Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Colin Egglesfield have been kicked out of Melrose Place -- literally!

Ashlee's character Violet and Colin's character Augie have been part of the murder mystery... but that will come to an end in January.

Producers say that this was the plan all along. "Well, we always knew that this murder mystery would end in episode 12," executive producer Todd Slavkin says. "And we always knew that [Ashlee's] character of Violet would be instrumental in that as a suspect, and [Colin's character of] Augie as well. And once that murder mystery was solved, she would go on her way. That was the original plan going into the development of the show."

And how did Ashlee and Colin react to the fact that they won't be on the show anymore? "They're total professionals and they took it like professionals," Todd says. "When you go into a show you never know what's going to evolve and what the possibilities are. But because they knew ahead of time [that leaving was a possibility], it wasn't a complete shock."

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Ashlee Simpson-Wentz's role on Melrose Place will end in January.

Photos: Courtesy of The CW Television Network