EW.com can exclusively report that Dustin Milligan, who has played good guy jock (and one half of 90210′s central super couple) Ethan, won’t be returning to the show in the fall — at least not full time.

90210′s new boss, Rebecca Rand Kirshner Sinclair, recently told EW that the soap’s second season would be “significantly” different than the first.

Reps for The CW and producer Paramount declined comment, but a 90210 insider confirms that The Powers That Be recently informed Milligan that his contract option was not being picked up for next season. Discussions are underway to bring Milligan back in the fall for a multi-episode arc that would wrap up Ethan’s story.

All indications are that Milligan’s exit was strictly a creative decision. “Everyone loves Ethan,” maintains the insider. “There was just a feeling that the character had run its course.”

The departure of one the show’s most high profile leading men is the clearest indication yet that Sinclair’s reboot of the reboot will be anything but minor. Viewers will get their first taste of the Gilmore Girl alum’s new vision when 90210 returns from its winter hiatus Wednesday with a hilariously campy outing that features the primetime soap trifecta: stalkers, street-racing, and scenery-chewing!

Looking ahead to season 2, Sinclair says she wants to “reconceive things visually. There are opportunities to embrace California culture visually in terms of fashion and style; I want it to be more contemporary.

“If Gossip Girl is about youth in New York,” she elaborates, “I want to [make 90210] about youth in L.A. and Beverly Hills.”

The writer-producer also plans to rely less on 90210 vets such as Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty, and Tori Spelling to boost ratings. “The show tried to be a lot of things to a lot of people in its first season,” she concedes. “I think the center lies with the generation of kids that are in high school now. I’m not interested in casting people for stunt value.”

Sinclair, who replaces 90-2.0′s original show-running duo of Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, says the show will benefit from having a singular vision. “The advantage of having one person — me — [in charge] is that scripts, what happens on the set, casting, it all speaks in one voice.”

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