Sex Lives Of College Girls EP, Stars Break Down Leighton's Emotional Goodbye And Her Future With Alicia
Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3, Episode 2. Proceed at your own risk!
Tears were shed as The Sex Lives of College Girls said goodbye to Leighton, whose portrayer Reneé Rapp exited the Max comedy in Episode 2 and will not appear in this season beyond this week's installment.
Once the writers' strike ended, showrunner/co-creator Justin Noble and co-creator Mindy Kaling knew that they would devote two episodes to Leighton's departure. As teed up in the season opener, the blonde decided to transfer to MIT to pursue her passion for math, and with classes starting imminently, she had to leave Essex College very quickly in this Thursday's installment. Although it was a difficult and emotional choice for Leighton to say goodbye to her friends, Noble wanted to send the character out on a personal high.
"This is Leighton Murray. The only thing she knows how to do is win," Noble notes. "So, obviously, the only thing that was fitting is if she made a choice that was for her best self moving forward."
Embracing her love of math and with a serious girlfriend by her side, Leighton has come a long way since the series first premiered, when she "came into the show kind of knowing who she is the least of any of our girls," Noble points out. "I think she knew who she was, but she had this veneer. She was closeted, she was thinking she was going to be this Kappa girl... She was just in a different place."
But over the past two seasons, Leighton has evolved to love herself and to see her future more clearly.
"She sort of ends up excelling at the test of what college is more than any of the other girls," Noble says. "I think she just learned the lesson of what services her best future fastest. And as soon as she learned the lesson, in true Leighton Murray fashion, she was like, 'I guess I'm out. I guess I have to go do that,' and she is such a driven character, so it made sense to send her off that way, with a win, with what would be best for herself."

Even though Leighton is, ultimately, doing something that will benefit her in the long run, "it's nice that it comes at such a, like, bittersweet loss," Noble adds. "She doesn't want to leave her friends, but she knows it's what's for the best."
Her roommates, too, had a tough time letting Leighton go during an emotional scene in which Kimberly, Whitney and Bela confronted their pal about her plan to leave Essex and vowed to remain friends. Filming the moment was "difficult" but also "cathartic" as real life and fictional life bled into each other for the actresses, who were also saying goodbye to their castmate, says Pauline Chalamet, who plays Kimberly.
Adds Amrit Kaur (aka Bela): "We were sad, as ensemble, and we put that into the words. Everything that was in our hearts, we had the opportunity to put into the words."

One person Leighton, thankfully, didn't have to say goodbye to: her girlfriend Alicia (played by Midori Francis). Noble says it was important for him not to split up the couple in writing Leighton's exit.
"I just took that on as a challenge. I love Alicia. I love what Midori brings out in Alicia," Noble shares. "From Season 1, Alicia was so fundamental to Leighton's journey throughout her first year in college. We watched as Leighton was inspired by who Alicia is and learned from her confidence... I always love seeing them together."
"The biggest moment of, like, cringe that I've had in the show is when we did that arc with Tatum in Season 2, and a subsect of the audience was like, 'More Tatum and Leighton! Endgame them!'" Noble admits, "and I was like, 'God, we're just choosing the pretty blond girl to be with the pretty blond girl. I don't like this,' whereas I think Alicia felt so different from anyone who Leighton grew up with, and they just felt more of a fit to me."
So while Noble is "not saying [Leighton and Alicia are] going to be together forever in Boston or wherever their paths lead," he also "didn't want them to immediately say goodbye to each other," Noble explains.
Press PLAY above to find out how the cast reacted to Rapp's exit, then hit the comments with your thoughts on the episode!