Is cordy really the star of the show still?
I thought that this season she's no longer one of the main cast.

as for why she probably won't be back - i would imagine it would be similar to SMG's reasons. She's been playing the same character for eight years, I would imagine it would get a little tedious.

She's most certainly not thye star of the show for the last year or two. But I don't think that the reason she has left has much to do with anything she wants. She seemed to express such surprise and a tinge of dissapointment that she had not been asked to appear in this series as one of the main cast.

I'm wondering if it wasn't so much that she was tired of the show as wether the show was tired of her?

Rumor is that Cordy's absence is at least partially a money issue. They say that the next season's future was contingent on Spike's presence, as far as the execs were concerned, and that the budget didn't allow for both Charisma C. and James M (particularly with the new digs). Also, they felt that part of what caused a decline in viewership over the past season was the complexity of the storyline necessitating a full-season arc (rather than a more episodic style). By eliminating Cordy from the series, they opened up the possibility for more "monster of the week" episodes (thanks to the W&H setting) while allowing the more simple Spike storyline arc to advance in the background for the most part and in the foreground in isolated episodes. Adding Cordy to the mix would have created a *seriously* overstuffed season, as far as plotlines go. Add to that the story problems arising from her need to be absent from the set on maternity leave, and you've got a situation where the network isn't going to be champing at the bit to keep her on board.

Thanks Aleck! Excellent reply and info as always!