 Repertory players Ike Barinholtz, Frank Caeti, and Nicole Randall Johnson and feature player Lisa Donovan were let go from the cast (Barinholtz left due to creative differences while Caeti, Johnson, and Donovan were fired).Johnny Sanchez (the first Latino male hired since season six's Nelson Ascencio) joined the cast as a repertory player, while Dan Oster, Anjelah Johnson, and Daheli Hall (all of whom didn't premiere on the show until after the show's hiatus brought on by the Writers' Guild of America strike of 2007-2008) were hired as feature players.The show format had also undergone major changes.