It was the virtual con Q&A session heard ‘round the world—or at least, around the Legends of Tomorrow fandom. For fans of The CW’s most unhinged superhero series, 2021 has been a year of radio silence, continuing the painfully long stretch of time since we’ve been treated to a new episode, which was all the way back in June of 2020. Shows like Batwoman and the newly minted Superman and Lois have aired in the meantime, but by the time the season 6 opener airs on May 2, we will have gone nearly an entire year without new Legends content—that is, until actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers dropped a major bombshell during a recent virtual Q&A: Zarlie was almost canon.
Wait, what? For those who haven’t watched the show in a while or need a quick refresher, “Zarlie” is the ship name for Zari Tomaz (Tala Ashe), the totem-wielding superhero with air powers, and Charlie/Clotho (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), the shapeshifting troublemaker/secret goddess of the fates (yeah, it’s a lot, I know). Fans of the show first latched onto Zarlie when the characters met (and immediately butted heads) back in season four, where Charlie was first introduced. Zari’s dry humor and no-nonsense attitude make her a perfect foil for the more punk-rock and outspoken Charlie, and combined with Charlie’s penchant for shameless flirtation, it seemed like a ship made in fandom heaven.
Apparently, according to Richardson-Sellers, the writers thought so, too. At a virtual GalaxyCon Legends of Tomorrow panel last week, she revealed that the show had written and shot a Zarlie kiss that would’ve happened at the end of the season four finale, “Hey, World!” She went on to explain how much she had hoped the relationship would become canon, and that the kiss scene would’ve been included in the final cut of the episode—but that it was eventually cut before making it to air.
Now, on most other shows, the “Zarlie” ship would stay just that—a ship, made up by fans and remaining squarely in the realm of “things we wish would happen but that the writers would never be brave enough to do.” However, the ship’s potential to become canon was stronger because of Legends’ reputation for being one of the queerest shows on TV—at least five of the show’s main characters are out and proud, and the most prominent canon romantic relationship is between a bisexual woman and a lesbian. So, it’s not at all out of the question that the writers might pair up any two members of the Waverider’s crew.
Then, there’s The CW’s … shall we say … interesting relationship with avid fanbases and popular ships—Supernatural is notorious for consistently playing into the whims of the fandom, and an argument could be made that Olicity on Arrow really only became canon after the writers noticed the fan response to Oliver and Felicity’s chemistry. In short, all the pieces are there for Legends to have already made ‘Zarlie” canon—so why didn’t they?
Following the clip of Richardson-Sellers’ reveal going viral across the fandom, she took to Twitter to further address the would-be kiss, tweeting: “team #Zarlie, know that the kiss was cut solely because it changed the needed tone of an emotional scene. Everyone wanted to keep it, but Legends is only the magical show it is because of trusting our instincts with hard decisions like this. love you all (and Zarlie).”
But fans took the reveal and ran with it, already coming up with all sorts of theories and questions surrounding the circumstances of the kiss—including which Zari Charlie had kissed (after all, in season five, Zari is replaced by a vapid social-media obsessed influencer who has a different but no less tangible chemistry with Charlie). Legends executive producer Keto Shimizu also took to Twitter to explain the decision behind cutting the kiss, as well as clarifying which version of Zari it was: “Zari 1.0. It was a goodbye kiss, Charlie knowing she would never see Z again, and deciding to take that leap before Z had to go back into the totem.”
It’s easy to picture the scene—a wistful goodbye kiss, giving fans a glimpse of the spectacular relationship that could’ve been, moments before the original Zari was lost in the totem. But then again, within the context of the episode, one has to wonder how Nate (Zari’s boyfriend) might’ve felt about Charlie making a move on his girlfriend just moments before she’s lost forever. That would’ve been awkward going into season five, to say the least.
Would it have been amazing to see a canon queer relationship between to women of color on a major network television show? Of course, but as Maisie Richardson-Sellers herself said in the Q&A, there will always be some parallel world out there where Zari Tomaz and Charlie are living happily ever after in wedded bliss. And though it’s little consolation next to seeing the scene become canon in the episode, according to the writers’ room on Twitter, fans may at least get to see the moment for themselves after all:
Release the #Zarlie Scene Update: calls are being made, things are being run up flagpoles. In short: we see you, we hear you and we will keep you posted, so watch this space.
(featured image: The CW)
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