La Brea’s Natalie Zea to Have a Sharply Reduced Presence in Final Season (Exclusive)
At the close of La Brea Season 2, Eve disappeared.
And original cast member Natalie Zea nearly will, too.
Sources tell TVLine that the La Brea front woman will have a significantly reduced presence in the NBC drama’s six-episode farewell season, which kicks off Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at 9/8c.
When last we tuned into La Brea, a “back-up” portal that potentially could have sent everyone stuck in 10,000 B.C. back to present-day L.A. malfunctioned due to damage caused by the stray bullets of a gunfight. As everyone made a dash for the chamber’s exit, Eve wound up trapped behind a heavy, locked door. Then, when the glitchy portal violently pulsed, Eve blipped! away to somewhere/somewhen — setting the stage, in retrospect, for Zea’s limited Season 3 screen time.
In La Brea‘s Season 3 opener, which is titled “Sierra,” Gavin (played by Eoin Macken) will discover a clue about where Eve has gone, though following that lead only will result in only more unfortunate consequences.
Might a happy ending — possibly even a long-sought homecoming — eventually await the Harris fam as La Brea winds down? Showrunner David Appelbaum did tell TVLine at the end of last season, “This is a show about getting home. They’re never going to lose their desire to do that.”
And Zea, we hear, filmed her handful of Season 3 scenes in Los Angeles, having never returned to the sci-fi series’ set down in Australia.
NBC declined to comment for this story.
Are you disappointed to hear that Zea/Eve will have such a minimal presence in La Brea‘s third and final season?
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The real question here is how much screen time will that jacket get this season? And did Eve get zapped to somewhen with a dry cleaner? ;)
Well she never left LA, so probably none.
Natalie Zea is literally the only reason to watch this cluster.
Right
I hope this show ends well for those who stuck it out and watched it.
My impression is the series ended more abruptly than expected and they’re doing their best to wrap it up in the time they were allotted.
Between the strikes, fewer episodes, and now that lead actress (Natalie Zea) has a reduced role, sounds to me like La Brea is going to go out with more of a whimper than a bang.
Genre shows, especially those that shoot in out of the way locals, inevitably end badly.
“out of the way locals”?? It’s a short drive outside Melbourne, a city of over 5 million people, not trekking the Nullarbor Plain lol. She did seem to complain a lot about the winter here, hence the addition of the jacket very quickly in episode 2 :p
I thought this was filmed prior to the strikes, so that should have no bearing on this.
Correct.
It’s baffling. First they create a series paced like a streaming series with only ten episodes a season, allowing most of their viewers to forget most of the plot details between them. Then they announce a piddling six-episode concluding season, THEN they write the lead character out of that. Why do they even bother? What was the longterm goal? Network programmers seem to have lost the idea that success on broadcast requires viewer continuity, and this series is a perfect example of completely ignoring that dictum. It all seems to have been sabotaged for reasons I can’t even guess. Tax write-offs? No, wait–that’s WBD/Zaslov thinking. I just don’t get it..
Don’t think they chose to write her out. It sounded more like she didn’t want to travel to Australia (and leave a growing young kid at home). They also had moved way up north with a much warmer winter for these last 6 episodes.
Genre shows always seem to disappoint and sputter. I agree with you. Webs do not schedule with continuity and like soap operas, these shows need that. NBC has tried many of these. They start with such high concept premises but collapse under the demands of storytelling over multiple seasons. Losing your core character is disappointing.
I bet she goes home and helps get the others back. It does suck though to lose the main female character. I know everything went downhill because of the strikes, so they had no choice to wrap up quickly so no one would be stuck under contract. But it still sucks for the viewers.
At least she didn’t have to travel all the way to Australia to film. She’s a mother and wife and it would be a lot to film in Australia. I have been hooked since the first season and I’m hoping the show has a satisfying ending for the sake of the fans.
Yeah as exactly there making this out more then it actually it is and it was probably her choice to have the limited role because she is a new mom and family comes before career
I’m guessing it was mostly her choice but her daughter is 8, she’s not a new mom.
Good for Natalie Zea beacuse she is far too talented to have to stay on this show. I really hope she has some good projects lined up, she’s such a great actress and wildly underrated. I enjoyed her on The Detour, Justified, and Dirty Sexy Money. She would be amazing on a show like The White Lotus. Hear that Mike White?
I hooe NZ heads back to the Justified world so her character can be back with the father of her child!!!
Where I liked her best…
I loved her on Justified so much. Her chemistry with Tim Olyphant is terrific, best on the show. Loved seeing her on City Primeval too. I hope if they bring it back, we get a lot more Winona and agreed that she should back with Raylan.
It’s ending. So, no, I’m not upset about a limited engagement for her. She’s my favorite actress on the show, so I’m looking forward to her next project.
I AM sad that it is ending, love the show
Good for Zea for deciding that six episodes wasn’t enough screen time to relocate to Australia again — absolutely no offense to Australians and New Zealanders intended because the opposite direction is a big move for Ozzies like Julian McMahon and New Zealanders like Keisha Castle-Hughes (FBI: Most Wanted should be applauded for being able to work with her by writing absences for Hannah into the stories to make KCH’s breaks between seasons longer.) I hope that the fact that Zea’s scenes were filmed in Los Angeles means that that happy ending is coming.
It’s very disappointing that the show is ending cuz I liked it a lot! Just like Jericho they don’t last very long. Seems like this type of show doesn’t last long. She’s one of my favorites in the show. Typical Hollywood.
Natalie was really the backbone if this show. Very disappointing to hear she will have a reduced role in the final season.
why is nbc declining to comment on this story? what is the reeal reason Zea refused to return to set?
about the only thing good about this show is seeing Natalie. Now I’m forced to watch this crap without her as well. So glad it is only six episodes and over. Cant even believe it went this far.
Love Natalie Zea. Reason I starting watching La Brea. Kinda pulled away, last season.
I’m currently watching season 3 but it’s not the same. It’s not the same without Natalie AKA eve. I’m really trying and I keep looking online as to why she has a reduced time maybe she was fired or she left the production or wanted to try other endeavors. There is very limited information. It’s like nobody wants to tell the reason why she left