Before Arrow let fly with Season 5, showrunner Marc Guggenheim teased “big things” for Emily Bett Rickards’ Felicity in the back half of the season. Now, in the wake of the fall finale’s tragic twist, we can shed more light on her “dark” destination.

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Before the superhero series entered its seven-week hiatus, Oliver (played by Stephen Amell) gave chase to and put several arrows into a costumed someone he was led to believe was new nemesis Prometheus. But once the target’s mask was removed, Oliver discovered he had been duped into slaying ex-fiancee Felicity’s new beau, SCPD Detective Billy Malone (guest star Tyler Ritter).

As the hour came to close, Oliver recounted for Susan Williams (Carly Pope) how someone from his past had suggested that he ruins the lives of everyone he comes in contact with, while a montage of sorrowful images included a sobbing Felicity, a news report on Billy’s death at her side.

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Moving forward, when the series returns on Jan. 25, “One thing Felicity is not going to do, I can tell you for sure, is blame Oliver. She recognizes the manipulations that have led to this situation,” showrunner Wendy Mericle, who co-wrote the midseason finale, told TVLine as part of our in-depth 2017 Preview Q&A. “Her heart is broken in that last moment for Oliver and for Malone and for herself.”

Rather, when it comes to directing her anger, “Felicity has set her sights on Prometheus,” Mericle makes clear. “This season we have said we’re going to take her to a darker place, and you’re seeing the genesis of the reason why, right here.”

To that highly, dangerously ambitious end, Felicity “is going to meet some people who are both a bit tied to her past but also very much tied to this new future she’s contemplating,” Mericle teases, “and that’s going to draw her away from the team and lead her to do some things that are pretty morally questionable.”

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Surveying this long-planned shift for Team Arrow’s heretofore reliably sunny, quippy Overwatch, Mericle says, “It’s a color for Felicity that we’ve always known she had the potential for, but we never had the right story to play. We’re excited about it.”

What sort of “morally questionable” enterprises do you think Felicity will delve into, to avenge Billy’s death and those it profoundly affected?

Want more scoop on Arrow, or for any other show? Email insideline@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

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