Now that we’ve had some time to process that Regé-Jean Page will not be returning for season two of Bridgerton, lets find out why.

After news broke on April 2 of the actor’s departure, he sat down with Variety to explain the reason why. He revealed the plan was always to have his character take part in one season only. Truth be told, it was one of the reasons he was so drawn to the role of Simon Basset.

“It’s going to have a beginning, middle, end — give us a year,” Page told Variety on past conversations with Shondaland producers. “(I thought) ‘That’s interesting,’ because then it felt like a limited series. I get to come in, I get to contribute my bit and then the Bridgerton family rolls on.”

He went on to share his love for each book’s different love story.

“One of the things that is different about this genre is that the audience knows the arc completes,” he said. “They come in knowing that, so you can tie people in emotional knots because they have that reassurance that we’re going to come out and we’re going to have the marriage and the baby.”

Page emphasized that he has “nothing but excitement for Bridgerton continuing to steam train off and conquer the globe,” including, “But there is also value in completing these arcs and sticking the landing.”

This is far from the last time we will be seeing Page. He is set to appear in Netflix’s The Gray Man where he will be working with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. He will also star in an upcoming version of Dungeons & Dragons.