Willa Holland’s Exit From Arrow Had Nothing To Do With Stephen Amell — Here’s The Real Reason

Willa Holland leaving Arrow always felt abrupt on screen, but the truth is a lot less messy than the rumor mill would like. Thea Queen exits in Season 6, Episode 16, 'The Thanatos Guild' — a rare happy ending on a show that usually solves problems with funerals — and that move had been in the cards for years. Also important: it wasn’t about Stephen Amell or any off-set drama. This one was planned, clean, and by Willa’s choice.

Willa’s exit wasn’t sudden — it was scheduled

Showrunner Marc Guggenheim told TV Line that Willa had been open about wanting to scale back and eventually step away, and that they built toward that reality starting back in Season 4. By the start of Season 6, the plan was confirmed on both sides.

'Willa had expressed a desire to reduce her episodic commitment to the show... it was likely that she wouldn’t want to renew her contract past Season 6... We revisited it with Willa at the beginning of Season 6, and she indicated that she hadn’t changed her mind, that she was still interested in moving on.'

So Thea gets to ride off with Roy, which is basically a fairy tale by Arrow standards. A lot of characters on this show got the opposite.

Arrow’s revolving door: who left, why, and who came back

Arrow churned through big exits, surprise returns, and alternate-universe do-overs like few other network dramas:

- Colin Donnell (Tommy Merlyn) was the first major departure, dying in the Season 1 finale as a story choice. He popped back in later for guest spots, and when the series was wrapping in 2019 he publicly thanked the Arrow family — especially Amell — for the run.

- Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance/Black Canary) found out only days before her character’s Season 4 death and has been very candid about being blindsided and upset. She later returned as an alternate version of Laurel because, well, this show loved a resurrection loophole.

- Colton Haynes (Roy Harper) stepped away for personal reasons and later returned in a recurring capacity.

- Paul Blackthorne (Quentin Lance) was killed at the end of Season 6 as part of the story. He then jumped to NBC’s spectral crime drama The InBetween, playing Detective Tom Hackett.

- Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak) chose to leave in Season 7 to do theater in New York for a while. The show wrote Felicity out to raise her and Oliver’s daughter in isolation — and brought her back for the finale to give the series a proper emotional landing.

So where did Willa go next?

She kept things low-key for a bit, then lined up a couple of projects that make sense if you’ve been craving more of her on screen. Highlights since Arrow:

• The Dirty South (feature film, released Nov 10, 2023) — Willa leads as Sue Parker, a determined young woman trying to save her family’s failing business after years of her dad dropping the ball. She called the shoot an intense whirlwind — 15 days, fast and focused — and talked about keeping Sue grounded and driven, especially in the way she protects her little brother. Genre-wise it’s a gritty, modern-day bayou western/crime thriller. Current scores: IMDb 5.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes 88%.
• Based on a True Story (TV, 2024) — She does a quick guest turn as 'Stepmother' in the episode 'Based on a Drew Story.' Small role, but a nice reminder she can slip into different tones and still feel authentic. Current scores: IMDb 7.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes 78%.
• The Mortuary Assistant (feature film, expected 2026) — Shudder acquired this adaptation of the popular horror game. Willa stars as Rebecca Owens, a newly minted mortuary science grad dealing with some seriously unfriendly supernatural entities at River Fields. The movie adds a new chapter to the game’s lore, expanding the mythology around the demonic forces at play. Director Jeremiah Kipp has praised Willa’s take on Rebecca for being both resourceful and vulnerable.
• Bonus for gamers: Willa continues to voice Aqua in the Kingdom Hearts series, a role she’s held since 2010.

Bottom line: Thea’s goodbye was one of the rare gentle exits in Arrow’s history, and it happened because Willa asked for it, years in advance. If you’ve been wondering what she’s been up to, it’s a mix of indie grit, horror cred, and some quick-hit TV — plus a steady gig in a beloved video game franchise. Not a bad post-Star City run.

Arrow is currently streaming on Netflix in the U.S.