Just months after the Dynasty reboot was rocked by the depature of another actress as (the original) Cristal, we’ll be seeing less of another actor on the fraught CW drama. James Mackay, who has portrayed Steven Carrington since the show premiered in Oct. 2017, will no longer be a series regular, a network rep confirms to TVLine. He will be in a reduced number of episodes, but will return later this season.
Mackay took to Instagram on Friday to reveal the change. “All new #Dynasty tonight, but, yep, sorry to say without yours truly,” he wrote several hours before a new episode was set to air. “While Steven had a choice to leave, unfortunately I didn’t. There’s a lot of decisions involved in making television, and sometimes they just don’t go your way and you have to live with it. So for now, all love and on we go. Hope you all enjoy the show.”
Steven announced at the end of last week’s episode that he was planning to return to Paraguay, where he was doing important charity work — and now it seems his trip has been extended indefinitely. Sammy Jo referred to his M.I.A. husband atop Friday’s episode, explaining, “We FaceTime, but it’s not the same.” Mackay was also noticeably absent from the show’s opening credits.
To be fair, actors surprising fans with big announcements is nothing new for Dynasty. Kelley, whose character was left bleeding out in a burning house at the end of Season 1, dropped her own bombshell during an interview in June. The fact that she told the reporter, “I’ve got my life back!” spoke volumes about the show’s behind-the-scenes complications, which are apparently continuing.
The Show is down another original Carrington. The handsome young who played Steven Carrington, Fallon’s (Elizabeth Gillies) gay environmentalist brother, announced on Instagram ahead of tonight’s episode of the CW reboot that he has left the show.
“While Steven had a choice to leave, unfortunately I didn’t,” MacKay said. “There’s a lot of decisions involved in making television, and sometimes they just don’t go your way and you have to live with it.”
While MacKay made it sound like he may be gone forever from the series, I hear that may not be the case. More on that in a bit.
MacKay’s exit as a series regular was part of the major creative overhaul of the reboot of the iconic 1980s soap that started with the introduction of Nicollette Sheridan as Alexis Carrington late in Season 1.
MacKay is the second original Dynasty cast member to not be picked up for Season 2, joining Nathalie Kelley, who played Fallon and Steven’s new stepmom Cristal Flores Carrington in Season 1.
Using the cliffhanger in the Season 1 finale, the Cristal role was recast with Ana Brenda Contreras, introduced as “the real Cristal Flores,” while MacKay was not picked up as a series regular but was asked to return for multiple episodes.
In last week’s episode, Steven announced that he was returning to Paraguay to continue working with his foundation, though he promised that he’d be home by Christmas. It is unclear whether he would be able to keep his promise but I hear that we have not seen the last of Steven and he will return later in the season in a surprising plot twist.
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