MTV has just announced that The Hills will return for a sixth season but will do so WITHOUT protagonist star Lauren LC Conrad. LC has announced that she is finished with the show and is ready to move on to other projects but, clearly, the rest of the cast and MTV do not feel the same. Newlyweds Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt will likely be the new focus for the show as the rest of the cast (along with “fresh faces”) will supplement the show:

It’s official: The Hills is returning this fall without star Lauren Conrad, MTV announced today. Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge, Spencer Pratt, Brody Jenner, Stephanie Pratt, Lo Bosworth, Justin Bobby and “fresh faces,” will be back, the network teases in a statement. “Spencer and Heidi will be newlyweds, so the stakes are higher than ever before for the two to make things work,” adds MTV. “Viewers will find out life in Los Angeles only gets more complicated as friendships, relationships and loyalties are tested like never before.” Earlier this month, Montag — who wed on Saturday — told MTV News she’d “miss” Conrad — but not too much. “I just don’t know if we need her,” she said. “I know she hasn’t been wanting to be doing this for a while, and [the life she really leads] is not on camera. So I think it’s a closing chapter for her. I’m sure she’ll have fun and success.” When asked if The Hills could survive without Conrad, Patridge told Us: “Yes, we’re like family to our audience.” Conrad — who is designing a new line for Kohl’s — told Us in March that the decision to leave was “bittersweet. “I’ve spent the last five years making every decision be about the show,” she added.

I think pretty much everyone saw this coming. The Hills has been performing pretty well lately so it makes sense that the show would carry on … even without LC at the helm, I think we can pretty much expect more of the same in the coming season. Truth be told, my love for the show has cooled in recent months so I’m not really chomping at the bit for new eps. My first thought was that Speidi would be getting their own show but it seems smarter to just make them the central focus of an already successful series. What do y’all think … will The Hills be the same without LC? Would you be interested in watching Speidi take center stage in the coming season?

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