Here's why Maya Lynne Robinson left The Conners as Geena after season 1

On March 27, Netflix dropped the first five seasons of The Conners on its platform, and as expected, tons of people are watching the comedy sitcom. Now, we're seeing a lot of questions circulating on the internet about the series. One question in particular involves a main cast member's exit. People want to know why Maya Lynne Robinson, who portrayed Geena Williams-Conner, left the show. As always, that's no problem for us. We shared everything we know about her exit below.

Geena was the wife of D.J. Conner (Michael Fishman) with whom she shared a young daughter named Mary. She was also in the Army. Viewers are first introduced to the character in Roseanne, but she was played by two other actresses. Maya Lynne Robinson would later permanently take over the role in The Conners. She played the role of Geena for the entire 11-episode first season but didn't return for the second season.

So, why did she leave? Well, this is a tricky question. The actress herself has stated that it wasn't her decision to leave The Conners, but it seems like the reason for her exit was because of her new role in another series. In a January 2020 interview with MEAWW, Robinson was asked about why she left the comedy sitcom and if she missed portraying her character. Here's what she had to say below.

"There is a misconception that I left 'The Conners'. To be honest, I didn’t leave; I wasn’t asked back this season [season 2]. It was their decision to go in a different direction and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to play with that amazingly talented cast. Hopefully, I get to go back for an appearance or two."

Once the news dropped that Robinson would be taking on a lead role in the short-lived CBS sitcom The Unicorn, The Conners showrunner and executive producer Bruce Helford told TVLine that they made the decision to write her character off the show. The way they decided to explain Geena's absence in the second season is by saying that she was redeployed to Afghanistan.

But although Geena had been written off the show, Helford made it clear at the time that Robinson could come back and make an "occasional guest appearance" if she had room in her busy work schedule. Well, Robinson did eventually reprise her role as Geena in the third season. But unfortunately, it was only for one episode. Her last appearance in the comedy sitcom was in the season 3 finale titled "Two Proposals, a Homecoming and a Bear," where her character reveals that she's retiring from the Army.

After the season 3 finale premiered, Cinemablend had the opportunity to speak with Helford about Robinson's return in the third season and here's what he said.

"Well, we didn't root for Unicorn [to get cancelled]. When Maya Lynne told us she had that opportunity, we were like, 'That's fantastic. You're one of the leads in the show, and you deserve that so much.' And it was great. Unfortunately, it didn't continue there. But she was very happy to come back, and we'll definitely be seeing her again on the show going forward. One of the one of the most fun things about having her there was she hadn't been around for all the trauma, so when they are telling her all the horrible things - for the audience, it's a recap of really what a roller coaster ride this season was. So that was a really fun moment to play."

In this May 2021 interview, Helford mentioned that fans would "definitely" be seeing Robinson again on the show. However, she hasn't appeared on the show since the season 3 finale. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she makes a surprise cameo in The Conners season 6, which is currently airing on ABC. Who knows, maybe Michael Fishman (D.J. Conner) will make a cameo as well.

The Conners seasons 1-5 are streaming on Netflix.