‘Silicon Valley’ Star TJ Miller Explains Why He Exits the Show on a Cliffhanger

“It was just so funny and so real and so true,” Miller tells TheWrap

Thomas Middleditch and T.J. Miller on "Silicon Valley"

(Warning: Spoilers ahead for Sunday’s episode of “Silicon Valley”)

“Silicon Valley” fans might not exactly get the closure they’re looking for when T.J. Miller’s final episode airs this Sunday.

Miller — whose HBO special, “Meticulously Ridiculous,” debuted on Saturday — told TheWrap that the exit of his character, Erlich Bachman, stems from the brash entrepreneur’s flight to Tibet to visit Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) during the most recent episode.

“Absolutely,” Miller said about the trip leading to Erlich’s departure. “And what I’ve been telling people is — they’re like, ‘Does Erlich die?’ Uh, no, but he goes to a better place.”

The “Deadpool” actor had been toying with the idea of leaving the show for some time but hadn’t yet decided to walk away prior to reading the script for the Season 4 finale. Upon learning that the episode ends with Erlich’s future in question, Miller decided that the timing was right to ride off into the sunset.

“The finale ends as a cliffhanger of whether anyone would ever see Erlich again, and to me, when I read it, I started laughing to myself, thinking, ‘My God, this is the perfect way to say: No, no one ever saw Erlich again — that was it.’ And it was just so funny and so real and so true,” explained Miller.

Miller, who made it clear that he remains on great terms with the network and the show’s team, said that the decision to leave stemmed from his desire to feel “unsafe” in his career, combined with not wanting Erlich to wear out his welcome.

“The show is the same thing over and over,” he said. “I guess it’s a formula that works, but [the heroes] succeed, and then they fail, and then the failure turns into success. It’s a very cyclical show.”

He added about his reaction to reading the finale: “It was an a-ha moment — they had given me this out. So that was my a-ha moment with, ‘I could do something unexpected, something dynamic.’”

“Silicon Valley” airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO. 

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