Leven Rambin clarified what led to her decision to leave Fire Country.
“A lot of you have asked, why did I leave Fire Country? I hope that it’s clear now why I left. I knew I wanted to start my family,” Rambin, 36, explained in a TikTok shared on Wednesday, July 22.
Rambin, who married husband Dawson Smith in 2025, added that she knew she couldn’t be “away for eight to nine months at a time.”
“[It] was just not conducive to my timeline,” she said. “I knew that there was some health things that I needed to prioritize in order to probably get on the road to having a family.”
Despite her character Audrey having a larger arc in season 4, Rambin chose to step away from the role to focus on her fertility journey. (The actress recently opened up about choosing to pursue IVF and undergoing surgery for endometriosis.)
“I felt like I need[ed] to devote some time to this in my life. If I push this by another year, I’m just pushing it by another year, which doesn’t serve me at all,” she noted on Wednesday. “So, I told them that and it’s all good.”
She continued: “We ended on very good terms, and maybe I could pop back in one day. But I just couldn’t stay because this is very important and a woman has to choose at a certain point in her life what she’s gonna focus on.”
Former showrunner Tia Napolitano previously addressed the show’s many surprising exits.
“It’s a fire show. Anyone can go at any time,” Napolitano told Us in October 2025 about multiple character deaths and departures. “But in terms of losing people, we’re also adding some really fun guest cast. It’s a revolving door of people from Sharon’s past and new faces that are exciting to bring conflict and secrets and twists and turns.”
At the time, Napolitano also addressed Billy Burke and Stephanie Arcila’s characters being written off the show in a controversial move.
“What we’ve done is really thread the needle of honoring — especially Vince — because Gabriella is gone, but she’s gone to a happy and successful life. She’s still out there. But we really walk this line of honoring Vince while also finding hope rather quickly,” she noted. “Looking forward, the theme of the season is rising from the ashes and recovery.”
Napolitano continued: “How do you recover from something like this? And we’re really going to see everybody rise to the occasion, in celebration of Vince, of his life and in honoring the sacrifice that he made.”
Napolitano has since exited the show, with Eric Guggenheim being brought on as the new showrunner for season 5.
“We’ve done so many episodes and I have so much respect for Tia. What she’s done with the show to get us to this point [is so important]. Eric is new to me, and new to a lot of us and he has his own ideas and he’s very collaborative,” star Max Thieriot told Us in May. “Having new voices is fun, right? Because you get new ideas, new thoughts and [a] new perspective. It allows us to also stand back and hear different perspective[s] on things.”
The actor, 37, promised “new possibilities” for the show.
“Eric really brings in a lot of experience with all of his previous work and the shows that he’s been involved with. At the same time, he knows what the show is and respects what’s been built,” he continued. “He’s not trying to totally change what this series is. He’s just bringing in a fresh take and fresh look and fresh perspective. It’s helping explore new avenues for the characters.”
