Please be aware there are spoilers through Arrow's Season 5 fall finale.
Arrow has been rough on our dear Felicity Smoak over the years. Emily Bett Rickards' tech genius turned right-hand-man of the Star City vigilantes has been through the ringer over the years thanks to a paralyzing gunshot wound, her twisted family affairs, and a number of ill-fated loves, not to mention the tragic events at Havenrock. But it looks like the sad twist at the end of the Season 5 fall finale was the last straw.
Just before the show's hiatus, Oliver (Stephen Amell) was duped by Prometheus into killing Felicity’s new boyfriend, SCPD Detective Billy Malone (Tyler Ritter) and when the series returns later this month, we're going to see Felicity taking a darker turn in her pursuit to bring down the real Prometheus -- a mission that will find her tied up with some unexpected allies.
While Team Arrow is keeping Felicity's new alliance under wraps for now, we do know it's not the person you might be guessing -- her dad. We learned back in Season 4 that Felicity's pa is the villainous hacker The Calculator (Tom Amandes), but catching up with Arrow EP Marc Guggenheim at The CW's TCA presentation, he made it clear that wherever Ms. Smoak turns for help, she won't be keeping it in the family.
"We talked about that. We love Tom Amandes and we love that character, but there was a real appetite on my part and Wendy [Mericle]'s part -- we had done her dad last year and we'd definitely love to bring him back and we'd love to bring back Charlotte as Donna, but we were kind of craving new characters. We were craving a new story, something we haven't done before."
However, even if she's not turning to her family roots, Guggenheim says Felicity's turn will tie into the Season 5 theme of legacy, and it's probably not going to be what you expect.
As with all things Arrow, it's not initially what you think it is and it will ultimately relate to the overall season theme of legacy, but in this case something very specific to Felicity.
Image via The CW[/caption]
Just how dark is Felicity going to get? If you love the character for her levity, don't get too worried, Guggenheim promised they only planned to take it to a place that's "appropriate for the character."
This is something I was talking to the writers about in the writers' room -- Felicity is a wonderful character because she brings some light into the show. So it's a darker -- it's an edgier story for Felicity, but at the same time, it's still Felicity. You want to keep the character.And while Billy's tragic demise is obviously a heavy weight on Felicity's heart, her new arc is the sum of all the hardships she's experienced over the years, especially Havenrock, which Guggenheim says is "is a big component" they'll be addressing again in episode 5.11.
It's the sum of a bunch of stuff, and Billy was sort of the final straw. It's also the sum of the fact that Felicity's been living in this darker world for the last four-plus years now and one of the things we're exploring is how much what Oliver and Diggle and Roy and Laurel have been doing as vigilantes affected her and affected her way of thinking about things.We'll find out just how dark Felicity is willing to go when Arrow returns to The CW on Wednesday, January 25th.
