Fox Series ‘The Orville’ Loses Main Cast Member Halston Sage

Fox’s hit series The Orville has reportedly lost Halston Sage, the actress who portrayed one of the show’s main characters.

According to ComicBook.com, the TV network confirmed that Sage — who played Chief Security Officer Alara — would no longer be on the series, and that the recent episode “Home” was her last.

The outlet noted that no specific reason was given as to why Sage left, so there is no confirmation on whether she choose to exit or if her character was intentionally written off.

Notably, Alara’s exit from the The Orville was not one with a closed ending, so the door seems open for her to possibly return or at least make a cameo in the future.

There has been some minor speculation as to why Sage left the series, wit hone theory being that the series’ filming conflicts with that of The Last Summer, a movie she is shooting with Riverdale’s K.J. Apa.

During the 2018 Comic Con, Orville producers David A. Goodman, Brannon Braga, and Jon Cassar were asked directly if Sage would be appearing in the new season of the series, and they very quickly deflected the inquiry.

“I think that’s really a question for Seth… I think you’re going to be interested in seeing what we do for both of those characters. And I don’t want to spoil it. … It’s unexpected. … What happens with those two characters is unexpected and I don’t want to ruin it. This is a very important piece of our storytelling… If you tell too much, the audience experience can really be ruined,” the group stated, as reported by Heavy.

Interestingly, Sage’s tenure with the series in some ways mirrors that of actress Denise Crosby’s work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, an iconic sci-fi series that The Orville deliberately — and masterfully — pays homage to.

Crosby appeared in the first season of Star Trek: TNG as Security Chief Tasha Yar, but left after only 22 episodes. She chose to leave the series and her character was killed off in the episode titled “Skin of Evil.”

Back in 1996 — about 8 years after she left Star Trek: TNG — Crosby spoke about the role in an interview and stated, “I loved the role of Tasha Yar. I think Tasha holds the closest to my heart but Sela has quite a bit left to do. She is a very complex, provocative character. I hope we can still work with her.”

“Tasha was this fragile child underneath this protective coat of fierceness and strength. She came from such a horrible background and overcame all of that and rose above it to become the best in her field,” she continued, per StarTrek.com.

Regarding her exit from the show, she added, “I wanted to leave the show. Although it was [creator Gene Roddenberry’s] idea to have the character die. He thought it would be so shocking. I wanted to leave as I was struggling with not being able to do much with the character. I had all these ideas and couldn’t do them. I was just stage dressing. I chose to leave instead of just being satisfied with that.”

As this time, Sage does not appear to have publicly commented on her exit from The Orville.