The CW’s Arrow ended its eight-season run with an emotional finale seeing the reunion of Oliver and Felicity, but the episode was apparently long written before Emily Bett Rickards signed on to return to the series. Debuting as a recurring player in the show’s debut year, the actress was promoted to a regular in season 2 and remained that way until season 7.
As Felicity’s relationship with the Green Arrow progressed so was her role in Team Arrow expanded. She and Diggle were instrumental in transitioning Oliver’s operations as a lone vigilante to a part of a team. Her romantic relationship with the title character was a major player for the most of Arrow’s years. This is the reason why Rickards decision to exit the show in season 7 was both surprising and disappointing for a lot of fans. However, with such a massive impact in Oliver’s personal arc and the overall story itself, it makes sense for Arrow producers to include her in their planned finale, even before they sought the actress for the reprisal.
Executive Marc Guggenheim who co-wrote the finale titled “Fadeout” with Beth Schwartz, recalled how he came up with the final moments of Arrow. After all other characters’ futures sorted out, the episode returns to Oliver’s grave, when it suddenly transitions to 2040 Star City as seen in the season 7 finale. Felicity steps into the Monitor-created breach, transporting to Moira Queens’ Queen Consolidated office, where she’s reunited with her husband. The whole sequence put a lot of focus on Rickards’ Emily, but Guggenheim told THR that he came up with it long before she’s onboard to return.
Schwartz added that after Guggenheim laid out the scene, they never considered any variations of it in case Rickards declined to reprise Emily. However, while it wasn’t that difficult to ask the actress to return, executing it still posed some challenges due to scheduling conflict. Fortunately, they were able to squeeze everything in that arguably made the Arrow finale satisfying for its most loyal viewers.“We didn’t even think of another ending. We didn’t have a backup plan at all,” she said. They would’ve wanted to have her longer with the original flashback would’ve involved Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity. Things changed when they learned that she could only return for two days.
“This has never happened to me before or since. I came out of the meditation with the entire scene in my head, like literally word for word, exactly as you just watched it. I quickly opened up my laptop, and [mimics typing] ‘I gotta get this down.’ For me it felt so right. And I very excitedly texted Beth, ‘I wrote the final scene, I gotta send it to you.’ Of course the big question was, is Emily coming back to be in it? We were like, well, now she really has to because I really love the scene. And fortunately she did.”
Considering that Felicity played a significant part in the Arrow finale, it appears that the producers made her return worth it. Aside from her presence in Oliver’s funeral and the series’ parting scene, she also sat behind-the-desk as she used to in previous missions for Team Arrow. Present-day William’s kidnapping forced her to emerge from hiding and help her former allies for their latest mission. Here, she gets to see 2040 Mia in action. All that being said, the episode could’ve gone without these bonus scenes except for the show’s final shot which was brought an emotional pay-off to its core love story.
More: Arrow: Every Dead Character Alive In The Series Finale (Thanks To Crisis)
Source: THR
