'The Kominsky Method' Loses Alan Arkin For The Third And Final Season

The Kominsky Method, a Netflix comedy series that has been nominated for several Emmys, is coming to an end with the third and final season. However, when the show returns to the streaming service, it will be missing one of its two Emmy-nominated stars.Alan Arkin will not be coming back to The Kominsky Method, which also stars Michael Douglas, for the show's third season. However, this isn't due to the actor being 86 years old and worrying about working in the age of coronavirus. In fact, Arkin actually decided he was leaving the show shortly after the second season arrived on Netflix last year, and his absence will be written into the final season.

Deadline was first to report on Alan Arkin leaving The Kominsky Method. When the second season dropped last October, it had not yet been determined if there would even be a third season (which was only announced this past July), which is why Arkin's departure from the series was not written in to the season finale. Apparently, the planned third season storyline was easily able to address the lack of his involvement.

Meanwhile, Emmy-nominated lead actor Michael Douglas is returning as the titular character, Sandy Kominsky, an aging actor-turned-acting coach. Perhaps Arkin's character, Sandy's agent, will be written out with a death, which would give him a hurdle to overcome as an aging man himself. After all, the second season had Kominsky dealing with health issues of his own, so the passing of his friend would only give him more pause in his later years.

Both Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin were nominated for Emmys and Golden Globes for the first two seasons, Douglas as a lead actor, who ended up winning last year, and Arkin as a supporting star. The show itself also earned a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys, and back-to-back Golden Globes nominations for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. Despite those accolades, I've yet to speak to anyone in my life who has seen The Kominsky Method, let along heard of it. So I'm not sure who's watching this show.

When the show was renewed back in July, series creator, executive producer, an showrunner Chuck Lorre said:

"The Kominsky Methodhas been a true passion project for me and it's been an incredible experience to see the warm response from both audiences and critics. I'm excited to wrap up the story with this final chapter."