DC’s Legends of Tomorrow fans were stunned when series stars Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford both exited the Arrowverse series, and it was an exit that wasn’t exactly easy for Routh either. The actor has been honest that both he and real-life wife Ford didn’t want to exit The CW series. However, the goodbye has ended up not being entirely permanent. Routh returned as Ray Palmer/The Atom both for Legends‘ 100th episode last fall and appeared in The Flash‘s “Armageddon” event as well. Now, Routh is opening up about why he and Ford chose to return, and it comes down to the fans.
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In an appearance on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast (via SYFY), Routh spoke about his exit from Legends and why he chose to return, saying that he and Ford have been working to “make lemonade out of lemons”.
“You know, people make decisions, right? Sometimes people make good decisions and sometimes people make bad decisions, right? Bad decisions happen all the time,” Routh said. “And sometimes they affect us negatively and we can choose to be upset with that for the rest of our lives or we can work to come to terms with it, I guess, and to find, as they say, [how to] make lemonade out of lemons. And that’s what I’ve been working on doing, and I think I speak for Courtney in saying the same thing.”
He continued, “And knowing, meanwhile, by fan reaction and the love we’ve gotten over the last couple years, that even though one person made this decision, that it was a bad decision nobody supports. Nobody has supported that decision and so that’s one reason why… one of the reasons why we said yes to coming back. Because we knew that the fans would appreciate it and also, we made sure that in coming back that we were standing on our own worth and made our own requests to make sure that we felt like we were being respected, and that happened this time around. So, we were happy to be a part of it and also to get an opportunity to work again with Wentworth [Miller} and Victor [Garber] and Falk [Hentschel].”
Routh also told ComicBook.com that reprising his role on The Flash was fun — and he was especially glad that the Atom suit still fit.
“Being able to come back was just fun. It was nice. And the suit still fit!” Routh said. “That was good, after two years of maybe not working out so much during the pandemic, and eating too much of Courtney’s delicious, gluten-free baking. We made it work. It was nice to be back in the suit and to be part of Team Flash.”
Were you glad that Routh returned to the Arrowverse for Legends‘ 100th episode and for The Flash‘s “Armageddon” event? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
