Orange is the New Black lost plenty of influential characters over the years, but why did Jason Biggs' character, Larry, leave the show? The long-running dramedy premiered in 2013, amassing legions of fans with its raw, witty, and fresh approach to portraying day-to-day life in a women's prison. There was always drama bubbling beneath--and sometimes breaking through--the surface at Litchfield Penitentiary.
Though Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who initially landed herself in jail for transporting drug money, was the show's main character, the Netflix series had a broad focus on a large group of women. Dayanara, Suzanne (AKA "Crazy Eyes"), Red, Nicky, Tiffany (AKA "Pennsatucky"), and more all served as representation for the myriad of different identities and contributing circumstances that make up the United States' incarcerated population. Originally, one of Orange is the New Black's main characters was also Larry Bloom. Though he resided outside of the prison's walls, he started out as an important factor in Piper's life. After all, at the show's beginning, he was her fiancée. The pair's relationship and his life on the outside without her started out as front-and-center components within the plot.
This made it surprising for many fans when it was reported in 2015 that Larry's character wouldn't be returning in season 3. After coupling up with Piper's best friend, Polly, in season 2, he fell off the grid. He didn't show up in the series again until a season 5 flashback. According to what he's said about the split, it seems as though Larry's character had simply run his course on the show. Biggs told New York Daily News at the time, "They're [Orange Is the New Black] not focusing on Larry at the moment. Larry will not be in season three. He shared similar remarks with Huffpost: "It’s not a Larry season. They have a lot of characters to service on that show and, at the end of the day, it’s a women’s prison show. Larry is not a woman or in prison."
It's true: Larry's use did run out. After all, he was no longer Piper's romantic partner. Being a man on the outside without a close connection to one of the women in Litchfield didn't help his case. On top of that, his character slowly revealed rather unattractive sides of himself as time went on. Though, in fairness, the same can be said about many of the extremely three-dimensional Orange Is the New Black characters. Biggs has also proven to be a bit of a PR liability in the past. Among other public missteps, he got himself into some hot water in 2014 for controversial tweets related to the TV show The Bachelorette. It's definitely a possibility that some of the incident's bad publicity might've influenced his eventual absence.
Though Larry didn't end up returning to the show as a main character, Biggs did seem to leave the project on a positive note. In the previously mentioned Huffpost interview, he had hinted at the "possibility that he [Larry] could come back." The actor also said he would "go back in a heartbeat." He was right: he ended up having some minor returns. Although his character's use ran out on Orange is the New Black, Biggs' Larry was certainly an integral part of setting up the explosively popular, long-running Netflix series.