Delilah Dixon has been a central character in ABC’s A Million Little Things ever since the series premiered back in 2018 and she’s become a firm favourite for many fans.
However, in the season 4 premiere, Stephanie Szostak’s character announced that she was leaving Boston in order to return to France, sparking a teary end to the episode.
But just why is Delilah leaving A Million Little Things and what are the circumstances around Stephanie Szostak’s exit?
A Million Little Things | Season 4 Promo
A Million Little Things season 4 episode 1 recap
Season 4 of A Million Little Things premiered on ABC on September 22nd, 2021.
Although it’s been a few months in the real world since we last caught up with the characters, the show picks up right where season 3 left off back in June.
Gary is struggling in the aftermath of his encounter with Peter while Regina and Rome put up a fight following the closure of Someday and the deportation of Tyrell’s mother.
Eddie continues to investigate who caused the accident while Maggie looks to make the most of a new career opportunity after the departure of Dr Stacy.
However, the biggest plot point in episode 1 is the impending exit of Delilah Dixon who announces that she will be leaving and returning to France.
The news leads to some tension between her family and friends with Danny eventually agreeing to go with his mother while Sophie will stay at home in Boston.
Why is Delilah leaving A Million Little Things?
In the context of the show, Delilah is returning to France as her ailing father has recently suffered a stroke and she wants to take care of him before he’s gone for good.
After visiting France in season 3, Delilah said that it was the one place where she felt free as she wasn’t being judged in regards to Jon’s death back in season 1, so it’s arguably a place of comfort for her to enjoy a fresh start.
For actress Stephanie Szostak, her departure isn’t necessarily permanent as her cast status has been changed from a series regular to recurring in season 4, suggesting that she may pop up again here or there.
Speaking to TVLine, series creator DJ Nash confirmed that the change has come about as a result of the Covid-pandemic and Canada’s 14-day quarantine period for travellers from outside the country.
Actress Stephanie Szostak lives in Connecticut with her family and regularly flies to Vancouver for filming.
However, Nash explains that the ability to shoot for a few days and return home “went away with COVID, because the second she stepped out of Canada, there was a 14-day reset.”
Although, the lead writer also went on to say “I’m hoping we see her more than we saw her last year,” suggesting that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Delilah.
Fans react to Delilah’s departure
It’s safe to say that Delilah’s exit from A Million Little Things has been a sad one for the majority of fans with many taking to social media to offer up their thoughts.
One fan on Twitter wrote: “#AMillionLittleThings GREAT Season Premiere but I am sad Delilah is leaving again. I love her character… sad she is moving to France 😢”
Meanwhile, this fan added: Is Delilah #StephanieSzostak leaving forever? It looks like a goodbye. 😥😭 #AMillionLittleThings“
This disbelieving fan said: “I cannot believe Delilah is actually leaving #AMillionLittleThings“
And finally, this fan commented: “Delilah is leaving again and now with Danny and Charlie it’s so sad 😭 #AMillionLittleThings“
A Million Little Things continues on Wednesday at 10/9c on ABC.
In other news, The Orville fans pay tribute to Charly Burke as her emotional arc concludes
Among the bombshells dropped in A Million Little Things‘ Season 3 finale: Delilah is moving to France, permanently?! Mon dieu!
During the two-hour season-ender on Wednesday, Stephanie Szostak‘s character announced that she wanted to relocate herself, Danny, Sophie and Charlie to her home country — where, viewers will recall, she spent most of the season after COVID-19 travel restrictions and an ailing parent kept her from returning to the United States. Delilah’s news was met with varying degrees of anger and refusal from her friends and family (Gary’s reaction, in particular, was pretty nasty), and she wound up sobbing on her couch in its aftermath. (Read a full recap of the finale.)
But is Delilah actually going to make the huge change? In light of Szostak’s heavily reduced screen time in Season 3 and that ambiguous ending, we asked showrunner DJ Nash whether the series was teeing up the actress’ departure in Season 4.
Dealing with real-life scheduling complications created story snags, he acknowledges. “The struggle for us came in that I could totally buy that Delilah’s not home for Danny coming out, which is tough. But when your daughter is assaulted, that was a really tough one to figure out, and so we dealt with it.” (Fans will recall that Delilah appeared in international video calls with Sophie around the time of her attack.)
So the end of Season 3 is “sort of an escape hatch for Stephanie,” the EP adds. “As we’re trying to figure out where we’re going next season, there’s a version where the entire family moves to France. There’s a version where just Delilah moves to France, and then there’s a version where they talk her into staying.”
Nash continues that the show is “finalizing” plans now, “making sure that on a personal level, Stephanie and her family are comfortable with the amount that we’re going to ask her to do next year.”
He adds: “This is not the end of Delilah.”
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