Felicity EP Reveals the Real Story Behind Season 1’s Ben-Felicity-Noel Cliffhanger
When The WB’s Felicity closed out its first season, fans were left to wonder all summer about which love interest Keri Russell’s title character had chosen to pursue.
And the show’s writers, it turns out, were just as clueless as the audience regarding Felicity’s momentous decision between Ben Covington (Scott Speedman) and Noel Crane (Scott Foley).
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In a new episode of the retrospective podcast Dear Felicity (which features commentary from TVLine’s own Michael Ausiello), series creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, along with writer and executive producer Josh Reims, revealed that Felicity‘s writing staff had yet to make up its mind about who Felicity would pick by the time Season 1 wrapped; a decision wasn’t made until Season 2 scripts were written months later. The indecision came as a surprise to Reims, who joined Felicity‘s writers’ room ahead of Season 2 and was shocked to learn his colleagues hadn’t yet decided whether to pair Felicity with Noel or Ben.
“I came in assuming that they knew [the resolution] because they had been there for the first season,” Reims recalled with a laugh. “And when I got there, they were like, ‘All right, what are we going to do?’ We had endless discussions about who it should be, and we went back and forth and back and forth.” (At one point, Reims remembered, the writers seemed to have finally settled on Noel as the choice; by the time Abrams returned from a meeting later that day, they had flipped back to Ben.)
But even though Felicity’s romantic choice was a major storyline heading into Season 2, the writers knew they ultimately wanted the character to be single after a few episodes — and a relationship with bad boy Ben seemed much more likely to end quickly, Reims said.
“Noel was such a sweetheart and would treat her well,” he shared. “Thinking ahead, we were like, ‘Well, whoever she’s going with, she’s not going to be with them for the whole season. That’s not going to work.’ Part of the reason [we picked Ben] was, it’s probably harder to break up with Noel than it is with Ben. Ben can be a jerk immediately, and we can get her on her own.”
A majority of TVLine readers are in the Team Ben camp, though: In a September 2023 poll of TV’s most divisive love triangles, nearly 60% of voters championed Speedman’s character, while 40% were Team Felicity/Noel.
What say you, Felicity fans? Comment below!
TV’s Most Divisive Love Triangles: Which Pairings Get Your Vote?
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