How Theo James Was Written Out of Sanditon Season 2

During the season two premiere of Sanditon, the fate of Theo James' character Sidney Parker was revealed. Find out what went down here!

By Alyssa Ray Mar 21, 2022 7:19 PMTags
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It's pretty clear that Theo James won't be returning for future seasons of Sanditon.

During the season two premiere, which aired on March 20, the Masterpiece PBS series revealed what happened to Theo's Sidney Parker following the actor's exit from the show. Specifically, the new episode opened with Sidney's funeral. Yes, you read that correctly: Sanditon killed off the dashing Regency-era gentleman.

So how exactly did Sidney die? After marrying Eliza Campion (Ruth Kearney) for her wealth, Sidney caught a fatal case of yellow fever and died in Antigua. As for how leading lady Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) learned the news? She was given the tragic update while dancing at a party in her hometown. That's a party killer, for sure.

Of course, Sidney's fate isn't necessarily surprising, as, back in May, the Divergent actor confirmed that he wouldn't be revisiting his Sanditon role for season two. 

"Although I relished playing Sidney, for me, I've always maintained that his journey concluded as I wanted it to," he said in a statement at the time. "The broken fairy-tale like ending between Charlotte and Sidney is different, unique and so interesting to me and I wish the cast and crew of Sanditon ever success with future series."

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2022 TV Premiere Dates

It likely didn't help that Sanditon's season two renewal came almost two years after its initial cancelation at ITV (Sanditon's original network), and in that time Theo booked HBO's TV adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife. Still, up until yesterday, we were holding out hope for even a brief return for the actor.

Simon Ridgway/© Red Planet Pictures / ITV 2019

Sanditon season two is already moving forward sans Sidney thanks to a three-month time jump. And it seems that Masterpiece PBS is following through on the promise it made in May—that there would be an "abundance of romance" for the Sanditon heroine. In fact, Col. Francis Lennox (Tom Weston-Jones) and Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) were presented in the premiere as potential suitors for Charlotte.

For what's next for Charlotte, catch new episodes of Sanditon Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Masterpiece PBS.

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