Did Bill Townsend leave Sweet Magnolias?

Warning: The following post contains Sweet Magnolias season 2 spoilers. 

Sweet Magnolias season 2 is finally streaming on Netflix and the second season of Netflix’s breakout drama based on author Sherryl Woods’ beloved book series is quickly getting viewers talking once again.

Picking up right where season 1 left, the first episode quickly provides closure to the season 1 cliffhanger before throwing a handful of new curveballs audiences ways. Among the many curveballs that come viewers’ way is a sudden absence of Bill Townsend following the season premiere.

While Chris Klein returns as Bill early on in the season 2 premiere, joining Maddie and company at the hospital while waiting for news on Kyle and as Kyle recovers, about roughly halfway through the episode BIll seems to disappear quite unexpectedly.

Following an intense exchange in the hospital halls in which Maddie confesses her anger and shares that she truly doesn’t know whether she’ll ever be able to forgive Bill, we cut away with the assumption the storyline might continue in the later scenes and episodes to follow.

Instead, that scene is the last we see of Bill in the premiere and he then goes missing — without any sign of Klein in the episodes that follow. It’s a plot twist that leaves us to believe Bill might have left town for good but was the season 2 premiere truly the last we see of Klein’s character in the season?

Is Chris Klein leaving Sweet Magnolias?

Although Chris Klein misses several episodes this season, Klein is not leaving Sweet Magnolias and does return later in the season. After appearing in the first episode of the season, Klein is not seen in episodes 2-4; however, he does return in episode 5 in an episode that brings about a major development for the character.

As we discover in episode 5, in an effort to give Maddie and everyone he’s hurt some space, Bill sells his half of the practice and accepts the position of Head of Pediatrics for Pioneer’s Medical Center in Castlewood.

Klein then misses episodes 6 and 8 of the season but does make appearances in episodes 7, 9 and 10 with his return connected to a major development that seems to suggest we’ll see plenty more of Bill in season 3, should Netflix renew the series for another season.

Sweet Magnolias season 2 is streaming now on Netflix.