Charisma Carpenter, who won't be returning as a regular cast member on The WB's Angel, spoke for the first time about her abrupt departure in an interview with the Boston Herald and said she was as shocked as anyone. "I was not prepared," Carpenter told the newspaper. "I don't think you're ever prepared for that kind of situation."

Carpenter played the acid-tongued Cordelia Chase for three years on Buffy the Vampire Slayer before moving over to The WB's spinoff series. "Seven years, that's a long time," she said. "I started that show. To not be finishing it is a pretty big deal for me. They went back to work on July 24. ... On that day I thought, 'Oh, today is officially my first day of unemployment.'"

Last spring, Carpenter returned to Angel just 10 days after giving birth to her son, Donovan, and spent two long days on the set, wrapping up the season, the newspaper reported. She said she is absolutely willing to return to the series to provide closure to her character's story arc and bring Cordy out of the coma in which she remained during last season's finale. "I think it would be incomplete if it wasn't addressed but I don't know what's being planned," she said. "I haven't heard anything. As we speak today, there are no plans for me to come back."

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2003-08/18/10.00.tv

Why did they fire her? What happened between her and Joss? I think it is okay to have a kid and still work. I feel bad for Charisma. I wish the best of luck to her in the future.

that is hypocritical. Boreanaz has a kid, and they didn't fire him. Marsters has been RUMOURED to once been married and have a teenage kid too. Where's his pink slip?

It doesn't have anything to do with her having a kid. It has to do with ratings. Angel was almost canceled last season because of ratings. The WB decided that the reason it wasn't doing well was because the storylines were too complex and hard to just tune into half-way through a season. People couldn't just tune in and get addicted to the show if they didn't know what was going on. So they decided to make each show this season self contained and added Spike to draw in the crowd from Buffy. The relationship between Cordelia and Angel was too complicated to fit into the new format so the fired her. I'm sure it's nothing personal and the fact the she just had a baby is just a coincidence.

(P.S. I don't like the new format. It is not the same show.)

Originally posted by iloveTV
It doesn't have anything to do with her having a kid. It has to do with ratings. Angel was almost canceled last season because of ratings. The WB decided that the reason it wasn't doing well was because the storylines were too complex and hard to just tune into half-way through a season. People couldn't just tune in and get addicted to the show if they didn't know what was going on. So they decided to make each show this season self contained and added Spike to draw in the crowd from Buffy. The relationship between Cordelia and Angel was too complicated to fit into the new format so the fired her. I'm sure it's nothing personal and the fact the she just had a baby is just a coincidence.

(P.S. I don't like the new format. It is not the same show.)


Im with you. But I think they could have just ending the thing with Cordelia and Angel and still have Cordy on the show. The new episodes are good, but it is a "new" show in a way.

Plus Cordy is missed. But I will still watch it for all the other people I love on the show. Fred, Wes, Angel, Lorne etc:D

Im assuming this season 4.
I thought Cordelia was great and all, but she sort of lost her charm when she ran off with Groo in season 3.