How ‘Mom’ Wrote off Anna Faris’ Character Revealed

While Chuck Lorre once dropped a piano on a character, he gave Anna Faris‘ Mom character a happy ending. In Thursday night’s Mom Season 8 premiere, the fate of Faris’ Christy was revealed. Christy decided to go off to study law at Georgetown. Faris previously announced plans to leave Mom in September, which was a surprise since she was reportedly signed for the eighth season. However, the departure was on good terms and the door is open for Faris to appear on the show in the future.

At the beginning of the episode, Bonnie (Allison Janney) and Adam (William Fitchner) were driving back from the airport, as they just dropped off Christy. Bonnie revealed Christy is heading off to Washington D.C. to study after earning a full scholarship to the law school. “Every mom dreams of the day when they drop their 42-year-old daughter off at the airport to go to school,” Bonnie said. “Georgetown Law School on a full scholarship? Phew! A lot of parents would be in a puddle of tears right now.” Adam cried too when he remembered the Father’s Day card his stepdaughter got him.

Christy did not appear in the episode at all, but she did call Bonnie to see how Tammy’s (Kristen Johnston) birthday sleepover was going, notes TVLine. This was the happy ending Mom co-creator Gemma Baker hoped would appeal to the show’s longtime fans. “One of the beautiful things about recovery is that quite often people’s lives get bigger and better than they could have imagined,” she told TVLine. “And that will be Christy’s experience. We are pretty sure that our audience, many of whom have been rooting for Christy since the pilot, will be happy for her and satisfied by her new path.”

Faris announced she would not be appearing on Mom Season 8 in early September. She called the last seven years on the show “some of the most fulfilling and rewarding of my career.” She went on to thank Lorre, the writers, and her “amazing” co-stars. “While my journey as Christy has come to an end, allowing me to pursue new opportunities, I’ll be watching next season and rooting for my TV family,” Farris said.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Jaime Pressly, who plays Jill, said we will hear more about Christy, even if we do not see her. “She’s not gone as far as we’re concerned, and we all spent so much time together over the years and love each other and support each other, and we all want each other to be happy, so we’re happy for her, and we miss her no matter what,” Pressly said. New episodes of Mom air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.