Revenge worked its way through a lot of characters during Season 2, killing some off and conveniently disposing of many others. In addition to those leaving the show toward or at the end of last season, ABC’s hit drama announced earlier this week that series regular Ashley Madekwe will not be returning to Revenge in Season 3.
In Season 1 and 2, the British actress played Ashley Davenport on the soapy drama. Over the course of two seasons, Ashley’s role has changed rather drastically. She started the series as Emily Thorne’s bestie and the Grayson family’s event planner. Then, she sort of turned into a woman looking for love, and more importantly, a monetary cushion. When that failed to work out, she took over as Conrad Grayson’s assistant during his political campaign. Although I’m sure the show could have probably found a way to keep the actress around, Deadline is reporting that the storylines for Season 3 are headed in a direction that won’t involve Madekwe.
Davenport confirmed her exit on Twitter, noting that she has loved playing the character but there is no more room for the actress. However, she also noted the writers are working on coming up with an interesting story to explain the character’s absence in Season 3.
Despite cutting numerous characters from the plot throughout the season, Revenge’s plots actually got pretty convoluted in Season 2, thanks to a slew of new characters popping up. Apparently the writers—and probably new showrunner Sunil Nayar—want to streamline the program somewhat, which should hopefully work out really well for fans, even if some of our favorite characters bite the dust. Revenge will return this fall and the show is expected to continue to air on Sundays.
