Legends of Tomorrow star explains their season 7 finale exit

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the season 7 finale of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, which aired Wednesday night.

If DC's Legends of Tomorrow returns for an eighth season — which the CW hasn't ordered yet — it will be without one of its longest tenured members.

Nick Zano, who joined the dramedy as lovable historian-turned-superhero Nate Heywood in season 2, is leaving the Waverider, and Wednesday's season 7 finale was his last episode as a series regular. In the World War I-set closer, Nate charged into a haze of mustard gas to save the love of Gwyn's (Matt Ryan) life, Alun (Tom Forbes), and lost all of his steel powers as a result. In the aftermath of his honorable sacrifice, Nate decided it was time to give up superhero-ing and join Zari 1.0 (Tala Ashe) in the totem, a move he'd been pondering all season long. (For more information on Donald Faison's introduction as Booster Gold, Avalance's shocking news, and more, read our postmortem interview with co-showrunner Phil Klemmer.)

Of course, no one is ever really gone on Legends, and the door is always open for everyone to return, including Zano.

Below, EW chats with Zano about his decision to leave the show, what he'll miss the most, and more.

The cast of Legends of Tomorrow. Bettina Strauss/The CW

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So this is your final episode as a series regular. Was it your decision to make this your last season?

NICK ZANO: It was my decision. My contract was coming to an end. I had a conversation with Phil Klemmer, my main man in Burbank, and I told him that I think I'm going to end it when it ends. That decision was made during last hiatus, but the only people who knew were Phil and the producers. My castmates didn't know. So we started shooting the season, and I didn't say anything to anybody because I'm very uncomfortable with that kind of attention.

Eventually, I think five episodes in, the writing starts coming on the wall that they're setting up something for Nate, and I eventually told my coworkers. I'm like, "This is it." They're like, "What?!" And it became the thing I didn't want it to become, but I was just postponing it because I didn't want to be in it. We're a tight group that's been through a lot. In TV, you don't really get too many opportunities to get a proper goodbye to a character you portray for six or seven years of your life.

How did your costars behave when it became the thing you were trying to avoid?

[Laughs] When you're together this long, a lot of eye contact is a lot of communication. Because you're around a lot of people on a set. So a lot of times you'd like to have a conversation, but people are like putting on your clothes, putting microphones on you. So there's a lot of eye contact. It's a moment of intimacy of being like, you know, "I'm not coming back" and just stare at each other, and that heaviness of the stare. That's just people who have been together for so long communicating so much.

I imagine the producers wanted you to return for another season if it gets renewed. What made you decide that you wanted to leave when your contract was up?

I don't know. There's always been a voice that's guided me in my life. It's always been like in my subconscious, I think we all have it, where it felt right. When I made that deal with everybody for this amount of time, honestly Chance, I never felt I would see the end of my contract. But that's what happened, and that's a beautiful thing. That's a wonderful thing! But I do something called the Harvard test where your head, heart, and gut all have to say yes before you make a decision. My head, heart, and gut told me that it was time. So, I spoke with Phil, and then we started. To Phil's credit, he gave me a beautiful, honorable exit that I'm forever grateful for.

So you're satisfied with Nate's story wrapping up with him going to join Zari in the totem?

Oh, it's just finally giving the man what he's always wanted: love and a relationship that isn't going to go away, something that's not doomed. Anybody who watches the show knows that this is what the guy is really about. He's a loving character who cares about everybody and kind of always puts himself last, especially in the past couple seasons which were about [him] being the glue. Being rewarded this way is a beautiful thing for this character.

It's funny how it took you deciding to leave for the writers to finally get rid of Nate's very expensive and hard-to-render steel powers.

[Laughs] It's insane. How many years have I been saying, "I don't think they knew how much this superpower actually costs?" But this superpower that I barely got to use, I couldn't change my hair for six seasons because we spent too much money in molding and like 800 camera angles of my face and body so we could just go right into the CGI. But yeah, they found a way. It was kind of a big thing on set when it was the last time they put on the dots to create the Steel effect, and the last time they took off the dots.

What was your very last day on set like?

It was a day early. It was a Wednesday. I was supposed to be series-wrapped on Thursday, but we had a first AD who was just banging out scenes. He's like, "I may be able to get to that one scene that you're in tomorrow tonight." I was like, "Really?" So now, I'm in my body [thinking] I'm wrapped tonight and not tomorrow, which I emotionally wasn't prepared for.

Then I felt the shift in my coworkers when everybody heard that we're doing the scene. We sat in our tent in the middle of the woods together and it was just like, "Wow, this is the last time we're all stuck in the woods with seven heaters in the rain together." Where that thing [was once] so draining, [but] in that moment I was sitting there, it was beautiful; it wasn't cold or raining. It was like my last two hours with seven people I've done things with that people don't do together in lifetimes. It was an extraordinary experience for me internally. Then we shot it, and coverage, coverage, and they said that's a series wrap on me. I got a collapse hug from my coworkers that I was in the center of. It was beautiful and it was nice, and it was special.

And then it broke and I just saw the entire crew staring at me. I don't prepare stuff to say, I just say things. In that time, the first thing that came to my head [was], I said to the crew, "I'm always going to be here for you," because I will, because I have a bond with my crew that is so deep and so special and I care about them so much. "You're not losing me the person, and I'm not losing them because we've all been through way too much." Then, we said our goodbye and they presented me with the Legends goodbye, which is a puppet of your character and a cake. And Phil Klemmer came up and gave me the goodbye speech that just destroyed my heart in the nicest way imaginable. There's no ill will. Usually if there's an ending, there's something bad happening somewhere in the shadows. Nothing bad ever happened from the time I walked in to the time I walked out. It's only been a wonderful exchange will Greg [Berlanti], Phil, and [EP Marc Guggenheim].

What was the last scene you shot?

I have no idea [Laughs]. It was something [with] a crane. We were looking up. I really don't recall; however, I just remember kind of collapsing into myself like, "Oh my god, this is it," and being overwhelmed by it. I knew I was going to feel a lot. I just didn't know how much I was going to feel.

If the show gets renewed for a final season, would you be open to returning in some compacity?

To quote the great Phil Klemmer, he's like, "I hope you go to LA and hate it and then ask to come back." [Laughs] Once a Legend, always a Legend. If I'm available and things are open, I would be in Vancouver in two seconds to pop in on the gang. Everything is wonderful.

What do you think you'll miss the most about being on Legends?

I really love Legends shorthand. I love our jokes, verbiage, and the things we say that only apply if you work on the show. If you didn't know us, you wouldn't know what the hell we were saying to each other. A collect 50 people in a crew could shout, "Thank youuuuu" and they all know what it means outside of "thank you." It means a lot of other thing outside of "thank you," but nobody else knows what it means and it's certainly not "thank you."

Conversely, what do you think you'll miss the least?

November through February, 3 a.m. Saturday mornings in the raining woods. I think that's what I'll miss the least.

In the past when we've talked about some of your favorite episodes, you've mentioned the season 3 finale with Beebo, the episode David Ramsey directed last year, and the one Marc Guggenheim directed in season 5. Now that you've gotten some distance from it since wrapping in December, which episodes do you cherish the most when you look back on your six seasons?

That's the thing about time. Time kind of reveals the things you cherish are moments, and those moments could come from eight different episodes over five years. So, it's not one episode that's like the most that I can think of. Gugs' episode was just fun for all of us. It was fun for him, the responsibility he took on the first time directing television, which is hilarious. Then for us, just being so ridiculous in so many different ways. It was so much work, but all that work we knew there was a huge payoff. I think this is the rare situation: Surround yourself with seven actors who are not complaining. And that's what we were. We were really working hard in that episode because we all knew the outcome. We just kind of pushed one another through with like joy.

Have you started figuring out what you want to do next? Do you have an idea of a genre or type of character you want to play?

I'm at place now personally in life where I've had the good fortune, professionally speaking, of covering a lot of genres. I've done sitcoms, superhero shows, sci-fi shows, comedies.

And all of that is just on Legends.

Exactly, that was last month. [Laughs] But I'm in a new place for the first time in my life. I'm really excited to just read and go, "That's interesting. I'd really like to put all of my energy and efforts into this." I realize at this point, doing it this long, you can want to do something, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen. I'm open to finding the thing that I'm going to put all of my effort into and be fulfilled.

Is there anything else you want to add?

I just want to thank our fanbase, our die-hard Legends fans. And let them know I've seen their support, read their support, heard their support, and I look forward to seeing them on the next one.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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