'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' star Brandon Routh unpacks his final episode
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Tuesday's DC's Legends of Tomorrow, titled "Romeo v Juliet: Dawn of Justness."
Those tears were definitely real.
Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford said goodbye to DC's Legends of Tomorrow in Tuesday's episode, which saw Ray and Nora leave the ship to start their new life together as husband and wife. Before departing the Waverider, Ray accompanied the Legends on one last mission to recover a piece of the Loom of Fate from William Shakespeare and decided not to tell Nate about his decision, though, because it's too hard. Of course, Nate finds out and is upset about being the last one to find out, and pushes Ray away; however, performing Romeo & Juliet (as Juliet, natch) helps Nate get over his hurt feelings, and he races back to the Waverider in time to share a tear-filled goodbye hug with his best friend.
When Routh first read the script, he immediately knew that scene was going to be hard to film from an acting standpoint; however, the scene ended up being even harder than expected because of a production issue.
"It’s acting, but it’s also very real from the both of us," Routh recently told EW. "The funny thing that happened is that we were having this weird camera glitch where the camera would just stop working. [One of the cameras] wouldn’t move. So, we’re shooting this very dramatic scene and we have one camera, so we had to do it so many more times than we should have to make it work. But thankfully, because we were so in it and invested and were really feeling the feelings of our characters, it came not easily, because it’s rough to cry that much and have that emotion come out, but we were there for each other, two buddies to the end. I hope that it’s impactful for the audience."
Routh admits that he also struggled with the pep talk Ray gives Shakespeare about endings — specifically Ray's line "Endings are necessary for growth no matter how painful they may be" — because it wasn't his choice to leave the show.
"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," he said. "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."
Looking back on his experience, Routh believes he'll miss the camaraderie with the cast, crew, and writers. "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," he said. "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."
In addition to missing the cast and crew, Ford recently told EW she'll also miss what Nora represented and getting to play a super-villain turned superhero.
"I’m overwhelmed from the positive response from the fans who resonated with her as much as I resonated with her," said Ford. "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!"
Ray and Nora definitely won't be forgotten.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
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