diff --git a/Core/include/ACTFW/Framework/IReader.hpp b/Core/include/ACTFW/Framework/IReader.hpp
index 84086c3e0ea95db39f35970f3535e75dfc7a6a77..05b60a5ae9fa4015615cd1c88760f46a74f4e169 100644
--- a/Core/include/ACTFW/Framework/IReader.hpp
+++ b/Core/include/ACTFW/Framework/IReader.hpp
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 #ifndef ACTFW_IREADER_H
 #define ACTFW_IREADER_H
 
-#include <boost/optional.hpp>
 #include <string>
 #include "ACTFW/Framework/AlgorithmContext.hpp"
 #include "ACTFW/Framework/ProcessCode.hpp"
@@ -42,8 +41,8 @@ public:
       = 0;
 
   /// The number of events to be read in
-  /// @return (optional) number of events
-  virtual boost::optional<size_t>
+  /// @return number of events
+  virtual size_t
   numEvents() const = 0;
 };
 
diff --git a/Core/src/Framework/Sequencer.cpp b/Core/src/Framework/Sequencer.cpp
index dc4e9870b936222802016d0cc15ff30dd499e416..3058ec7886897de361545a92e7283b29b8e9e4d1 100644
--- a/Core/src/Framework/Sequencer.cpp
+++ b/Core/src/Framework/Sequencer.cpp
@@ -130,8 +130,7 @@ FW::Sequencer::run(boost::optional<size_t> events, size_t skip)
     numEvents = *events;
   } else {
     // 2) Number of events given by reader(s)
-    numEvents
-        = *((*minmax.second)->numEvents());  //(*(*minmax.second))->numEvents();
+    numEvents = ((*minmax.second)->numEvents());
     // Check if number of events are different for the readers
     if (*minmax.first != *minmax.second) {
       ACTS_ERROR(