Arrow Star Says No One Wants To Make Season 8 Without Emily Bett Rickards

Shortly following the news that Arrow was ending after its eighth season, Emily Bett Rickards revealed that she was leaving the show just before it comes to a close, with the season 7 finale seeing her bowing out of the regular cast. Sure enough, the recent conclusion to the penultimate run of The CW’s DC TV series wrote out Felicity Smoak in an emotional way. Fans aren’t ready for an Arrow without her, though, and neither it seems are the cast.

David Ramsey spoke to Digital Spy recently and opened up about how hard it is to say goodbye to Rickards who, along with himself and Stephen Amell, has been part of the series since the very beginning. In fact, he went as far as to say that “no one” is looking forward to making the final season without her around. However, the exciting plans for how Arrow will wrap up are enough to get everyone on board.

“We go back and Emily’s not a part of it. That’s a big thing. Y’know, no one really wants to do that show. [But] Stephen and I both had conversations with the producers, telling us exactly what they want to do with the next season and it really is… it’s exciting. I don’t know how they’re gonna do it, but whatever you think could happen, it’s probably something else.”

The end of Arrow‘s season 7 finale, “You Have Saved This City,” teased a much-changed final season and what’s to come in the big “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover. If you’ll recall, the Monitor came and snatched Oliver Queen away into the Multiverse, after warning that the incoming Crisis would spell the Emerald Archer’s death.

Sure enough, a flash-forward to 30 years in the future showed Felicity with her children standing by Oliver’s grave. The Monitor then showed up, promising to reunite her with her long-lost husband. The last we saw of Felicity she was stepping through a dimensional portal.

It’s hard to say how things will progress from here in Arrow‘s 10-episode eighth season, but hopefully there’ll be at least one last cameo from Emily Bett Rickards to add a coda to Felicity’s storyline.