EW: Dustin Milligan won’t be regular on 90210’s next season

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Entertainment Weekly’s EW.com is reporting Dustin Milligan, who plays 90210’s Ethan, will not be returning full time for the fall.

Honestly, this surprises me.

An 90210 insider confirmed EW that Milligan’s contract option was not picked up for the second season. Plans are to bring Milligan back in the fall for a multi-episode arc to wrap up his story.

According to the insider, “there was a feeling that the character had run its course,” EW is reporting.

Being that this is Season 1, I don’t see how this is possible. Okay, he started out with Naomi, then Annie, and then to the hospital girl. Is that all of the storylines?

When 90210 returns Tuesday, it will be a little different now that new boss Rebecca Rand Kirshner Sinclair (Gilmore Girls) is in charge. She recently told EW’s Michael Ausiello the second season will be “significantly” different than the first.

Sinclair says she wants to “reconceive things visually. There are opportunities to embrace California culture visually in terms of fashion and style; I want it to be more contemporary.”

“If Gossip Girl is about youth in New York,” Sinclair told EW, “I want to (make 90210) about youth in L.A. and Beverly Hills.”

I will say the show can definitely kick it up a notch like Sinclair is saying. Visually in the past, besides a few scenes, most of it could have taken place in Anywhere, USA.

Sinclair also plans to depend less on 90210 alums such as Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty and Tori Spelling.

“The show tried to be a lot of things to a lot of people in its first season,” Sinclair told EW. “I think the center lies with the generation of kids that are in high school now. I’m not interested in casting people for stunt value.”

Sinclair replaces Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachse, saying the show will benefit from having a singular vision, she told EW.

I do have a more vested interest in the teen’s stories than I do the adults. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the drama between Kelly (Garth) and Brenda (Shannen Doherty). I’m wondering what the ratings will be like with Spelling on the show.

Like I said above, I hate to see Dustin Milligan go. I don’t see how they could be out of storylines for him and I wonder if there is more to the story. He’s a nice-guy jock. Okay. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have back stories or have something traumatic happen to him. Of course, they may use this opportunity to let his character disappear in a tragic way. You never know.

All I want is a good show. Starting Tuesday, we have EIGHT new 90210 episodes in a row to watch! That’s pretty cool.