SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Broken Arrow," tonight's episode of "Arrow."

After appearing in all three seasons of "Arrow," Roy Harper (Colton Haynes') bids farewell to Starling City in "Broken Arrow." After taking the fall for Oliver by posing as the Arrow, Harper faked his own death to escape prison and decided to depart Team Arrow, at least for the moment. In an interview with Deadline, executive producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim spoke about how and why the show bid farewell to Arsenal.

When asked if they knew Haynes would be leaving the show, Guggenheim responded, "We made a two-season deal that had a clock on it, we always knew that. When he was coming off 'Teen Wolf,' we described the role to him, and we agreed he would do it for a couple of years. At that particular moment, he had a lot of opportunities to do things, and we're lucky he chose us... We are sad to see him go but excited to see what he does next."

Because of this, Guggenheim and Berlanti were able to plan out Harper's exit in the grander scheme of the show. "We were able to deign his arc for the season with the end point in mind," Guggenheim revealed to Deadline. "We always knew he would take a heroic stance and redeem himself for his actions. It's always a blessing when you know where exactly you are going to end up."

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However, the producers said, killing Harper was never really on the table. "We wanted to do something different. These characters are so young, they represent the next generation of superheroes, and we love the idea of having them just out there. And as a person we like Colton so much, we all would love to see him back."

"The hope is that he'll continue to be part of the universe we are building," Berlanti added. "We love working with his so much. We've talked to him about returning to one of the three shows, and if available, he has expressed interest. He is gone but definitely not forever."

"Arrow" airs Wednesdays at 8 pm EST on The CW.