A new season of Sweet Magnolas has arrived and all of our favorites are back… or at least most of them that is.
Across the ten new episodes, there is a lot for fans to process including several shocking developments that include a pair of engagements, a surprise wedding, and a shocking death. The season also welcomes some new faces to the town of Serenity as well as a few surprise returns from characters who had previously left town.
Sadly, Trotter's return is not among them.
Sweet Magnolias season 4 fails to offer an update on Trotter
As season 4 begins, we learn that a year has passed since the events of the Sweet Magnolias season 3 finale and a lot has happened in that time. The premiere does a great job of catching us up on the major developments in the lives of our favorite Serenity townspeople and bringing us up to speed on the lives of everyone. Despite giving us updates on the show’s key characters there is no update on Trotter in the premiere… nor do we get any official update on him or appearance from actor Hunter Burke.
That’s right, Trotter does not appear in the new season and it’s almost as though the show forgot entirely about the fan-favorite character who played a key role across the first three seasons. Instead, we simply go about life in Serenity without The Corner Spa’s yoga instructor and the Magnolias’ close friend.
As disappointing as this might be, it’s not entirely shocking given the show essentially wrote Trotter out of the series toward the end of season 3.
What happened to Trotter in Sweet Magnolias?
A major storyline for Trotter in season 3 was his desire to start a family with his husband, Ashley. The pair had hoped to adopt but life kept throwing them unexpected obstacles making it hard for them to fulfill their dreams and start their family.
That all changed when in the eighth episode of season 3, Trotter received a call from his college professor who was not only a trusted mentor but also a dear friend. As Trotter was informed, his friend’s health had taken a negative turn and he was in need of someone he could trust to help look after his grandchildren should something happen to him.
After confiding in Maddie, Trotter decided to leave town seeing this as the universe’s way of answering his prayers to start a family of his own. When we last saw him, Maddie encouraged him to go do what he needed to do and assumed him they’d be there for him when he returned.
Surprisingly, Trotter did not return by the time season 3 drew to an end and the hope among fans was that he’d be back for season 4. Sadly that was not in the cards with Trotter still out of town as the new season arrives.
We can only hope that if season 5 happens, we’ll get to see Trotter return. When he does we’ll learn that he and Ashley have been happily co-parenting the kids and finally have gotten their family after all these years.