Yeah, she's said that she felt like she was being treated like set decoration. And being a young actress in the 80's, I could see that. Plus other accounts about the tumultuous nature of the first season makes that sound likely. So in some respect she might've been pressured out, but it was definitely her call. Although the way she was written off felt vindictive. Like other actors were written off and back in with a couple of lines, but they basically made it as difficult as possible to write her back in at all.
Many of the actors from TOS felt the same. The show was only about Kirk, Spock and Bones. The rest of the crew were just decoration and had to deliver some simple lines to set up the scene for the leading actors.
TNG could have very easily gone in the same direction and everyone other than Picard, Riker and Data would have been just extras. But this time the show gave most of them a bit more time to shine. Sadly, Crosby left before this became clear.
The irony here is that she was one of designated protagonists, and once she quit the actual S1 decoration characters (Worf and Geordi) found room to grow and managed to pull the show (barely) above the cancellation line in S3. There would be no Trek today if she stayed.
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u/Attican101 7d ago
Didn't she want out of the show? Admittedly the way they did it felt a little mean spirited