"The Real Housewives of Atlanta" is set to return soon to Bravo for its eighth season. While many are excited to see the continuation of the stories in the reality TV show, fans will be sad to know that one of the favorites will not come back in the upcoming season.

According to OK! Magazine, Cynthia Bailey, Kenya Moore, Phaedra Parks, Kandi Buruss and Porsha Williams are confirmed to return in the reality TV program next season.

Williams, who just went public with her relationship to NFL star Duke Williams, is confirmed to make her comeback as a full-time cast in season 8.

In May, Williams teased that she will return to the show "if offered." The reality TV personality told OK! Magazine that she does not mind going back to the program. "It's a great opportunity. It's a great platform and I do enjoy the friends that I have on the show, so it would be a natural progression if I were to continue on with them," she added.

Williams first joined the show in the fifth and sixth season as a main cast and became a friend of the housewives in season 7.

Meanwhile, NeNe Leakes, who had been a mainstay of the series from the first season and was the remaining of the original cast that started the program, has announced that she will not be back next season.

She told Variety that it was a "hard decision for her to leave."

"My contract is up and I just think this is the right time. This is my opportunity to spread my wings and do different things," she added.

Leakes teased that she will now focus on a future project for a primetime TV show with a "big" star.

When asked about her decision to leave the show, she said that she felt that a huge weight has been removed from her shoulders. However, she is not ruling out potential cameos in the future.

Meanwhile, Buruss has revealed that she and husband Todd Tucker have already started filming for the next episode even as she is expecting her second child.

"We just started taping," says the reality TV star to People. "Obviously you will get to see a lot of our journey through this pregnancy, but other than that it will be drama as usual."

It is unclear if the other housewives have started taping as well, but Bravo has yet to announce an official release date for the upcoming eighth season of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta."