The Green Arrow is losing his leading lady: Arrow star Emily Bett Rickards will depart the superhero drama ahead of its eighth and final season, TVLine has confirmed.
Rickards posted the shocking announcement to Instagram on Saturday, which in part reads, “Felicity and I are a very tight two, but after one through seven we will be saying goodbye to you.” (EPs Greg Berlanti and Beth Schwartz have since put out a statement of their own, which you can read here.)
Series star Stephen Amell posted a brief reaction to Rickards’ statement on his Instagram Story. “I need until Monday,” he wrote. “For now, I love you.” He also shared a photo from her very first scene (as seen below).
Colton Haynes also weighed in via a comment on Rickards’ post, saying, “You will be missed my love. So happy this journey brought us together.”
As previously reported, Arrow will conclude with a 10-episode Season 8. The final season’s abbreviated run means the CW’s flagship superhero series will wrap up shortly after this fall’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover with The Flash and Supergirl (and possibly Legends of Tomorrow). CW President Mark Pedowitz hinted at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in January that the special event will take “some big swings.”
Rickards’ originally came on board as a guest star in Episode 3. Felicity was introduced as an IT technician at Queen Consolidated before the character became a full-fledged member of Oliver’s vigilante team. She was promoted to series regular midway through Season 1.
The timing of Rickards’ departure raises a pretty big question: Will a pregnant Felicity get a head start on hiding out in rural Bloomfield, as seen in the flash-forward to Mia’s home birth, while Oliver stays behind to finish vigilante business?
Read Rickards’ post in full below:
