Many fans were wondering if Arrow was positioning Felicity to become an Elsewords type version of Oracle, the second alter ego Barbara Gordon assumed after becoming paralyzed from the waist down after an attack by the Joker. Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim confronted the set photo leak head on by casually revealing on twitter that the episode would feature a hallucination scene. However, by the end of the episode, it was confirmed that Felicity is in danger of never walking again. Yet, there was one more revelation. In the closing minutes, the show jumped to the future again and showed Oliver Queen beside an undisclosed grave. We still don't know who it belongs to but Oliver Queen was shown to leave the grave, enter a limousine and sit down beside....Felicity. So there 's now indisputable proof that Felicity is not the Arrow character that dies this season. Could it be Diggle in the grave? Thea? Roy? Det. Lance? The Arrow showrunners promised that all will be revealed in due time.
In regards to Felicity, showrunner Wendy Mericle reaffirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Felicity was never going to become Oracle. "To echo my co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim, Oracle is still off the table. It was really never our intention to go that direction. We wanted to throw Felicity some big curve balls this season. And this seemed like an interesting way to go. We want to explore what her place is going to be on the team and her relationship with Oliver. It was less about trying to honor Oracle, which is obviously a great comic book character, and more about trying to playing the reality of this situation for her."
Does Oracle being off the table imply that there are other plans for the character in the DCEU? There's still a ton of mystery regarding Jena Malone's character in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. One popular theory is that she's playing Barbara Gordon but could it be the Oracle version of the character, not Batgirl?
Arrow returns with another new episode next Wednesday at 8/7c on The CW.