We’ve known since way before season 1 even started that she’d be leaving mid-season 2. The only thing that’s new (to me at least) is that both Millie and Varada will be companions at the same time (which irks me to no end because I was convinced Varada would be Ruby II. Dangit.).
I WANT to believe this but I’ve seen too many elephant videos that turned out to be just elephants trained to do a quirky thing for tourists and there’s someone off camera subtly directing them.