Emily Bett Rickards Announces She Will Not Return For The Final Season Of ‘Arrow’

Fans were disappointed early this month when Stephen Amell announced that The CW’s ‘Arrow’ was ending after a shortened eighth season.  But now comes the shocking news that Emily Bett Rickards, who had played female lead Felicity Snow from the first episode will not be sticking around for those last remaining ten episodes.  Cast members past and present took to social media to thank the show’s loyal fans, but one person was noticeably silent– Rickards.

The star has broken her silence with a poem and photo collage on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

❤️🖤💛💕💜💙 The time has come to talk of many memes. Of bows and arrows and superheroes and Olicity and Queens And why TGA is so damn hot And yes, canaries need more scenes… But wait just one minute before we go and do all that For this makes me out of breath To have this not small chat Felicity and I are a very tight two But after one through seven we will be saying goodbye to you I thank you all for the time we’ve shared The elevators we have climbed The monsters we have faced and scared And The burgers we have dined I will keep her in my heart for always And I hope that you can too Because she would not be alive if it weren’t for all of you 💕 Love, Felicity and Me

A post shared by emilybett (@emilybett) on Mar 30, 2019 at 11:24am PDT

Obviously, Rickards didn’t offer an explanation.  It was recently revealed that her character, Felicity is still alive in 2040.  Felicity and Oliver got married in Season 6, and it is known that they have a child, Mia, played in the future by Katherine McNamara.

Executive producers Greg Berlanti and Beth Schwartz offered this statement:

“We’ve had the pleasure of working with Emily since season one and in those past seven years she has brought one of TV’s most beloved characters to life. And although we’re heartbroken to see both Emily and Felicity leave the show, we’re completely supportive of Emily and her future endeavours. She will always have a family at Arrow.”

Executive producer Marc Guggenheim released his own poem dedicated to Rickards via Twitter:

Two can play at this game… pic.twitter.com/DIBLZsZUX8

— Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) March 31, 2019

It seems strange that Rickards would leave so close to the show’s end, with only ten new episodes on their way.  Maybe more information will surface.  Or does the reason really matter?

Are you upset that Rickards is exiting ‘Arrow’?

Source: Entertainment Weekly