Arrow's Emily Bett Rickards on Felicity's surprising decision

Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Wednesday’s episode of Arrow. Read at your own risk!

Olicity fans, take a deep breath.

After Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) kidnapped William during Wednesday’s episode of Arrow, Oliver (Stephen Amell) was finally forced to reveal to Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) that he had a son. Despite Samantha (Anna Hopkins) explaining that she was to blame for Oliver choosing a relationship with his son over Felicity, Team Arrow’s go-to IT gal decided it was high time to take a breather from Oliver, whom she says is incapable of fully letting her in.

Still, Rickards has hope this isn’t the end for Oliver and Felicity — and given that recent wedding photo, that seems rather obvious. “I think they are each other’s soulmates,” Rickards says. “I don’t think it’s that easy to let go of someone that you have shared such a deep connection with, even if they were hiding things from you. She might be able to take off the ring, but I don’t know if she can lose the intertwined connection of her heart, so we’ll see.”

Felicity removing her ring isn’t necessarily a huge surprise since a recent flash forward showed that particular piece of jewelry missing from her finger. The how of it all was the real question. “It really is the first step toward giving up that promise,” Rickards says of Oliver not telling Felicity the truth in the first place. “It hits her so hard, and she feels like she’s been blindsided. That only ignites the taking off of the ring. There have been so many big life changes for her recently, especially because she can’t use her legs. That on top of your partner keeping a big secret from you, there’s just so much going on for her that once she hears that, she just needs space and time, and discards of the promise that’s been wrapped around her finger.”

However, the close of the episode was bittersweet as Felicity discovered she could walk again. “We really did want her to be able to walk again and start a second new chapter, especially with her taking off her ring,” Rickards says. (More details on that chapter and what that means for her role on Team Arrow here.)

The new chapter, Rickards adds, isn’t necessarily born out of revenge for what Darhk did to her, but “out of respect for whoever is in the grave,” she says cryptically. “It’s not necessarily revenge as it is trying to prevent danger and death in the future.”

Arrow returns Wednesday, March 23 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.