Sweet Magnolias fans 'absolutely crushed' at emotional season 4 plot that was axed

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Sweet Magnolias.

Sweet Magnolias fans were far from happy when it was decided that a key plot in the original book series wasn't going to be included.

The fourth season of Sweet Magnolias dropped on earlier this year, starting with a bang as the series opened with the shocking offscreen demise of Bill Townsend (portrayed by Chris Klein).

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The tragedy sent shockwaves through Serenity, prompting characters to re-evaluate their lives and consider making changes.

However, the twist of Bill's death is not part of the book series and replaced another significant plotline that didn't make it into the Netflix show.

A fan expressed their disappointment on about the absence of Dana Sue Sullivan's (played by Brooke Elliott) daughter Annie's (Anneliese Judge) battle with anorexia from the screen adaptation.

They posted: "As someone who read the Sweet Magnolia books, I can say a lot of the show storylines were completely different, but I honestly didn't really mind except for Annie's anorexia storyline!

"It was a good storyline and I was absolutely crushed that it wasn't included, especially as someone who has a history of anorexia I was really excited for some representation of the disorder."

The fan also mentioned their hope to see the storyline addressed in season five, suggesting Annie's eating disorder could stem from "out of control changes" such as her rocky relationship with Ty (Carson Rowland) and the pressures of college.

Another Reddit user was all for the inclusion, commenting: "I wish they would include it too and I love your idea!

"They really haven't written the teens problems very realistically the last couple of seasons.

"Like Bill dying-that would have been a very real thing that those kids would have been devastated by and they just moved right on."

While the Annie-centric plot line is sorely missed, it's not the single omission from the books that fans of the Netflix series lament.

One fan expressed their fatigue with repetitive plot elements: "Instead of those repetitive the town is in debt and the mayor is corrupt and different versions of that over and over again."

Others longed for storylines that were left out: "In the books Maddie has two more kids with Cal - it would be interesting to see how that plays out a mother with fully grown kids restarting again.

"There are some really good storylines with some of Annie's friends later in the series but by then several years have elapsed - they deal with DV in a marriage and also I'm guessing they'll never happen in this series.

"And there's a great story about...a female sous chef who breaks down coping with work and juggling two young kids as a single mom. It's a pretty great story."

A sentiment widely shared was the abundance of unused material: "Basically they had so much actual source material they could have pulled from which didn't include Kyle's theatre school gang every second scene. They had options people!"

So far, there's been no official announcement on whether Sweet Magnolias will be back for a fifth season.

However, with the show concluding on a cliffhanger as Maddie Townsend (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) decides to relocate to New York, fans are keeping their fingers crossed for its return.

Sweet Magnolias is available to watch on Netflix.