Laura Prepon Is Leaving ‘Orange Is The New Black’

The launch of the new original Netflix series Orange Is The New Black was essentially an overnight success. People gravitated towards the show by word of mouth, or by friends simply begging them to watch the show. The true story of lead character Piper Chapman’s experience in prison as retold by the writer and creator of Weeds was huge bait to get viewers interested. The biggest hook of them all? That 70’s Show Laura Prepon as Chapman’s cellmate and ex-lover.

Now we have learned that Orange Is The New Black will have to make do without its second lead character, as Prepon is preparing to leave her role on Orange Is The New Black.

Prepon portrayed Alex Vause, who was ex-girlfriend to Piper Chapman. The actress, who was uncharacteristically sultry, was often seen in steamy scenes with her scene partner, as their story progressed from bitter cell enemies to lovers again.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Laura Prepon will not be returning to the second season as a series regular of Orange Is The New Black. Instead she’ll be returning just to tie up loose ends to her storyline. Earlier, Prepon had said that she was at first intimidated by the new role.

Prepon took to Twitter to thank all of her fans for the support:

Thank u all for the awesome comments & support of #OrangeIsTheNewBlack on #NetFlix It was a really fun project! Keep tweeting about. ?

— Laura Prepon (@LauraPrepon) July 12, 2013

For fans this might be a huge let down. The story between Vause and Chapman took a huge turn when Chapman found out that it was Vause who named her in court, which led to her conviction and one-year sentencing for helping her then-girlfriend smuggle drug money.

However, there was a hint that even though they were back to being rivals, their relationship in prison would be a tortorous back and forth.

There still is a possibility that Laura Prepon may come back in later seasons, but nothing has been confirmed. A Netflix rep stated: “Our season is still developing and nothing is confirmed.”

As of right now there’s no word on whether or not this was a decision made by Laura Prepon, or if this was a creative decision made on behalf of the show.

Are you upset Laura Prepon is leaving Orange Is The New Black?