Sleepy Hollow’s Abbie Mills was a fan-favorite, but Nicole Beharie’s departure in Season 3 left fans of the Fox series confused and heartbroken.
It’s rare that a series becomes a cult classic while it’s still on the air. That was certainly the case with Sleepy Hollow, which was never a ratings powerhouse for Fox, but still engendered a devoted fan base. The fantasy series succeeded based on the chemistry between its two lead characters, Abigail “Abbie” Mills and Ichabod Crane, and became Fox’s next cult hit after Fringe ended in 2013.
But in Season 3, the unthinkable happened: Nicole Beharie, who played Abbie Mills, left the series. Her departure had a huge impact on her career that lasted for several years. Sleepy Hollow was never the same without her either; the show was canceled after a low-rated Season 4. What led to Beharie’s jaw-dropping departure, and what happened to Abbie?
Who Was Abigail Mills on Sleepy Hollow?
Very loosely based on the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, the Fox series focused on the same main character, Ichabod Crane. In Sleepy Hollow, Crane was a British soldier who was put to sleep by his witch-wife in 1781 and woke up in 2013. Once he awoke in the titular town, it was his mission to help fight evil as a Biblical Witness alongside Lt. Abigail Mills. Abbie became not only Crane’s partner, but the person who helped him adjust to life in the modern era.
But at the end of Season 3, Abbie was gone from the series after falling in the battle against Pandora and the Hidden One. Her death was a shock to the show’s rabid fans, many of whom tuned in for the dynamic between Abbie and Crane; Abbie did get a final goodbye as she told Crane that there were other Witnesses before her soul passed on. However, her death was the greatest waste of a monster hunter until Simon Stroud in Morbius.
Why Nicole Beharie Left Sleepy Hollow
Nicole Beharie was prompted to leave Sleepy Hollow primarily due to an autoimmune disease; she announced on social media that it was “one of the reasons” she quit the show. Another reason came out later: the actress said in 2020 that she was treated unfairly when she got sick and that the producers saw non-white characters as “expendable.” Beharie further said that leaving got her labeled as problematic and she struggled to find other roles after leaving.
The show suffered tremendously without her. The interpersonal dynamic between Crane and Mills was the driving force of the series, like Moon Knight‘s relationship between Marc Spector and Steven Grant. After Beharie’s departure, the series changed dramatically as it relocated to Washington, D.C. and introduced two different characters in an effort to find Crane a new partner, but just created chaos similar to Fantastic Beasts recasting Grindelwald. The changes were a massive overcorrection to try and make up for Beharie’s absence, and no one was surprised when Sleepy Hollow was canceled after Season 4 — because it wasn’t the series that fans had fallen in love with.
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