Well, for what it's worth, I just read an article that involved interviewing the lead creators, and apparently Sarah Shahi is pregnant with twins. Considering her size, she's gonna get massive lol, and they said Shaw isn't a character that would sit behind a desk for half a season so it would've been incredibly difficult to hide her pregnancy. They still didn't say she's necessarily dead, though, so maybe they'll leave it open in case she wants to return after her maternity leave.
But I got the impression that they didn't intend for her to exit the show this early. Still, they know how the show's going to end, and they said her departure won't derail the story too much.
