DC's Legends of Tomorrow showrunner teases finale's 'Beebo moment' and Season 5

As usual, the Legends of Tomorrow are screwed. Big time.

In tonight's DC's Legends of Tomorrow season finale, Neron takes one step closer to gorging on mankind's fear and amassing immeasurable power. Only Nate's plan to erect a theme park full of mystical creatures to prove that magic exists to the masses stands in Neron's way. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, Ray's soul previously received a one-way ticket to the netherworld. Tabitha tricked Nora into relinquishing her witchy powers and assuming the mantle of Fairy Godmother, complete with Gary as her charge. Demons are getting their rocks off tormenting and torturing Constantine in hell.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow showrunner Phil Klemmer recently spoke with SYFY WIRE about bringing magic into the Legends universe, the fate of Ray's soul, the episode's "Beebo moment," and Season 5.

In this finale, Neron seems to be holding all the cards. What's his masterplan?

In the flashbacks of Constantine and Desmond in the payday of their love, we realized Neron was trying to gather souls. That's a bread and butter demon plan. Obviously, we can't allow just a bread and butter demon plan to fly on Legends. In the finale, we are flipping this story, which seemed to be Neron usurping power from the Triumvirate. That would be the stock demon move, but now that he's paired up with Tabitha, who is a fairy godmother, I think she has different aspirations. Ruling Hell is going to ultimately feel insufficient for our Bonnie and Clyde of demonic baddies.

The thing we've never done on Legends is have a finale that took place present day, real world, in front of the eyes of the world. We did the Old West with Beebo, but we've never had the Legends on a public stage. We've never had the stakes be the real world. They've always been saving the past or the future. We wanted the final showdown to be here and now.

Constantine chose to save Astra over his own teammate in Hell. What does that mean for Ray Palmer?

Ray is the ultimate forgiving guy. For him, it means his immortal soul is damned. But the thing we wanted to play around within the finale is "what if there's something irrepressible in Ray Palmer's soul?" Maybe his soul is so pure that even Hell would love this guy. We have the greatest cameo in Hell. When you find out who Ray partnered up with, I think people are going to freak. It's the sort of thing that I couldn't believe they let us do it. It seemed like a [writers] room joke. But then when I got the dailies back, and you see this blast from the past, and Ray Palmer hanging out with this person in Hell, you are like, "This is perfect."

Nate convinces the Legends to construct this theme park, Hey World, filled with magical and mythological creatures. What are some of the consequences of going down that path?

The thing is the Legends have been doing what they do in the shadows. That's like a double-edged sword. The downside of that is they never get credit for anything. In our premiere this year, they were given fake medals that were immediately taken away. Nobody can know that time travel is real. Certainly, nobody can know that time travel was given to these people who are grossly unreliable.

This finale is the chance for them to step out of the shadows like Batman, or [be] a real superhero like Superman. In a sense, that's awesome. In another sense, once you have the world's eyes on you, it makes you very self-conscious. It also makes you wonder, "Are we worthy of this? We are not franchise superheroes. We're not ready-made for lunch boxes and action figures. We're a little rough around the edges."

Children shouldn't look up to Mick Rory. Children shouldn't even be in the same room as Mick Rory. This whole notion of Hey World and a way of inoculating the world to the existence of magical creatures, "the only way we can do that is if we become trustworthy." The Legends aren't used to being under public scrutiny. It's like an identity crisis. They've grown away from being superheroes in a lot of ways. But, in order to make this Hey World thing work, they are going to have to convince the world they are trustworthy.

Credit: The CW

In last year's finale, Beebo saved the day. How are you topping that? What is this episode's Beebo moment?

It originally didn't have one. It felt fine, but you could smell the backlash before it even began. It didn't happen out of contrivance at all. That's the problem of doing an episode set up in present-day and it's all based on fear and paranoia. You can make whatever analogies you like to present day, but it felt like we needed a little more magic. It would have been easy to go back to a giant Teddy bear. Hopefully, when people see it, it will make sense.

The season has been moving towards this all along because the pieces have been in place. We have been dealing with father/son relationships with Nate. It's the sort of thing where if someone told you about it, it would seem laughable. But, if you watch it, hopefully, it will make you a little misty-eyed.

The Legends finales never wrap things up in a neat bow. What's the fallout this time around? What are some of the breadcrumbs you are setting up for Season 5?

One of our Legends was supposed to die. We didn't have the heart to kill that Legend. But we felt like total cowards for balking. There's not that much death. History is irrevocably altered — in a way, there are consequences. The Legends are not the same moving forward.

We've changed history with little or no consequence in the past, that it just felt like to do something on that colossal of a scale, we needed for there to be a downside. It sets the stage for Season 5 that's a different team dynamic. It steers us out of the world of magical creatures and monsters, and into something totally different in the same way a dragon's head did last year.

Credit: The CW

The Legends of Tomorrow have gotten a taste of magic in previous years, but the show went full throttle this season. How happy were you with how it all turned out?

The problem with breaking TV series is because you work really hard, you are super-stressed and a little shell-shocked. You finish the last episode and then you have two weeks with the writers. And, you're like, "Oh, no. We have to come up with a pitch for next year." You're kind of a little punch-drunk. Usually, someone will crack a joke. "What if we brought in the dragon's head?" And, you're like, "That is the greatest idea ever."

You come back to your job in a matter of months. I guess it's like if you were high and you scribbled down your idea for a screenplay that you were convinced was going to change the world, and then you woke up and you're like, "Oh man. What was I thinking?" Then the real challenge is how to make that fever-dream pitch something actually good.

The first half of every new season is in the cold light of day, under sober circumstances of, "How do you make Hourman, hopping off of a spaceship, make sense?" Or, "How do you make a dragon's head make sense?" You'll see when you watch the finale that there's another moment, that again, four months ago we were like, "It's awesome." Now, we're in the room going, "All right. But seriously, we have to tell a good story."