SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Season 3 of ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’, now streaming on Max.
Be well, Leighton Murray.
Following the announcement in July that Reneé Rapp would be leaving ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ in Season 3, the Max show has finally revealed how her character, very wealthy old student Leighton Murray, is leaving Essex College.
In the season 3 premiere, Leighton discovers that the high-level math class she was supposed to take is canceled due to a lack of participants. Her math professor tells her that although she cannot take the course in Essex, she can take the bus to a nearby university. But an unpleasant incident with a plebeian on public transport leads Leighton to reconsider the direction of her life. Additionally, her friend Alicia (Midori Francis) reveals that she is dropping out of school to work for the mayor of Boston.
As the reasons to leave pile up, Leighton makes the difficult decision to transfer to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology to continue her studies – although she initially doesn’t tell her beloved suitemates, Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) and Bela (Amrit Kaur). The three hear about it from an outside source – former suitemate Jocelyn (Lauren Spencer) – and then confront Leighton, who apologizes for not telling them sooner.
The four of course reconcile and then decide to see Leighton off in standard collegial fashion (i.e. celebration!).
“Leighton Murray has never lost or conceded anything in her life,” co-showrunner Justin Noble said in an interview with Variety. “So the only way she would leave is if it was unashamedly a victory for herself.”
Rapp, whose music career has blossomed since the show’s premiere in November 2021, said in an interview with Variety that music has always been her end goal.
“[I thought]“I can do music with it, I can just do busywork,” she said. ‘And now I just kept acting, because it continues to support the music…Acting was my way of misleading everyone that I deserved attention. ”