Our beloved core four at Essex College is going to become a trio. The Sex Lives of College Girls fandom was stunned to learn that Reneé Rapp will be exiting in the upcoming third season. The actress has played Leighton Murray, the fierce, sassy, and very wealthy legacy student from New York City, since the show’s 2021 debut. The show marked her first onscreen TV role.
So, why is Reneé leaving The Sex Lives of College Girls? Will her story get a proper wrap-up in season 3? HollywoodLife is breaking down what we know about Reneé’s exit.
Is Reneé Rapp Leaving Sex Lives Of College Girls?
Yes, Reneé is leaving The Sex Lives of College Girls. She will no longer be a series regular in season 3. However, she will recur in the third season. Deadline was the first to report the news on July 10, 2023.
Will Reneé Rapp Be In Sex Lives Of College Girls Season 3?
Reneé is expected to appear in a handful of episodes before leaving the show. This will give the show enough to write out Leighton’s exit from Essex College. At the end of season 2, Leighton quit the Kappa sorority and reunited with Alicia. Leighton’s brother, Nico, was expelled ahead of season 2 and transferred to Cornell offscreen after Gavin Leatherwood left the series.
The hit Max Original series — also starring Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, and Alyah Chanelle Scott — was renewed for season 3 back in December 2022, but the third season has not been filmed yet. The show’s filming schedule was impacted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Just after season 2 aired, Reneé opened up about Leighton’s future and where she’d like to see the character go moving forward in season 3. “I mean, if it was up to me, she would end up being a songwriter. She would study abroad in France, would fall in love with some French girl, and she would become a pop star,” the actress told AltPress. “Then, she would retire, have kids, move to Nantucket, and do something weird and cute. That being said, nobody listens to my ideas. I don’t know.”
Why Is Reneé Rapp Leaving The Sex Lives Of College Girls?
The rising star is booked and busy with her burgeoning acting and music career. Reneé posted on her Instagram Story on July 10 after the news broke of her upcoming departure.
“College Girls moved me out to LA and introduced me to some of my favorite people,” her statement began. “2 [Two] and a half years later — it’s given me y’all and this community. Thank u Mindy [Kaling], Justin [Noble] and everyone at Max for believing in me. 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. She’s such a tiny part of representation but even the tiny parts count. I wouldn’t be half the person I am without her and y’all. I love that b***h more than you know. I’m so excited for this season and I can’t wait for you to see what we have coming for her and the girls.”
The singer/actress began her Snow Hard Feelings Tour starting in September 2023. The tour will take her all across the United States and Europe through March 2024, so her schedule is jam-packed. Her debut album, Snow Angel, was released in August 2023. She dropped her stellar debut EP, Everything to Everyone, in November 2022.
Reneé also got busier thanks to her role as Regina George in the film adaptation of Mean Girls: The Musical. She made her Broadway debut as the iconic character in 2019. She stars alongside Angourie Rice, Auli’i Cravalho, Bebe Wood, Christopher Briney, Tina Fey, Jaquel Spivey, Jon Hamm, and more in the film, which was released in January 2024.
“I’m trying to find a work/life balance. I don’t [have one] at present, and I probably won’t for a while. But I’m trying to be an EGOT, so I’m tired — but it’s all good,” she told Us Weekly about her busy schedule back in April 2023.
Following the announcement of her exit, Page Six claimed that Reneé reportedly “wanted to leave the show to tour and they’re currently working out the best creative solution for her departure, but she announced the tour without having clearance from the show.”
Renee most recently discussed her exit from the show in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on February 28. “It was hard for so many reasons,” she said. “Recently, on TikTok, [I watched] this scene in season one, where I come out to another character as a lesbian, and I’m crying, sobbing. And I hadn’t seen that scene in years. It is so interesting that at the time I wasn’t even aware that what I was experiencing in my own personal life was actually exactly what I was doing onscreen. I was in a relationship with a man, incredibly confused, unsure of myself, feeling so insecure in my acting. And I watched the scene the other day, and I was like, ‘Wow, I feel so lucky to have that.’ ”
“That’s something I would show my kid,” the actress continued. “So when I watched it back, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s hard to leave that.’ And I’m also so grateful that I was able to have that moment. Not only was it helpful for other people, it was crazy for me; crazy helpful and also crazy hard. Because I’m like, ‘Why am I freaking out all the time?’ I would go home and I would call my friends and I’d be like, ‘I think I’m a lesbian, but I really love my boyfriend. I would want to be with him, but I see him more as a friend.’ So not only was I doing that on the show, publicly, in a big way to so many people, and my family, who had no idea that I was gay, I was also going through it personally. It is f***ing crazy to watch that back.”