Summary
- The ending of "Felicity" left fans perplexed when Elena, who was believed to have died in a car crash, is revealed to be alive through a time travel spell.
- Season 4 of "Felicity" faced controversy as Felicity and Ben's relationship faced numerous difficulties, including cheating and unexpected pregnancies.
- The creators of "Felicity" chose to omit two crucial scenes that would have provided clarification on Elena's fate, leaving viewers with unanswered questions and an unsatisfying ending.
Fans were left wondering how is Elena alive at the end of Felicity, after dying in a car crash. Felicity followed a group of friends attending the fictitious University of New York and aired on the WB from 1998-2002. The story started when California girl Felicity Porter (Keri Russell) abandoned her plans to attend Stanford to follow her high school crush Ben Covington (Scott Speedman) to New York City. Created by J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, Felicity explored the transitional time when young adults are trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do with the rest of their lives.
Although the series overall was largely praised, with Keri Russell winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress - Drama Series in 1999, season 4 of Felicity was controversial. The first 17 episodes throw in drama as Felicity and Ben's relationship takes several hits, including Felicity cheating on Ben, resulting in a brief breakup. Ben even sleeps with another woman who becomes pregnant. The show takes a bizarre turn during the Felicity ending. Felicity returns to New York for Noel's wedding, and Megan casts a spell that allows Felicity to travel back in time and reexamine her life choices.
The Truth About Elena's Fate At The End Of Felicity
Felicity's decisions affect everyone around her, including Noel (Scott Foley), who dies in a fire. Elena also dies in a car accident, although it happens offscreen. Desperate to undo the damage, Felicity visits the creator of the spell Megan used and asks him to send her back to the future. Felicity wakes up in the present to discover everything she's been through is just the result of a high fever. At Noel's wedding, Felicity, who still believes Elena is dead, reunites with her friend during the Felicity ending.
The season 4 DVD featurette "Lost Elena" includes an interview with creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, who explain why they cut two scenes providing clarity on Elena's fate. One shows Felicity warning Elena not to attend Columbia because something terrible will happen. She urged Elena to choose Duke instead. The second scene is during Noel's wedding reception, where Felicity learns Elena took her advice, altering the course of her entire life. These scenes appear integral to understanding the finale, but Reeves insists they had too much content and there wasn't enough time in the episode to include everything.
This meant Felicity's fever dream wasn't a dream. This answers the question of how is Elena alive at the end of Felicity. However, it raises other questions. Why is Elena the only one to remember Felicity's erratic behavior during the final episodes? Why is everyone else the same? The fever dream explanation wasn't satisfying and entirely out of character for the series. In 2018, producer Lawrence Trilling reflected on Felicity (via Variety). Russell said they planned for Felicity to graduate at the end, but The WB ordered more episodes. They decided to allow Felicity to see what her life would have been like if she had broken up with Ben.
What Tangi Miller Has Done Since Felicity
Elena was one of the most beloved characters until the Felicity ending, and actor Tangi Miller has gone on to continue her career in Hollywood since that confusing finale. When asked about the finale, Miller said, "They just got creative... People just got kind of kooky with it. I really can’t tell you. It didn’t make any sense to me" (via Vice). It seemed like it took her a little while to get her footing after Felicity, but she said she was being "snooty" and really wanted to find something great to follow up the show with.
"Once you work on a show like Felicity, everything else is kind of like, ‘Oh, I don't have to do that.’ And I wanted to create my own opportunities. My representation, they were not happy about that. But I wanted to produce. I wanted to create my own stories.
Miller won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her role in Felicity. After the show, she took on roles in a variety of movies, including The Other Brother, Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood, and Madea's Family Reunion. She also had roles in the TV series The Shield and guest roles in shows like The District and The Division. However, almost all of Miller's work since the Felicity ending has been in independent films, both as an actor and a producer.