Babylon 5 legend Claudia Christian has revealed that she and the show's creator J Michael Straczynski received death threats after her exit at the end of season 4.
Christian, who played Commander Susan Ivanova, left the beloved sci-fi after four seasons due to being unable to secure time off for a different project, which she had already committed to.
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times, the actress looked back on the details, explaining: "The bottom line is, we shot [finale episode] Sleeping in Light at the end of season 4, and the series was done. We had a goodbye party, we said goodbye.
"My manager had booked me a job on a movie of the week, where I was the lead. It was called A Wing and a Prayer, and it was a substantial amount of money. For 10 days, it was what I made in a year on Babylon 5. Just showing you the discrepancy of what women were paid back then, I made about a fifth of what Bruce [Boxleitner] was making.
"[The film] was big for me... it was the most money I had ever made as an actress. So I accepted that job, and this was after we had wrapped and then suddenly TNT came up with some money to make season 5, and I said, 'Well, sure, I'd love to come back, but I can't work this chunk of time.' There were specific dates that I was doing the movie, and I was contractually obligated."
Christian says that the show's creator, J Michael Straczynski, confirmed verbally that he would write her out of the first two episodes to give her the time off, but he couldn't put the agreement in writing, as investors would want to be sure she was back on board. However, it was impossible for Christian to be legally bound to two jobs at once.
View Green Video on the source website"It just became this mess, and nobody would budge, and it's a pity," Christian added.
"It was fine with me, because to be honest, I thought the story was told. Poor [Straczynski] had to smush all of his storylines from two seasons into one and I felt, at that point, that everything had been said. We shot Sleeping In Light, it was beautiful, the ending was gorgeous, we had our old age makeup on, and we tied up that story, so I just felt at that point I was happy to leave the show if it didn't work out contractually, no hard feelings, and best of luck."
However, many of the viewers clearly didn't feel the same, with Christian recalling: " There were a lot of people that were very angry with me and with [Straczynski]. We both received death threats."
The actress has also never gone back to watch season 5, explaining: "To be honest, I've never watched it, but what I've heard overwhelmingly is that it's not as good as the other four seasons.
However, she still looks back on the series with great fondness.
"I see how it touched so many people, and that's really the overwhelming feeling," she said.
"No one's ever come up to me and said 'Babylon 5 ruined my life!' They always say, 'It was there for me at a very difficult time', or, 'I resonated with Susan Ivanova, because she was strong and gave me faith' or 'gave me hope, or 'I saw Jewish character', 'I saw bisexual character', 'I identified with these things', 'I saw substance use disorders', race wars, religious wars, all of these things that touch people, and that's overwhelmingly what I feel.
"I feel a nostalgic love for that show that continues."
Babylon 5 is available to watch on LEGEND on weeknights at 7pm.
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