Here's Why the Lewis Family Disappeared From 'The Last Alaskans'

During the first and second season of The Last Alaskans, Ray and Cindy Lewis, along with their three daughters, became instant fan favorites. 

However, without any warning, the Lewis family never returned for Season 3 — and have yet to appear on an episode of the Discovery series since. 

Despite the backlash from fans, the network stands by their decision to remove the Lewis family from the show, even though it wasn't an easy decision to make. 

"Producers and the network love the Lewis family. As viewers saw, one of Ray’s passions became the houseboat that he built and we featured in [Season 2]," a publicist from the network revealed to Reality Blurred. "As the family spent increasing amounts of time on the houseboat, they spent less time in the refuge. Since the show is focused on life in the refuge, unfortunately, it was hard to feature the Lewis family and stay true to the show." 

As the publicist mentioned, the family is still very much living on their houseboat, along with their youngest daughter, Sarah. 

Their oldest daughter, Molly, has moved south and is working as a wilderness guide in Oregon. Likewise, middle sister Emma, has also moved away from home and is actually working with former co-star Charlie Jagow. 

"[Emma's] working with Charlie Jagow’s sister Joanna, training and racing sled dogs," the publicist added. "She’s into sled dog racing and had already helped Joanna with the Yukon 300 race." 

While on the show, the girls were the victims of some pretty intense cyberbullying due to the appearance of their eyes. Molly, Emma, and Sarah all suffer from a genetic condition called Blepharophimosis, ptosis, epicanthus inversus syndrome (or BPES). Cindy was born with the condition — whose symptoms including "droopy" eyelids and abnormal growth of the eye's opening — and passed it along to her daughters. 

Molly responded to the criticism during a Q&A and admonished trolls who bullied her and her sisters. "Honestly I feel sorry for you. Can’t you enjoy the show for what it is? It’s a shame that all you seem to be taking away from it is the subject of our eyes. If it had anything to do with the topic of the show it would be addressed. Everyone has their flaws, ours are just more obvious than others," she wrote. "I’m sorry if it looks weird to some of you, but that’s your problem. Most of you all have 'normal' eyes so why does it matter to you so much? Don’t you have anything better to do with your lives than worry about others? Our mom was was born with the gene (the only one in her family) and it was passed onto the three of us." 

She continued, "It’s the way God chose to make us and we accept it. If you aren’t satisfied with that response than that’s your issue. I don’t know what else to say."

You can rewatch your favorite The Last Alaskans episodes featuring the Lewis family here.