Tragedy Strikes Sleepy Hollow, and Black Twitter Loses It

Le Twitter Noir lost its collective black mind after the season 3 finale of Sleepy Hollow on Friday.

Our girl, agent Abbie Mills, played to perfection by actress Nicole Beharie, sacrifices herself in order to stop The Hidden One (Peter Mensah), an ancient god up to no good.

Mills, an integral part of the series, co-starred alongside time traveler Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison). Beharie was one of the vanguard of black woman finally at the center of television shows today (see Gabby Union, Taraji Henson, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, et. al.) —but this time in a historical fantasy.  

Beharie released a statement to TVLine and told Sleepyheads, ‘Abbie Mills has done all she was meant to do’ :

“Sleepy Hollow has been an incredible experience in every way. I loved playing Abbie. It’s been such a gift to have taken this wild ride… Alas, ‘Abbie Mills has done all she was meant to do.’ I’m excited about what the show has in store for us next. I’m rooting for my co-stars and crew … they have been my inspiration, my teachers, family, my friends, over the last few seasons. I want to thank the fantastic producers, writers, and directors who have worked tirelessly to bring this show to life. I want to thank Fox for their faith and support. But, most of all, [I want to thank the] Sleepyheads for all of your love —what an honor. I will never be the same. Stay tuned.”

Entertainment Weekly reports that showrunner Clifton Campbell explained the writers’ reason for offing a main character (Walking Dead envy?) saying,“[Beharie’s] relationship with Tom and obviously with Crane has been instrumental to the development of the show,” said Campbell. “As with a lot of genre shows, as television matures and evolves, it becomes important to recognize the frailty of characters, particularly in a world such as ours, and it’s unrealistic to think that shows can live and breathe on one note.”

But uh, the internets was not trying to hear it.

It ran the gamut from the pissed, with tweets like, “You want a shocking death? Kill the white guy. Otherwise everyone already knows what you’re going to do. It’s a tired cop out” to the tea, to the encouraging. 

I’m disgusted! Another POC basically bullied out of a job much like Ricky! Nicole Beharie. SHAMEFUL! #SleepyHollow pic.twitter.com/mRVARIswKD

— How Regina Sees It  (@Keepin_It_Evil) April 10, 2016

 

I’ve never seen a TV show be so completely unaware of what their audience wants and sabatoge itself like this #SleepyHollow

— A Man Called Hawk (@AManCalledHwk) April 9, 2016

 

They’ve been dissing Nicole Beharie since they didn’t invite her to do a Comic Con panel, if I recall correctly

— Saffron the Sadge (@JSoAbove) April 9, 2016

Fly, @NikkiBeharie. You will land in a better home. #SleepyHollow

— Tananarive Due (@TananariveDue) April 9, 2016

Here’s the bigger and better things for Nicole Beharie!

Read more at TV Line and Entertainment Weekly.