finding out he was going to be a dad, which creator Jennie Snyder Urman previously told PEOPLE paved the way for a storyline full of “drama” and “trauma.”

Meanwhile, the finale saw Sarah land a triumphant courtroom victory, but Urman said her happiness will be both “short-lived” and “deep.”

“She did something great in court and she is going to feel that for a while and then Simone definitely comes and pops the balloon, but Sarah’s not going to take that lying down,” Urman explained. “She is protective of her job, her place on the team and she’s got some tricks up her sleeve.”

The showrunner added, “Sarah is going to be someone who is growing in confidence.”

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Matlock season 2 premieres Sunday, Oct. 12, at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS.