L.C. Is So Over The Hills!

And if you watched the season premiere last night, you can kinda tell!

Gatecrasher reports that although what's being billed as "Lauren's last season of The Hills" just started, Lauren's contract expired in March and she's happy to be done with it.

“Now that she’s finished out her contract, Lauren is completely done with the show,” a source tells the paper. “She’s already capitalized on her success — she’s taken this ride as far as she can.”

But how will the season play out if Lauren's not shooting anymore? With episodes typically airing within a month of the action, the source says that producers have already asked Lauren to "react" to a multitude of situations in preparation for the upcoming season.

“The producers would make Lauren react to a lot of potential scenarios, because they’re not yet sure how the finale will play out with the other characters. They would literally give her directions like, ‘Now react to Stephanie Pratt being pregnant!’ Lauren would just giggle and go for it. She also had to pretend to react to a fake story line about Audrina and Brody hooking up,” says the insider.

MTV denies anything being "fake" about the show, of course, but from last night's acting 101 scene on the booze cruise we're not too sure. Course the fight between Spencer and Cameron seemed all real, though, right?

Speaking of drama queens, there are of course some cast members who aren't so heartbroken over Lauren's departure.

“We don’t need her,” Heidi said. “We’ll miss her — I just don’t know if we need her. I know she hasn’t been wanting to be doing this for a while, and [the life she really leads] is not on camera. So I think it’s a closing chapter for her. [Lauren’s] gotta leave the dramas to the pros!”

But could the show really survive without it's star? That's a question MTV will most likely attempt to answer with season 6!