Here are several postmortem interviews with Arrow EP Andrew Kreisberg about Wednesday's episode. Although the interviews might look similar, one might contain information that the other doesn't.
Note: big SPOILERS ahead!!
Knowing that there was no way they could all survive this ordeal, Moira made the ultimate sacrifice and offered herself up. "It was only going to be powerful if Slade really changed the game by doing something truly monstrous," executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told reporters after a screening of the fateful episode. "Her death... has a profound impact on everyone on the series. It's certainly what's going to drive Oliver in these last three episodes, and it's going to drive Thea, not only in these last three episodes, but also into [Season] 3."
Though Kreisberg says the decision to kill Moira was difficult, it was born out of the notion that her secrets were her downfall. After hiding the truth about the Undertaking in Season 1 and the fact hat Thea is Malcolm Merlyn's (John Barrowman) daughter, there was only so much more she could keep concealed before the show started to feel like a soap opera.
Though Kreisberg says the decision to kill Moira was difficult, it was born out of the notion that her secrets were her downfall. After hiding the truth about the Undertaking in Season 1 and the fact hat Thea is Malcolm Merlyn's (John Barrowman) daughter, there was only so much more she could keep concealed before the show started to feel like a soap opera.
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"It wasn't something we were talking about last year. I don't want to give the impression that [it was like] 'Welp! Somebody has to die, let's spin the wheel. And, bad luck Moira,' " he further explained. "Susanna has been with the show since the beginning and she was one of our big gets early on that really signaled to the audience and to reviewers that this wasn't your average CW show, it wasn't your average superhero show. Like with Colin Donnell [whose character Tommy died in the season-one finale], these last episodes are her pinnacle."
At the end of the day, the decision came down to the finite number of directions Moira's story could go. From the producers' perspectives, it seemed they had exhausted nearly all their options. After all, Moira was a part of the Undertaking, went to jail as punishment, ran for Starling City mayor, kept the identity of Thea's biological father a secret and knew of Oliver's Arrow life. That's just the half of it. "When we were talking about the future, knowing that it was only going to be powerful if Slade was going to change the game by doing something truly monstrous -- if Moira wins the mayorship, if she makes up with her kids, what is Moira without a giant secret?" Kreisberg said. "If they all forgive her and then there's some other giant secret, for us it felt like we were becoming a soap opera."
At the end of the day, the decision came down to the finite number of directions Moira's story could go. From the producers' perspectives, it seemed they had exhausted nearly all their options. After all, Moira was a part of the Undertaking, went to jail as punishment, ran for Starling City mayor, kept the identity of Thea's biological father a secret and knew of Oliver's Arrow life. That's just the half of it. "When we were talking about the future, knowing that it was only going to be powerful if Slade was going to change the game by doing something truly monstrous -- if Moira wins the mayorship, if she makes up with her kids, what is Moira without a giant secret?" Kreisberg said. "If they all forgive her and then there's some other giant secret, for us it felt like we were becoming a soap opera."
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Saying farewell to actress Susanna Thompson, however, was a difficult decision. “Susanna has been with the show since the beginning and she was one of our big [casting] gets early on that really signaled to the audience and to reviewers that this wasn’t your average CW show,” he says. “And like with Colin Donnell [whose character was killed off in the season 1 finale], these last few episodes were her pinnacle. This is as good as anything that’s on television, and unfortunately, because of the kind of show it is, probably won’t be recognized as such.”
The big — and heartbreaking — death wasn’t the only big development in the episode, though. Below, Kreisberg dishes on the Queen love child lurking about and what’s next for the gang.
On Oliver’s baby:
In the episode, we learned that Oliver had fathered a child with a woman, who was later paid off by Moira. And while Kreisberg says that there’s “no character name” for Oliver’s baby, it is something they plan to revisit…eventually. “You know, I think like we did in season 1, the seeds for season 2 were planted in season one,” he says. “The best part of the success that the show has had was knowing we were going to be able to make more and knowing that we could drop these things in and pay them off later….This is something that will be paid off in season 3.”
The big — and heartbreaking — death wasn’t the only big development in the episode, though. Below, Kreisberg dishes on the Queen love child lurking about and what’s next for the gang.
On Oliver’s baby:
In the episode, we learned that Oliver had fathered a child with a woman, who was later paid off by Moira. And while Kreisberg says that there’s “no character name” for Oliver’s baby, it is something they plan to revisit…eventually. “You know, I think like we did in season 1, the seeds for season 2 were planted in season one,” he says. “The best part of the success that the show has had was knowing we were going to be able to make more and knowing that we could drop these things in and pay them off later….This is something that will be paid off in season 3.”
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