Fans of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow are not eager to see the last of Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and Nora Darhk (Courtney Ford) this season, but it is what it is: the beloved characters will be moving on from their time on theWaverider soon. Besides the fact that Ray and Nora will be leaving, Routh and Ford will, too, something that is as heartbreaking to fans as losing the characters is. The writers are aware that, since Ray has been with the show since the beginning, fans who are five seasons in are going to miss him when he’s gone, and they worked to make sure the characters got a suitable sendoff.
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During a recent press event, ComicBook.com was among a small number of news outlets that had a chance to talk to writer Grainne Godfree about the change, and the challenges that it created.
“I think it was hard for everyone involved,” Godfree said. “I think we felt that their story was coming to a beautiful, natural end. The hardest thing, honestly, was, how do we have Ray Palmer say goodbye to Nate? Because as writers, we love their bromance so much.”
Godfree said that the sendoff actually felt especially personal, because some of the writers in the room — herself included — have been dealing with changes in their own lives and were able to use some of that emotional labor for Ray and Nora.
“I think a lot of us in the room were going through some transitions in our own life. I got married, I moved out of my sister’s. You understand that change is amazing,” Godfree explained. “I love my sister. It was so hard, but even the best changes, there is a bit of grief in them. I feel like we really tried to honor that in our goodbye….It was really tough. I’m just glad that they have a happy ending, as opposed to a tragic one.”
Fans will be pleased to learn that last bit — that Ray won’t get a sudden death or some equally terrible fate — and that presumably means that the character can occasionally pop back, or at least appear in the eventual series finale. And the fact that they got a happy ending likely means that Nora will get rid of the Fairy Godmother curse at some point, too.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following episodes of The Flash on The CW.
