Why Elaine Is Missing From Two Seinfeld Episodes In Season 4

The hit '90s sitcom "Seinfeld" was ostensibly about a fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld (played by himself), but in reality, it was about one of the most deeply dysfunctional friend groups in television history. Each of the four members of the core gang was absolutely vital to the show's success, as they balanced one another. The dynamic doesn't work without their individual quirks. Conceptualized as a "show about nothing" by series creator Larry David, the characters became the real draw, and that made it especially noticeable when one of them was missing. 

Elaine Benes, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, was the only female member of the core four, but that wasn't the original plan. In fact, a waitress named Claire (Lee Garlington) was originally planned to be the fourth lead, but the writers dropped her after the pilot because they wanted someone more active with the main group. Elaine, Jerry's ex-girlfriend character from episode four, was the perfect fit, and the rest is television history. Elaine was in every single episode of "Seinfeld" after the pilot... except for two. She's notably absent from the season 4 two-part premiere, but what happened? 

Other than the pilot, Elaine is only absent from the two-part season 4 premiere, "The Trip." In the episode, Jerry and his best friend George (Jason Alexander) decide to look up their friend and Jerry's former neighbor Kramer (Michael Richards) during a visit to Los Angeles, as Kramer had just moved there at the end of season 3. While there, they discover that Kramer is suspected of being a serial killer, and weird hilarity ensues. Elaine didn't come along on the Los Angeles adventure and isn't in the episode because she's apparently on a trip to Europe, but the real reason was that Louis-Dreyfus was on maternity leave with her first child. Though they had managed to hide her pregnancy for a fair bit of filming, Louis-Dreyfus suffered from complications and was forced to rest, which meant Elaine was written out of "The Trip." 

Thankfully, Louis-Dreyfus had an easier time with her second pregnancy, during season 8, and they managed to hide her growing bump with baggy clothes. That's pretty common for sitcoms to do when there's just no way to write a pregnancy into the story, and everyone from Courteney Cox's Monica on "Friends" to Mary Elizabeth Ellis's Waitress on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has used peasant blouses, baggy sweatshirts, and carefully placed handbags to hide their changing bodies. Honestly, it almost sounds like a plotline from Louis-Dreyfus's other insanely popular comedy, "Veep," although Selina would never, ever wear those big sweaters.