The Sex Lives of College Girls is back for season 3 after much wait and uncertainty. While HBO seemed to have a streak of canceling popular shows, this teen show seemed to have missed the radar, as our favorite girls are back for another session at Essex College.
While the new season will bring new opportunities and obstacles for Bela, Kimberly, Whitney, and Leighton, it will also mark the exit of one of the show's main characters. While Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, and Alyah Chanelle Scott will reprise their roles as main characters on The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3, Renée Rapp’s Leighton will bid farewell to the show after the third season.
To mark her exit from the show, she will also appear as a guest character in its new season. More on Renée Rapp’s Leighton's exit from The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3 in our story.
How are the creators writing Renée Rapp’s Leighton's exit from The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3?
Leighton is one of the most beloved characters on the show. After her internalized homophobia and subsequently coming out as a gay person on the show, she has come a long way from the rude and classist girl we met in season 1.
She is also popular among viewers because of her fashionable outfit choices. But it looks like we have to say goodbye to her this season as Rapp has decided to exit the show.
As seen in season 2, Leighton chooses Alicia as her girlfriend, and the two seem to have a healthy relationship. In episode 1, Alicia receives a phone call with an opportunity to pursue a job with the Mayor of Boston.
However, Leighton showed no interest in leaving Essex with her girlfriend, and the two decided to pursue a long-distance relationship. It is only after she discovers that her maths prowess is a bit too advanced for other students and her course has no sign-ups.
Her maths professor advised her to transfer to a school that matched her academic level and even offered to put in a word at MIT for her. This would mean that she would get to stay with her girlfriend, Alicia. It is kind of an ideal moving-out arc for Leighton's character.
“The only way that she would leave is if it was for her best self moving forward,” co-creator Justin Noble
Why is Renée Rapp leaving The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3?
As she discussed in a 2021 interview with Variety, Rapp wants to pursue music in the future. After her first full-length album, Snow Angel, was released, she wanted to leave acting and make a music career, as she had always wanted to.
“Acting was just my way of tricking everyone that I warranted attention,''
Her role in The Sex Lives of College Girls was a stepping stone to pursue what she finally wants.
While this could be the main reason for Rapp's exit from the show, there were rumors about Rapp having creative differences with the show's creator, Mindy Kaling.
However, nobody has reacted to these rumors, and Kaling also took to her Instagram to bid Rapp a formal goodbye as Leighton from The Sex Lives of College Girls.
Season 3 premiered on November 21, 2024, on HBO Max.
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