Arrow Season 8: Emily Bett Rickards Announces Exit

Arrow Season 8 will be the swan song for the beloved long-running CW superhero show. Now it looks like Arrow is going to have to embark on its final episodes while missing a very big piece. 

Emily Bett Rickards, who plays Felicity Smoak, announced on Instagram Saturday that she will be leaving the show and not appearing in Arrow Season 8. 

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 of 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 Em Bett (@emilybett) on Mar 30, 2019 at 11:24am PDT

Rickards’s farewell poem is a love letter of sorts to both the characters and the fans. It does not, however, specify as to why she is leaving the show. 

Arrow executive producers Greg Berlanti and Beth Schwartz released a statement addressing the shocking exit. It reads:

“We’ve had the pleasure of working with Emily since Season 1 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 endeavors. She will always have a family at Arrow.

Rickards’s Felicity Smoak was part of a long and proud tradition of tertiary TV characters who forced themselves onto the main cast through sheer charm and pluck. The character, though having a comic book history dating back to 1984, was introduced as a guest star in the first season’s third episode. Felicity was an IT technician at Queen Consolidated who eventually became a a full-fledged member of Oliver Queen’s crime-fighting team. Rickards was made a series regular partway through season 1.

further reading: Crisis on Infinite Earths: What to Expect

Felicity’s departure makes Oliver Queen’s Arrow Season 8 mission a lot murkier. Oliver actor Stephen Amell took to Twitter to say goodbye to his onscreen better half with a screenshot of her first moment onscreen. 

pic.twitter.com/b9cLrQrnFJ

— Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell) March 30, 2019

Arrow Season 8 is set to air the show’s final 10 episodes this fall, shortly after a Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover with The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl.

Alec Bojalad is TV Editor at Den of Geek and TCA member. Read more of his stuff here. Follow him at his creatively-named Twitter handle @alecbojalad