The Real Reason Legends Of Tomorrow Only Has One Zari
Unlike a lot of other Arrowverse shows, DC's Legends of Tomorrow is not afraid of breaking up their team, introducing new characters, making villains into heroes and vice versa. Only Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) remain from the original Legends line-up. Departures take all shapes: Some characters get a happy ending, some die, and some start Time Agencies.
Usually, when characters bow out of television shows, it's because, behind the scenes, an actor has either passed away or decided to move on. While that is sometimes true with Legends of Tomorrow, there are also times when a character leaves the show, but an actor sticks around. For example, Maise Richardson-Sellers' character Amaya Jiwe had to return to her time period for the sake of her tribe and the timeline, but Sellers stuck around a while longer by playing a shape-shifter named Charlie who John Constantine (Matt Ryan) trapped in Amaya's form.
Something similar was done with Zari Tomaz, played by Tala Ashe. In this case, the timeline was altered, which caused Zari to go from being a totem-bearer in an alternate, post-apocalyptic future to being a social media celebrity in a non-apocalyptic future.
Since people loved both Zaris, there was a time when they existed simultaneously. Unfortunately, for various reasons recently discussed by the people behind Legends, that period had to be temporary.
Zari 1.0 vs. Zari 2.0
According to executive producer Phil Klemmer during the DC Fandome event, "There was a moment in the room where we were like, 'Should we just keep them both forever?'"
Matt Ryan was quick to point out the extremes that Ashe went through, saying, "She'd be going to the thing, change into the other one, coming back and literally driving the whole day." In other words: A lot of time got spent on set ups because one actor was playing two roles simultaneously.
"We're gonna kill the crew. We're gonna kill Tala," said Klemmer as to why they had to drop having both Zaris.
That doesn't mean, however, that Ashe is happy about it. "I honestly do have mixed feelings about it because I really do love both Zari 1.0 and 2.0," she says. "I was surprised how genuinely sad I was. I had these very split personality moments where I would be mad at myself. I'm excited about developing 2.0 further, but I was sad about saying goodbye to 1.0."
Have we actually seen the last of Zari 1.0? That still remains somewhat unclear. "I do love it," says Ashe about playing both versions of Zari. "I'm ready but, yes, I don't want any of the crew or any of you to hate me."
Klemmer responded to that with a simple, "we'll find a compromise." So, while Zari 1.0 and 2.0 likely won't be around simultaneously very often, it's still possible we may get a little of that magic again when the show returns for its sixth season. At the very least, there's going to have to be a resolution for the love triangle (or is that love square?) between Zari 1.0, Nate Heywood (Nick Zano), Zari 2.0, and John Constantine.