The SLOCG Showrunner Reveals How He Decided On Leighton's Exit
"We thought it was a fitting way for Leighton to be sent off."
Spoiler alert: This post discusses events in the first two episodes of Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3. That’s a wrap for Reneé Rapp. After three years as Essex College’s resident bad b*tch with a heart of gold, her character Leighton Murray transferred out at the end of Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3, Episode 2, which aired on Nov. 28. It’s a moment fans knew was coming, even if they didn’t know exactly how it would happen.
Luckily, showrunner Justin Noble and the rest of the SLOCG writers had enough notice about Rapp’s departure before they began putting Season 3 together. “We were on the writers’ strike. So we were starting fresh with that in mind afterwards,” Noble tells Elite Daily. Rapp publicly announced her decision to leave the series in mid-July 2023, two and a half months before the WGA strike would end in late September.
Once the team was able to get started on Season 3’s storylines, they wrote Leighton out by having her transfer to MIT in Boston, which is coincidentally where her girlfriend Alicia decides to relocate earlier in the season.
“We thought it was a fitting way for Leighton to be sent off,” Noble says. “This is Leighton Murray. Leighton Murray only knows how to win, so the only way she could leave is with a win.”
This isn’t the first main character exit for Sex Lives of College Girls. After Season 1, Gavin Leatherwood, who played Leighton’s brother Nico, surprised fans by not returning for Season 2. Additionally, the series’ name has a bit of a ticking clock built into it — can it continue if it gets to the point where Kimberly, Bela, and Whitney graduate?
“I do think that the show is about the girls being in college,” Noble says. “I think the show lives in that environment. But there are also a thousand different macro personality types that would be very fun to show.”
He suggests the show can go on by shifting the focus to younger students, pointing specifically to Season 3 newbie Taylor. “Taylor is a first-year student who’s an example that more people can constantly be introduced into the show. There is no shortage of fun personalities of college girls.”
