'13 Reasons Why' Star Katherine Langford Not Returning for Potential Season 3

13 Reasons Why's Katherine Langford will not be returning as Hannah Baker for a potential third season.

Katherine Langford has been a staple of 13 Reasons Why, the teen drama based on the Jay Asher novel of the same name, ever since the series first debuted on Netflix in 2016, but according to the star, the final chapter of Hannah Baker's story has been closed.

"For me, we told Hannah's story so fully in Season 1," Langford told Entertainment Weekly. "In a way, doing that scene in episode 13 [of Season 2], I've so often referred to it as it was the hardest scene because it's the scene where I had to let her go. I think coming back this season was challenging because it was playing her but not really her."

She continued, "It was kind of like being in purgatory for Season 2, and then being able to officially say goodbye to her. It definitely felt like time. For me, letting Hannah go was in Season 1; Season 2 was for Clay to let her go. It was being able to assist Clay on that journey."

While the series' debut season focused on the 13 reasons that led to Hannah Baker's suicide, with every reason recorded on a cassette tape for 13 different individuals to listen to, 13 Reasons Why's second season shifted focus away from Hannah Baker and instead to the tense trial between her parents and the school and how her death affected those who knew her. And although Langford and her character will not feature in any potential third season, it is likely that her presence will still be felt.

"Should we get a season 3, the loss of Hannah will continue to be the inciting traumatic event for this group of kids and parents. It will always be part of the story," creator Brian Yorkey previously told the publication. "But I don't see a tremendous continued presence for Hannah because I think we needed her to finish telling everyone else's side of her story and we needed her so that Clay could get to a point of saying, 'I love you and I let you go.' If the story does continue, and certainly there is lots more to know about a lot of these characters, then the spotlight focus on Hannah Baker is probably done."

As for what Langford hopes fans take away from her character, "it doesn't matter who she was or what she did, she didn't deserve any of what happened to her."

Seasons 1 and 2 of 13 Reasons Why are currently available for streaming on Netflix.