SLEEPY HOLLOW Star Tom Mison Talks Nicole Beharie Exit: “Abbie Mills Represented More”

Sleepy Hollow’s Tom Mison has been opening up about Nicole Beharie’s shock departure from the series.

Mison addressed his co-star’s abrupt exit from the show, following her character’s death at the end of season 3 (the show is still returning for a fourth season this fall on FOX), at London ComicCon recently.

“When you have a woman of color in the lead role, it’s not just a woman of color in the lead role,” said Mison.

“It immediately means so much more than that. There’s a woman of color in a position where not very long ago she wouldn’t have been. It comes to symbolize so much more. So when something like this happens — when they kill off said character — of course it’s going to mean an awful lot more.”

“The response to Abbie’s death was a huge thing,” Mison acknowledged. “Abbie Mills represented more than just another character in the show. I thought it wasn’t an easy decision for them to make. I know that. I know the writers — they like writing Abbie Mills. I like acting with Nicole. But it was a decision that had to be made, but I don’t know the machinations of the politics behind it.”

Mason went on to talk about the origins of his own acting career. “I was encouraged to go into amateur dramatics. It kept me off the streets, I suppose,” he joked before going on to cite Gene Wilder and Alec Guinness as early inspirations.

You can catch Tom Mison’s full and unabridged London ComicCon remarks via the audio links below.

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