The CW

"It didn't start with, 'Oh we want one of the characters to come out. Which one should it be?'" executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told E! News. "It really came out of exploring Alex and finding out how we can go deeper with Alex this season, what makes her tick and what drives her. Why is she the person she is? It made sense for Alex, as opposed to this sort of mandate that we had to do this."

As Kreisberg explained, this revelation is going to allow for a happier, more fulfilled Alex—and that's a good thing. "I've always loved Alex as a character and part of that is there's always been this twinge of sadness about her, which I don't think I or anyone could ever quite put their finger on," he told us. "And this season, we're really getting at that. And the notion that Alex is going to be truer to herself and come out and be able to lead a full and complete and happy life, if you love Alex, then you love that this is happening for her because it means she's going to be happy in a way that she wasn't able to be before."