Legends of Tomorrow Showrunners Reveals Why Two Main Characters Are Leaving

Legends of Tomorrow is currently in the middle of its fifth season, and the beloved Arrowverse series is going through some changes. Most notably, it will be losing two fan-favorite characters in the immediate future, when Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) and Nora Darhk (Courtney Ford) depart the show. While their exits were first confirmed last summer, we now know that the characters will bid their farewell (for now) in the upcoming episode “Romeo v Juliet: Dawn of Justness”. Although Routh and Ford’s exits are definitely bittersweet for Legends fans, it sounds like there will be a good narrative reason for it. In a new interview with GameSpot, co-showrunners Phil Klemmer and Keto Shimizu explained what brings about Ray and Nora’s next chapter.

“We’ve always imagined that time on the Waverider was meant to be finite, you know? It was always meant to be halfway home and not a permanent home and that once you’ve repaired whatever damage you had when you boarded the ship that you probably should make room for another damaged soul,” Klemmer explained. “It’s like real life, as well. You know, you have your single friends but when you get into relationships–sorry to break the news to all the people in young relationships who think that life is never gonna change, but it does. There’s no way of going through a threshold in life and carrying everything that you had before. You have to forfeit something. And that’s the pain and beauty of life.”

“We like to tell what are more realistic stories, which is that people come together for a time when they need each other and then when they don’t need each other anymore, they kind of grow apart,” Shimizu echoed. “And that is definitely the story we’re trying to tell with Ray and Nora. And we think it’s the way that we build up to their departure. I think it’s very loving. It comes from our love of these characters. And it comes from us wanting that story to come to the most satisfying close that we can, both for us as writers, for the actors, and for we hope the audience.”

Are you sad to see Ray and Nora leave Legends of Tomorrow? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.