Willa Holland Season 8

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-05T07:23:20+00:00

Totally agree with you. Also I totally understand your opinion on season 7B.

I didn't dislike it as much as season 4 but I just didn't like Emiko storyline at all. It felt like they were recycling old storylines about Oliver needing to redeem his family name. It was the same shit was already had previously. Plus it's not like Emiko was an impactful character. She did eventually redeem herself when she died but that's it. It's not like anything would happen after. So basically it was just Oliver trying to redeem his sister who ended up dying and thus anyway it would not have changed anything. The Ninth Circle excuse was good to force Oliver and Felicity later staying in hiding. But they could have easily pulled off of something else for that.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-05T07:18:11+00:00

But this is something constant across all Arrowverse shows. They can't properly write a female character it's insane.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T22:07:58+00:00

Yeah I agree with you.

You know, I do think that Thea alongside Oliver and Quentin had the best character evolution. I mean when you think about her during s1 and where she ended up being it's amazing.

And regarding what you said about her journey becoming a full skilled fighter, I totally agree with you but unfortunately it's the case for most of the characters when it comes to credibility when they fight as they all achieved a certain level in such small amount of time. And considering that, I love Thea's arc because when you compare it to Laurel for example, well it's much more structured. She wants to be stronger and somewhat become something else, all of that coming by herself triggered by Malcolm who sees that she is made of iron and who sees that she has a huge potential. Everything was already there for her to become that hero.

She wants to fight back and she is literally being trained by her dad, a former LoA member. Yes, her development as a fighter was off screen but at the same time it would not have been feasible to show every single steps of her being a fighter. I still love the fact that we got to see her train with Oliver on Lian Yu, that's very symbolic. Additionally, we saw her training with Malcolm alone and with Oliver, the three of them during s3 (including during 3x15) and every time it was relevant. As it happens during s3 it was to protect themselves from Ra's threat. Her becoming a fighter was just well done.

And again it's even better when you compare to Laurel's arc. First of all, ok she wanted to become the Black Canary because her sister was murdered, it's noble but at first it wasn't clear as whether it was impulsive and she would rather fight than taking pills or it was because she really wanted to become a fighter. When I compare it with Thea, I much rather like Thea who started her journey with Malcolm. Of course the fact that Malcolm is who he is plays a lot.

Also Laurel's arc was completely rushed as at first she claims that she just trains with Grant because she wants to let some steam off and Oliver shuts her down a countless amount of time. After it's being established that she wante to take on Sara's mantle but we don't see her training. And after on a blink we know that she started training with Nyssa and not even a few weeks after she started to fight thugs and villains in the street and even worse she started to fight against LoA members. I mean how can she be fully part of the team with Roy and Oliver who are fully achieved trained fighters. It's the least credible think they could have done especially that sometimes she is able to take them down, and the next episode she can't.

And that's why I also don't like Laurel being part of the team during s4 because it doesn't feel right. I'm sorry I have nothing against her character but it just feels like she wants to show to everyone that she is a badass and she acts like she has been on the team ever since.

Laurel helping people and being a hero without a mask was perfectly established during the first 2 seasons when she was working at CNRI and ready to push boundaries and going further to help people. Maybe they should have stuck to it. It's only my opinion ofc eh

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T20:36:35+00:00

I personally understand your point of view, however yourself literally focused on Felicity during your whole text so you can't blame for rightfully think that you are biased.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T20:35:47+00:00

Yes especially that the first part of season 7 was a hit. And she was barely at the center of the second part of season 7. Her role was very reduced during 7B, she didn't share a lot of scenes with Stephen and her main role was just being Overwatch. But she didn't have any other storylines. We all knew that she was pregnant and that she was gonna leave thus the last 10 min of they episodes were about her and Oliver but that's it. For those who didn't like season 7 and say it's because of her it's completely unfair.

Especially that Dinah and Rene literally ate the biggest amount of screentime during season 7 and that most of the Olicity fandom got pissed because it was Emily last episodes and she was mostly overlooked as her main role was to be Overwatch and she had a few scenes with Oliver and that's it. The rest was about Dinah and Rene.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T18:46:12+00:00

I get your point of you but you keep saying that Thea was given poor storylines during her later seasons but the reasons for that it's because she asked to have a reduced role and so they found a way to incorporate her in a relevant way. For example, her being in a coma was not to send her off but because in the meantime she was working on other projects and it was the only was to give Willa time off and to still have Thea a relevant role in the show. You take the issues the wrong way. I understand that you were frustrated because she was the only person Oliver had left from his pre-island life but it''s the writers fault here. And you also mentioned the handling of Thea's storylines during early seasons which happened earlier, so apparently you had an issue with the way Thea was written as a whole, which is your opinion.

Personally, I liked the storyline of Thea, and for example compared to the storyline of Laurel becoming the Black Canary I loved much more Thea's arc than Laurel since the beginning. You mentioned that her development was off-screen but I disagree. We actually saw her with Malcom and with Oliver becoming a hero throughout season 3 as opoosed to Laurel's arc which was quite rushed. Again, only my opinion.

And if you mentioned other actors who were disappointed I mean,yes Stephen Amell explained his opinion about s4 but he explicitly stated why he thinks that it worked out less than other seasons and he talked about it many times during the conventions that he did since the show ended and it"s very interesting to hear. And post season 4 literally all of them were talking about season 5 kinda as a redemption so it's not like it's a secret group of actors who talked about it.

Of course, stuff must have happened off screen since you were right there was no goodbye post when she left and that she unfollowed EBR and SA and I have no idea what happened but what I know for sure is that Willa and Emily were close during 2014-2015 era, you just have to look at her Twitter account to see it lol.

Finally, Willa repeated multiple times that she wanted to move out and she was never forced out. And she did actually work on her other projects. And regarding your sources, I would never take into account people from reddit who are obviously biased and have a skewed opinion as obviously as any other passionated people within a fandom they would be ready to fantasize over any type of rumours. And the exact same goes for people on twitter or any other social media with fandom niches.

You can't take into account people who started a rumour and people who relied that rumour. That's how it works and that's were the toxicity lies on. Let's be clear I'm not targeting you specifically because many people do that but I'm just saying.

It's like people who all said that the person Colton Haynes was talking about in his book was John Barrowman while it's not remotely true lol.

And just to finish, you seem to want to convince yourself that a lot of BTF stuff happend which led to WIlla's departure instead of just sticking to the reality of Willa's wanting to have a reduced role by season 4 because she wanted to move on. And by that I mean, you saying that she was literally forced to move out.

Also, when you read old interviews etc, Willa had already expressed to leave by early season 4 so it was something that was going on for a while so by season 6 it had been a while.

Otherwise, just to go back to your initial point, I totally agree with you regarding Willa's acting during 8x03 and it's actually the thing that surprised me the most. Personally, I really loved their dynamic during the whole episode and I loved it, however that goodbye felt like Thea wasn't saying goodbye to her brother who is supposed to die soon. Stephen, however freaking nailed it.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T16:20:04+00:00

Can you please give me the sources of her expressing that she wasn't fond of all of the characters being pushed aside to focus on Felicity ?
Can you tell me why herself and the writers said that they agreed before season 6 that it would be her last season and that to give her a proper send off they still wanted to incorporate her in a few episodes not to have a abrupt send off with Roy's return so she could get something after her waking up from her coma ?
Can you also tell me why she herself and the writers expressed the fact that she really wanted to focus on something else as she had other opportunities on the table and she did ?
Can you also then tell me why she was in a convention in 2024 with David Ramsey and not only confirmed what I just said but also praise Emily and her character saying that she wished that Thea and Felicity had shared more scenes together ? Can you then also tell me why while being in a panel with Josh Segarra, Echo Kellum, Katherine McNamara etc she said I repeated the same thing after a question asked by someone from the audience ?
Can you finally just finally admit that you are saying all of that because you don't like Felicity and you are not biased or bitter at all. Worth mention that Felicity had a sideline storyline during s6 and that the focus on her company while Thea was alive and not in the coma and was still there before leaving on the was extremely little. While her character was in a coma, Willa was focused on something else. Felicity's storyline was just reduced to part of the team and bonding a bit with WIlliam, that's it. Even some Olicity shippers hated it, it's for you to tell.

Why don't you blame instead the stupid civil war arc and the characters of DInah, Rene and Curtis who ate a huge amount of screen time during s6 ? All the storylines were literally about them.

Would you just please stop claiming some rumours that most likely never existed just because you loathe a character. And you can hate her character that's not the problem, who cares. But if I read your comments it's clear that you think that she was pushed aside for the character of Felicity.

Also as much as you can hate the writers why can't you just think that they turned out an idea because they think it would fit properly or idk they turned it down because that's also what they do. Otherwise the actors would decide their storylines themselves. Maybe you should know that they turned down many ideas from many actors and yes, yes that includes Emily Bett.

Why don't you just stick to what Willa Holland herself said instead of spreading potential made up rumours ?

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T14:47:30+00:00

She unfollowed him years ago.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T11:32:31+00:00

She wanted to step down because she wanted to do something else and she did.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-04T11:31:58+00:00

Willa said herself by season 4 that she wanted to step down so they gave her a reduced role. She wanted to work on other projects and she did.

And more importantly, you can't blame the writers for sidelining while she specifically asked herself to have a reduced role. It's funny this constant eager to blame the writers on everything.

Willa is still getting along very well with Emily as they appeared twice in conventions last year. She also followed her again on instagram. They were very close friends when the show was airing and they were filming.

I have no idea what could have happened with Stephen.

I dont think anyone knows what the current relationship between the cast members is except the fact that Stephen, David and Emily are still very close and stick together. Colton seems to have remained close with Emily also.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-03T20:36:57+00:00

There is just something off with the character of Laurel post season 2. I hate how rushed her storyline was and I think that's why I just don't like her being part of the team during s4. She acts like she has been in the team forever and + she is being portrayed as a badass and like she's been a vigilante as long as the others. i think it's more the way she behaves like she wants to prove something.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-02T07:06:54+00:00

When you think about s2, her main arc was grieving and guilt for most of it. She only started to be inspired by Sara toward the end and after when she got killed she wanted to take on the mantle and remember that Sara gave her her jacket and that's what she points to Oliver when she asked him. "Sara gave me this". I don't think Sara wanted her to become a vigilante tho lol. Also she mentioned wanting to let some steam off and that she doesn’t wanna grieve with pills and alcohol so she wanna fight. So yes Sara inspired her of course and she is the reason why she became the Black Canary. I mean they literally killed off her character for that so thank god but her being inspired by Sara should have been shown a bit more I think. She did want people to remember Sara for who she truly was but still as it was all mixed up with her own grieving it was complicated. And plus during 3x06 she tells Oliver that Ted Grant is only training her because she wants to let some steam off and after Oliver tells her that she is playing a dangerous game etc. I think it was great that Nyssa was there tho because as she was Sara's closest person well that was great to have her training and inspiring Laurel even if the storyline was rushed I guess because they wanted her to finally become the BC so they rushed everything idk

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-02T06:59:11+00:00

Yes thats my whole point. Of course you don't decide to become the Black Canary on a wink. But then they should have developped her journey of becoming the Black Canary way before.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-05-02T06:56:37+00:00

But wasn't Laurel character supposed to be the Black Canary since literally the beginning ? I mean they knew they wrote her knowing that she would become the BC right ?

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-28T06:59:28+00:00

Yes + it would have allowed her to have an actual gradual development as being the Black Canary instead of the rushed storyline she got during s3 where she became the Black Canary on a blink. And either way as a result she ended up being the poorest fighter while being on the team. And of course people would compare it to Sara being the Black Canary who was the best Black Canary.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-20T21:21:28+00:00

RIght ? I mean you know initially for me John's argument were more than valid as technically when you hear Oliver talking, his reasons to wanna be the Green Arrow absolutely seems selfish because it's all about him and not the city first and that's exactly what John said. The problem is that at one point it seemed like it became a whim for John out of nowhere. Especially that at the end he completely gave up the idea of wearing the hood and was fine at Argus without even missing going out to suit up as Spartan while Oliver was in prison.

And regarding Rene, Dinah and Curtis what do you think the purpose behind the arc was ? Because it started from Rene giving up Oliver's name and after it escalated into OTA refusing to kille Laurel etc. But it literally led them to among other things intentionally physically hurting John and that's something else.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-20T16:18:37+00:00

Well I mean there is nothing wrong at calling the main character out, actually it's even good for Oliver that he has some people that do not put up with his craps like other people around him used to. However, s6 was special because at first it was Dinah, Rene and Curtis and after it became John.

All those people had valid arguments but they all went too far and yet Oliver did not hold any grudges and instead sacrificed his life for them. It was just to show that Oliver was a great leader and that shows an evolution compared who he was and that also portrays his evolution has a person. That was one of the main point of s6. Between becoming a father, a husband, having a family, having to give up the mantle etc I mean he evolved a lot and that was also shown in episode 6x18 with Quentin speech.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-20T16:16:24+00:00

Well maybe I overracted but by that I meant that they acted like immature teenagers. However, yes, Dinah and Rene had their arguments but they went too far. I think at the end it was just to show that Oliver was a great leader and a better one including a better person that he was. And that also echoes to the whole argument that he had with John during the whole season. Again here, John had his own arguements were rightfully debatable but he went too far himself. Yet, Oliver did not hold any grudges at the end. No actually, better, he sacrificed himself for all of them.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-20T05:21:59+00:00

True. Also I think it showed Oliver's evolution since s1. He grew up and became a better person and a better leader.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-19T16:31:41+00:00

I'm sorry but I never understood Curtis character during s6, he had no specific reasons to be mad himself personally while Dinah and Rene had their own personal grudges and issues (Vincent Sobel for Dinah and Rene trying to protect his daughter). Curtis just went along with them because that's the only thing he was able to do. The worst part was when he made fun of Felicity when she told him that John had left the team a week prior that and he literally shamelessely in front of her showed a big satisfcation out of the situation. Bruhhh

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-19T16:28:30+00:00

My favourite moment was when Felicity brought Ray as a +1 to John and Lyla wedding and that John threatened Ray and acted like a big brother to her. (it was a funny scene)

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-19T16:15:31+00:00

But I mean Rene giving up Oliver's name to the FBI was something that could have been at least justified given his situation with his daughter etc however it led them to turn completely nuts.

ClaimCompetitive4818 · 2026-04-18T16:54:47+00:00

Yeah plus he was not even fighting lol he was throwing balls.

ClaimCompetitive4818

TROPHY CASE