After Season 2, Meghan Ory's Ruby (Red Riding Hood) disappears from Once Upon A Time, resulting in significant changes to the fairytale drama.
While Once Upon A Time had a consistent cast for the majority of its 7-season run, Meghan Ory's Ruby disappeared just after her role had begun to expand in the series. In Storybrooke, Ruby was a waitress at Granny's, who longed to have a life beyond the small town; in the Enchanted Forest, she was a subversion of Little Red Riding Hood. As both the wolf and the victim, Ruby was a critical part of the show as someone who was both pure at heart and controlled by a darkness she didn't know she had.
In season 2, Ruby stepped up as a leader in Storybrooke, helping the townspeople to acclimate to regaining their memories and facing off against Disney's infamous Evil Queen. Along with the increased story role, Ory was upgraded to a series regular for season 2 before abruptly announcing her departure from the show in 2013. This had serious repercussions on the series, including shifting some of her leadership roles onto the main heroes and providing openings for new characters to rise to prominence.
Meghan Ory Left Once Upon A Time For CBS' Intelligence
Despite Ruby's role expanding on Once Upon A Time, Meghan Ory decided to leave after winning a lead role on CBS's Intelligence. On Intelligence, Ory would be playing Riley Neal, a former Secret Service agent tasked with protecting an enhanced intelligence agent. Rather than being recast, like Tom Ellis's Robin Hood, her character simply faded into the background, not to be explained until years later.
After Ruby appeared in Once Upon A Time season 2, episode 17, "Welcome To Storybrooke," she disappeared from the screen until season 3, episode 12, "New York City Serenade." As far as the story was concerned, Ruby was always there, just not in the foreground. However, this meant that season 3 lost much of its connection to the town of Storybrooke, focusing instead on the Charming family, Rumplestiltskin, and Regina to the exclusion of nearly everything else. This trend continued through season 4, as new villains (most of whom were played by actors from Lost) arrived from outside Storybrooke, rather than exploring the stories of those who were already there.
Ruby Returned In Season 5
While Ruby had a brief cameo in Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, the plot lines that had been established for her were primarily dropped after season 2, with no later appearances really making a difference. Season 5, Episode 9, "The Bear King" included a scene set after the season 3 finale in which Ruby explained that she was going to return to Storybrooke to find other werewolves, offering a true explanation for her complete absence from season 4. However, there was no closure for that arc, as Ruby ended up getting an abrupt love story instead.
Despite the fact that Intelligence was canceled (via TV Line), Ruby's return felt like it had more to do with the showrunners' need to respond to criticisms about the lack of LGBTQ+ relationships and representation (via Entertainment Weekly). Mulan had been Once Upon A Time's first LGBTQ+ character, but her arc had been poorly handled. It did seem like the writers were trying to amend their mistakes by giving Ruby's romance with Dorothy more screen time, but sadly, this marked the end of Ruby's story as well.
Though Ruby was present through archival footage in the series finale, she didn't have any special moments based on her specific bonds with Snow and her family. Unfortunately, Meghan Ory's decision to leave Once Upon A Time in 2013 meant that Ruby lost most of her character development, the townspeople of Storybrooke lost their voice, and a critical character was pushed into the background with little to no explanation.
