The Cast of “Run the World” Weighs in on Ella’s Season 2 Absence: It’s “Like Real Life”

Things look a little different in “Run the World” season two – starting with one of the main characters. The Starz dramedy returned on May 26 to pick up where it left off with best friends Whitney (Amber Stevens West), Renee (Bresha Webb) and Sondi (Corbin Reid) following the rollercoaster season one finale. However, there is one face conspicuously absent from the season two premiere: Andrea Bordeaux’s Ella.

As fans may recall, although the Harlem set series focuses on the girl friend group as a whole, it all started with Ella at the beginning of season one, when she entered the next phase of her struggling writing career at the digital gossip. website Hot Tea Digest. Throughout the first season, Ella’s resurrected career and frenetic love life were major storylines that continued to the end, where she finally patched things up with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Anderson (Nick Sagar), and began writing the first . chapter of her new book.

While Ella isn’t completely absent from season two (she’s still mentioned in conversations with her girlfriends), some fans may be wondering what the shift from the core four is and why Bordeaux didn’t return to the show with the rest of her “Run the World” cast mates.

Read on to find out what we know and see how the cast feels about the change.

Is Ella in “Run the World” Season 2?

Bordeaux’s Ella is still present in the second season, albeit minor, and the show wastes no time addressing her absence early in the premiere. On a plane ride back home from their girls’ trip, Whitney says that, like Ella, she should have stayed in Tulum, Mexico and extended her vacation (mainly to distract her from her breakup with ex-fiancé Ola ). Sondi then steps in to clarify that Ella is not still enjoying a blissful trip to escape reality, but is instead staying an extra week to work on her book.

Later in the episode, after Whitney and Ola decide to break up for good, the former receives a text from Ella saying she has news to share and asks to call all the girls. The next scene then features Ella’s boss Barb (Erika Alexander) reading a letter of resignation from her as we watch her friends pack up her apartment. Renee then confirms that Ella will not be returning to Harlem as she decided to stay in Tulum for the next six months to finish her book. Even Anderson drops by to say goodbye to Whitney, Renee and Sondi, with the latter telling him to “take care of our girl”.

To viewers who weren’t in the dark during season two production for “Run the World,” it comes as no surprise that Ella has seemingly been written off the show. In February 2022, Bordeaux revealed on Instagram that she would not be returning to the show after reportedly being fired due to a COVID-19 vaccination mandate. “Getting the chance to play Ella on #RunTheWorld was an absolute dream come true,” she wrote in a caption. “I would have loved to continue growing with this delightful character and coming to terms with this sharp turn in my life, my dream and career over the past few weeks has been unspeakably heartbreaking. I have so much love for the cast and crew of ‘Run The World’ and I will miss them. I wish you all the best.”

Bordeaux added in her post, which included a screenshot of a Deadline report, “Despite what the article says, I did not choose to leave the series and Lionsgate made no effort to find a workable solution. I was fired.” She concluded her post by writing, “Thank you to everyone who has shown me love and support. I am so grateful for all the kind words, messages and calls. I am overflowing and bountiful in so many ways and I hope you know it’s the world means to me.”

What did the ‘Run the World’ cast say about Ella’s absence from Season 2?

Speaking to POPSUGAR, the “Run the World” cast shared that they weren’t too worried about continuing their show without Bordeaux. “It was OK. It was something we just fell into and we had to walk it out,” notes Webb. And as Stevens West points out, their former costar’s departure felt like a reflection of the distant friendships many experience as young adults.

“That’s just like in real life because I’ve had several friends in my adult life who have moved on and we’re still friends and we keep in touch and that doesn’t make them any less important in my life. I’m on the show,” she explains out. “Ella is still part of this girl group and she’s present on the show and I think it’s been handled really well.”

Reid also notes that Ella has “impressive moments” with the girls in season two “without being around, just because their friendship is so strong.” “I mean, the older you get, people move to different cities, they do all kinds of things, so I think it’s a really accurate reflection of what happens when you’re in your 30s, you know? When people make life decisions,” she continues. “But for us as actresses, we love each other so much. We know we have great chemistry and we knew it would work out.”

According to Stevens West, filming season two was still “just as much fun” with a threesome as it was with the original four. And despite no longer performing alongside Bordeaux, Webb says, “Love doesn’t change.” “COVID-19 has shown us that friendship is necessary at all times and that you can always join it and have the grace; pardon your friends. So you just have to keep doing that.”

“Run the World” airs new episodes Fridays on Starz.