Warning: If you have not seen the season finale of Arrow and don’t want to know any details about it, please stop reading now! There are SPOILERS ahead for the entire episode!
The first season of Arrow wrapped up Wednesday evening and it left a lot of cliffhangers open for next season.
Among the shocking twists and turns of the season finale was the death of a major character. Tommy Merlin was killed helping to save Laurel from a collapsing building in the Glades.
As Oliver showed up to try and save his friend, Tommy passed away.
Producer Marc Guggenheim says that Tommy’s death was essential to the character arc for Oliver next season.
“It really had nothing to do with his trajectory as the Dark Archer. It really had to do with the fact that we wanted Oliver to suffer a loss at the end of the season,” says Guggenheim. “When we thought about the characters that he could lose who would have the biggest impact not just on Oliver, but on the show, Tommy was the name that rose to the top very quickly. Tommy’s death impacts pretty much every member of our cast. Obviously his death impacts Oliver and Laurel (Katie Cassidy), but there’s a closeness between Thea (Willa Holland) and Tommy that we’ve established on the show, Lance, obviously because of the connection that Laurel has with Tommy and Moira (Susanna Thompson) because of her responsibility with Tommy. He’s the one character whose death would have the biggest impact.”
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