School is no longer in session for Reneé Rapp—at least, not at Essex College. The second episode of The Sex Lives of College Girls season three bids
School is no longer in session for Reneé Rapp—at least, not at Essex College. The second episode of The Sex Lives of College Girls season three bids farewell to Rapp’s ambitious Leighton Murray, who transfers to a college that can offer her more advanced math courses. Do better, fictional Essex curriculum!
Last July, Rapp joined the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Regé-Jean Page, and Kevin Costner by announcing that she planned to leave her popular TV series in pursuit of other professional opportunities. Since the show premiered in 2021, Rapp has starred as Regina George in the Mean Girls musical movie, after playing the same role on Broadway in 2019, and also released her debut studio album, Snow Angel.
Rapp shared news of her exit on social media, writing, “college girls moved me out to LA and introduced me to some fly favorite people.” She went on to thank series creators Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, adding, “a lot of queer work gets belittled—but playing Leighton has changed my life. I love who I am 10x more than I did before knowing her. I hope she gave y’all a little bit of that too.” Earlier this year, Rapp may have put her departure into further context, telling Vanity Fair: “The people in my life that I work with now care about me as a person. And I think that is a difference from things I’ve experienced in the past.”
At the start of the semester—yes, it has been nearly two years since our gals last appeared onscreen, though they are still somehow only sophomores—Leighton is freshly back from backpacking through Europe with her on-again girlfriend Alicia (Midori Francis, who is also departing Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular this season). Alicia is leaving Essex for a job in Boston, and Leighton flirts with the idea of joining her by transferring to MIT.
Torn by whether to transfer or ride out the year with her friends—Bela (Amrit Kaur), Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott)—Leighton briefly tests the waters by commuting to the nearby University of Vermont for some higher-level math classes. Ultimately, she can’t ignore the opportunity to both better position her future finance career and be with the one she loves. “I met you three and you gave me the strength to be myself,” Leighton says in a tearful goodbye on their last night together, which naturally includes one final pregame in their Essex dorm.
Showrunner Justin Noble breaks down Rapp’s exit with Vanity Fair, and shares what’s to come for the show’s two modern characters.
Vanity Fair: At what point in writing the third season did you learn that Reneé planned to exit the show?
Justin Noble: We were in the writers’ strike for a really long time. So by the time the strike was resolved, Mindy and I started chatting and knew we were going to write two episodes with Leighton and then send her off. We started to talk about what would feel most real to us. And this is Leighton Murray—someone who wins or doesn’t give up. So the only way Leighton would leave is if it’s what was best for her.
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