Emily Bett Rickards Open To Arrow Revival: 'I'd Do It For Felicity' After Character Got 'Lost' In Later Seasons
Emily Bett Rickards — who almost exactly six years ago shocked Arrow fans (and forced me to bail on a movie screening) by announcing her exit ahead of the superhero drama's final season — says she "probably" would be open to any TV-movie or limited revival, if only to give Felicity Smoak "her flowers."
During a visit to Michael Rosenbaum's Inside of You podcast (cued up above), Rickards reflected on her seven-season Arrow run rather fondly, though she clearly has some regrets that likely fueled her decision to vacate the role at the end of Season 7.
"As the years went on, things got like a little crazy, but I'm still so grateful for not only Arrow, but for Felicity. I'm really proud of who Felicity was," she avowed.
"I think she got a little lost in the later seasons, and I wish I could have changed that for her...," the actress admitted, "but I wasn't a writer."
When Rosie asked EBR if she spoke up to TPTB at Arrow at the time, she said, "I did, but I think I'd be better at it now, I'd be clearer now" about her issues/wants.
Later in the pod, Rosenbaum, as is required asked, Rickards if she'd want to play Felicity again were Arrow were to ever be revived in some way.
"Probably, yeah," she answered. "I want to give Felicity her flowers, to be honest.
"There are things that I wish that Felicity stood up for more," Rickards explained. "I love Felicity [so] I'm not doing it for Arrow or really the fans. I'd be doing it for Felicity. And then everybody else gets it just as a side effect!"
Felicity was largely MIA for Arrow's eighth and final season, but Rickards returned for the series finale, at the end of which her character in the year 2040 reunited with late husband Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) in a "paradise dimension."
Rickards is currently out promoting Queen of the Ring, a recently released biographical sports drama in which she stars as female professional wrestler Mildred Burke.