Will Mei return to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? (Has Stephanie Hsu left Mrs. Maisel?)

Stephanie Hsu’s Mei turned up in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 premiere with some shocking news. Is that it for the character?

At the end of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4, Mei shared some surprising news with Joel. She was pregnant.

In the Season 5 premiere, Joel shared this news with his family. He and Mei would get married and have the baby. Well, Mei had other plans. She decided that she couldn’t have it all, so she decided to get an abortion and move to Chicago to become a doctor. She did all this without consulting Joel first, making it pretty clear that they were no longer together.

Is this really it for Joel and Mei? Will Stephanie Hsu return later in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5?

Mei is gone in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

It’s bad news for Joel and for fans of Hsu’s character. Mei will not return to the series. It had nothing to do with the success of Everything Everywhere All At Once, but Amy Sherman-Palladino made it clear that an actress as talented as Hsu needs consistent storylines and not to just disappear for a few episodes or have small parts.

That wasn’t possible for the fifth season. After all, this is the final season and needs to wrap up multiple character storylines. We’re seeing how some of it will end with the flash-forwards in the 1980s, and so far we’ve seen Midge and her two children in the future. Will we see that Joel will head out to Chicago to be with Mei? Would he leave his children behind for a relationship that doesn’t work? I guess we’ll have to see how the next flash forwards go.

As for Mei, she isn’t coming back, so it’s unlikely we’ll see Joel head out to Chicago. The exit was a shock for Michael Zegan, who plays Joel in the series. He thought Joel and Mei would be together forever. Well, I think Midge thought the same thing about her and Joel.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 airs Fridays on Prime Video.