Tommy was the one character who I absolutely wasn't worried for going into the finale -- so congratulations on totally shocking me.
Thank you! If Twitter is any indication, we managed to surprise a lot of people and that’s really hard to do in today’s day and age. It’s the internet and Andrew [Kreisberg] and I had both done a lot of pre-interviews and we had even spoiled the fact that someone would be dying and I’m really gratified that we were able to surprise people. It’s a very rare thing, so it’s been fun for me.
Is he really, 100 percent dead? No Lazarus Pits or "Buffy"-style misdirects where next season we'll open on a funeral and then he'll walk out completely fine?
The only thing I will say is what I said to Colin Donnell after he filmed his last scene, and that was, “I’m really glad this show does flashbacks.” But no, there will be no miraculous Lazarus Pit-like device. Poor Tommy’s gone, unfortunately.
How did you come to the decision that Tommy needed to be the one to make the ultimate sacrifice?
It was really hard. At the end of the day, it worked out for what we refer to as the creative map that, of all the characters, it’s Tommy’s death that impacts everybody. Obviously Oliver and Laurel the most, but even Thea [Willa Holland] because of their closeness and Moira [Susanna Thompson] because she’s now responsible for the death of Oliver’s best friend, and Lance [Paul Blackthorne], who knows that Laurel loves Tommy ... it’s the one character whose death impacts everybody. And that’s really what you’re looking to do. When you kill off a character, you’re closing off a variety of storylines because there’s no story to be told with that character, and the only reason to do it is to open up new storylines and more storylines by killing off a character than you have by keeping them alive. Tommy’s death will reverberate throughout the whole of Season 2, and there are even some things we have planned for the middle and end of Season 2 that would not be possible or wouldn’t have the same weight if Tommy had stayed alive.
Read full interview at HuffPost
Thank you! If Twitter is any indication, we managed to surprise a lot of people and that’s really hard to do in today’s day and age. It’s the internet and Andrew [Kreisberg] and I had both done a lot of pre-interviews and we had even spoiled the fact that someone would be dying and I’m really gratified that we were able to surprise people. It’s a very rare thing, so it’s been fun for me.
Is he really, 100 percent dead? No Lazarus Pits or "Buffy"-style misdirects where next season we'll open on a funeral and then he'll walk out completely fine?
The only thing I will say is what I said to Colin Donnell after he filmed his last scene, and that was, “I’m really glad this show does flashbacks.” But no, there will be no miraculous Lazarus Pit-like device. Poor Tommy’s gone, unfortunately.
How did you come to the decision that Tommy needed to be the one to make the ultimate sacrifice?
It was really hard. At the end of the day, it worked out for what we refer to as the creative map that, of all the characters, it’s Tommy’s death that impacts everybody. Obviously Oliver and Laurel the most, but even Thea [Willa Holland] because of their closeness and Moira [Susanna Thompson] because she’s now responsible for the death of Oliver’s best friend, and Lance [Paul Blackthorne], who knows that Laurel loves Tommy ... it’s the one character whose death impacts everybody. And that’s really what you’re looking to do. When you kill off a character, you’re closing off a variety of storylines because there’s no story to be told with that character, and the only reason to do it is to open up new storylines and more storylines by killing off a character than you have by keeping them alive. Tommy’s death will reverberate throughout the whole of Season 2, and there are even some things we have planned for the middle and end of Season 2 that would not be possible or wouldn’t have the same weight if Tommy had stayed alive.
Read full interview at HuffPost
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