In the midseason finale of Arrow, Oliver Queen inadvertently murdered Felicity’s new boyfriend, Billy. Prometheus dressed the detective up in one of his costumes and tricked the Emerald Archer into delivering a killer blow which brought a tragic and swift end to his romance with Ollie’s old flame.
However, the show surprised us all by having Felicity instantly forgive the Green Arrow to instead focus on the man really responsible: Prometheus. That was a surprising move when most expected her to blame Oliver and walk out on the team, but while their relationship doesn’t look set to suffer, it sounds like big changes are still coming when Arrow returns next year.
Asked about how Felicity handles her boyfriend’s death, showrunner Wendy Mericle revealed that it will change the character’s outlook in a major way.
“One thing Felicity is not going to do, I can tell you for sure, is blame Oliver. She recognizes the manipulations that have led to this situation. Her heart is broken in that last moment for Oliver and for Malone and for herself. Felicity has set her sights on Prometheus. This season we have said we’re going to take her to a darker place, and you’re seeing the genesis of the reason why, right here.
[Felicity] is going to meet some people who are both a bit tied to her past but also very much tied to this new future she’s contemplating and that’s going to draw her away from the team and lead her to do some things that are pretty morally questionable.”
Where necessary, Felicity has actually encouraged Oliver to walk down a lawless path (him killing Damien Darhk in revenge for Laurel Lance’s murder, for example), and given her own past as a hacker, the fact that she’s no longer going to necessarily play by the rules probably shouldn’t come as too major a surprise.
Arrow returns to The CW on January 25th.
