Brandon Routh Talks Legends of Tomorrow Exit

Brandon Routh recently ended his six-year run in the Arrowverse with Legend of Tomorrow’s most recent episode, “Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness”. EW had the chance to talk with Routh and Courtney Ford about their emotional exits from the series. The long-time Arrowverse actor pointed out a line in his last episode, “Endings are necessary for growth no matter how painful they may be”, and how impactful the line was to him because it wasn’t his choice to leave the series:

“I love the writers of the final episode. Our writers are fantastic. I know that they thought they were helping with the wedding, and for the fans, I’m glad it puts good closure, but for us, it was pouring salt on the wound, I guess. So that line, I ultimately came to a place where I could speak it truthfully, and it was a lot of internal work to make it truthful.”

Brandon Routh also reflected on missing his castmates:

“I think most actors would probably say a similar thing. It’s being on set, being with your friends that you’ve spent so much time with, and family. It’s nice to have a break for a little while but then you’d miss that daily routine of hanging out with your friends and seeing the people you spent so much time with, and just the creativity of bringing the characters to life.”

“Romeo V. Juliet: Dawn of Justness” was the final episode for Routh’s wife Courtney Ford as well. Ford played Nora Dahrk for three seasons on Legends of Tomorrow. Ford was ecstatic about her time as Nora and the character’s journey:

“I’m overwhelmed from the positive response from the fans who resonated with her as much as I resonated with her. I’ll miss representing a trauma survivor in this way. I’ll miss the fun stuff, like having powers. Every single time I got to do any telekinesis or fairy godmother powers, my inner child jumped for joy. I’ll miss my Legends family and the cast and crew up in Vancouver. We lived up there for quite some time and our son was in school up there, and it was very much one of the most impactful experiences of my life. So, I think I’ll miss everything!”

It seems that Brandon Routh has some mixed feelings on his Arrowverse exit, which is understandable considering that his abrupt exit was a creative decision on the part of the writers. He spoke with Michael Rosenbaum on the latter’s Inside of You podcast a few weeks ago about his abrupt exit. According to Routh, he was told about the decision just before Legends of Tomorrow season 5 began filming:

“It was before we started production, but it was not well-handled, and so that has been something my wife and I are both still working through. It’s been a huge transition time for us these last eight, nine, ten months. So going, how was I going to find the joy in that, knowing this thing was looming? But I worked to just be with the crew that had become my family and my cast that had become my family and experience that, and just be there in the interactions with the people.”

Legends of Tomorrow is currently in its fifth season on The CW. The next episode, titled “Zari, Not Zari”, will air on April 7th.

Did you like Ray’s final episode or did you think it felt forced? How are you liking this season of Legends? Let us know in the comments below!