Why Is Reneé Rapp Leaving “The Sex Lives of College Girls ”After“ ”Season 3? What She's Said About Her Exit

Reneé Rapp appears in a few episodes of 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' season 3 as a recurring character

Essex College opens its doors for another semester in The Sex Lives of College Girls, but Reneé Rapp's departure means a bittersweet goodbye for the roomies.

The beloved Max comedy series returned for season 3 on Nov. 21. While the main cast all reprised their roles, Rapp’s Leighton Murray, the ultra-wealthy, sarcastic sorority girl whose journey of self-discovery was central to the first two seasons, is bidding her farewell.

Rapp, who announced her departure in July 2023, later revealed she was stepping away to focus on her music career — a goal she had always envisioned.

“[I thought], 'I can do music on the side, like, I can just hustle.' And now I’ve just kept acting, because it keeps supporting the music," the "Too Well" singer told Variety in November 2022. "Acting was my way into tricking everyone that I warranted attention."

Rapp's breakout role as Leighton helped launch her music career, leading to a deal with Interscope Records, her debut album Snow Angel and a 2023 Video Music Awards nomination for best new artist.

So why is Reneé Rapp leaving The Sex Lives of College Girls after season 3? Here's everything to know about why Rapp isn't a series regular this season and what she has said about her exit from the show.

Why isn’t Reneé Rapp returning as a series regular for season 3 of The Sex Lives of College Girls?

In July 2023, Rapp announced her departure in a post on X (formerly Twitter), expressing gratitude for her time on the show and the "community" it had given her.

"a lot of queer work gets belittled — but playing Leighton has changed my life," she wrote. "i love who i am 10x more than I did before knowing her. i hope she gave ya'll a little bit of that too."

The Mean Girls star later explained that she "always knew" that she would get to music "by any means necessary" during an August 2023 interview with The Cut, confirming that she had wanted to focus more on her music career.

"I was so desperate to create my own sound. It took really insane situations," Rapp said.

A few months earlier, she had opened up about why the first year filming the show was "terrible" during an appearance on a March 2023 episode of Call Her Daddy.

"It sucked so bad, because at the time, I was in a heteronormative relationship. I hated going to work, because I was like, 'I don't think I'm like good enough to be here. I don't think I can be here. I don't think I can be doing this.' I was like, 'Maybe I'm just trying too hard,' " she said, adding that she was constantly "in panic."

She continued, "I was so freaked out by the idea of my sexuality, not being finite or people laughing at me or me laughing at myself that I hated first year of filming."

What has Reneé Rapp said about leaving The Sex Lives of College Girls?

Following the announcement of her departure in July 2023, Rapp said that she was restricted from how much she could say due to the SAG-AFTRA strike happening at the time. However, one month later, she told PEOPLE that her silence didn't mean her exit wasn't weighing heavily on her.

"I definitely have feelings about it and what that means for the show and me and my music," the actress said.

Shortly after the strike ended, Rapp opened up to The Hollywood Reporter in February 2024 about her bittersweet departure and the complexities behind it, calling it "hard for so many reasons."

"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," she said. "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 on-screen."

Rapp reflected on how her life mirrored her character’s journey, adding, "I was in a relationship with a man, incredibly confused, unsure of myself and feeling so insecure in my acting."

Revisiting the scene brought a mix of emotions. "I was like, 'Yeah, that’s hard to leave that.' And I’m also so grateful that I was able to have that moment," Rapp said.

Will Leighton Murray’s story continue in season 3 of The Sex Lives of College Girls?

Although Rapp had announced her departure in 2023, she does appear in a few episodes of season 3 as a recurring character.

Alyah Chanelle Scott, who stars as Leighton's roommate Whitney Chase, told Vulture in November 2024 that filming Rapp's final scenes was difficult.

“Shooting that was very emotional, but also very silly, because she lives three minutes away from me. So it wasn’t like, bye, see you never — it was like, see you tonight!" Scott said.

While Rapp won't be getting a direct replacement, the show is welcoming fresh faces Gracie Lawrence and Mia Rodgers as Essex newcomers Kacey and Taylor.

Showrunner Justin Noble told PEOPLE ahead of the season's release that he and cocreator Mindy Kaling "knew" what Leighton's future in the show would look like soon after Rapp announced her exit.

"I'm really glad about the way it came across on the show," he said of how Leighton's story ends.

What has the cast and crew said about Reneé Rapp’s departure?

Following the July 2023 exit announcement, Kaling posted to her Instagram Stories saying, "We love @reneerapp so much and of course will be so sad to say goodbye Leighton Murray. But we can’t wait to see our friend on tour," per Deadline.

Scott described the adjustment to the new cast dynamic without her on-screen and off-screen best friend as “so bittersweet and so heavy and sad and so beautiful.”

However, she embraced an “arms-wide-open approach” heading into season 3, which helped the new group bond and “solidify in a new, fun way."

What has Reneé Rapp done since announcing her future exit from the show?

After wrapping season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls, Rapp swapped Essex for North Shore High, reprising her role as Regina George in the 2024 Mean Girls musical film — a character she first played on Broadway before landing her part on The Sex Lives of College Girls.

Related: Here's How You Know the Cast of the 2024 Mean Girls Movie

Just a year after the Max series premiered, Rapp released her debut EP, Everything to Everyone, in November 2022, followed by her first full-length album, Snow Angel, in August 2023. She headlined music festivals across the U.S. — including All Things Go Festival in New York and Lollapalooza in Chicago — and went international for her Snow Hard Feelings Tour.

"I've been saying that [music] is my thing my whole life, without having really done it," the singer told PEOPLE in 2022. "I was like, 'This is it.' I've been professing that I wanna do this, I wanna play shows, I wanna make it, but it wasn't until about a week ago that I knew I could actually do that."