So Sean didn’t know until January? Anyone wanna place bets that it’s the same deal with MRJ two years ago? The writers didn’t know they were gonna kill Neal until the end of S3A and didn’t tell the actor until they started writing 3B.
I mean…there was some hint that this was coming. First, Regina said in the S4 finale that her happy ending wasn’t a man. Next, Robin just barely escaped death in “The Price.” So, I tend to think the writers planned on killing off Robin Hood at some point in S5, but they just didn’t communicate that to Sean Maguire until early this year (probably because the writers wanted to avoid that awkward coversation until they had to tell Sean). The writers probably decided to kill him off sometime after all the negative fan reactions to Robin Hood choosing to go with “Marian” over staying with Regina. Then when Zelena raped Robin Hood, the crap really hit the fan and the writers didn’t know how to keep around a character like Robin while keeping their own favorite, Zelena, around without awkwardness (as the last two episodes showed).
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy