‘Arrow’ Confirms Version of Roy Harper That Colton Haynes Will Play in Season 7

The seventh season of Arrow still has a lot of unanswered questions surrounding it, but one element of the season is set in stone.

In a recent interview with TVLine, Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz confirmed one detail about the return of Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) in Season 7. As she revealed, the iteration of Roy will “definitely” be the Earth-1 counterpart that has appeared on the show before, as opposed to some sort of new doppelganger.

Those involved with the world of Arrow have expressed a similar sort of sentiment before, but the official confirmation will surely make fans speculate. For one thing, there’s no telling exactly how Roy’s return will exactly come together, considering what happened when we last saw him on Arrow. As fans will remember, Roy agreed to travel the world finding the remaining Lazarus Pits with Thea Queen (Willa Holland) and Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law).

Roy Harper’s return also comes to Arrow at a particularly interesting time, as Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) will be locked away in a SuperMax prison, leaving Team Arrow in a unique predicament. And it sounds like Roy’s role in those overall proceedings will surprise some viewers.

“I got a call from Greg Berlanti, and he said ‘Hey’.” Haynes told ComicBook.com during San Diego Comic-Con. “I was shooting [American] Horror Story at the time. And he said ‘If you want to come back, you’re welcome to come back. We have a great idea.’ And it’s the craziest idea. Roy Harper’s coming back in a way that no one is going to understand. It’s amazing, and I was like ‘I can’t wait to be around my friends and my family!’ And so I, of course, jumped at that opportunity.”

Although Haynes kept the details relatively slim about exactly how Roy comes back, he did hint that it will be a genuine surprise to the show’s fans, while also helping take Arrow back to its roots.

“You guys have no idea what’s happening with Roy Harper.” Haynes revealed. “It’s a crazy storyline, I can say. It’s nothing like he’s been before. It’s going to shock [so many people]. I’m shocked right now. It’s going to shock a lot of people. Roy’s not the same person. I can’t say much, but we’re returning back to our roots on the show. Not the characters, but the show — We’re going back to how we were a couple of seasons ago. But it’s going to just be so good. Beth Schwartz, our new show runner, is just — She’s a dream. She’s changing everything and she’s making everything the way I think the show was at the beginning.”

Are you excited to see Roy Harper return to the world of Arrow? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The season seven premiere of Arrow, which is titled “Inmate 4587”, will debut on Monday, October 15th, at 8/7c on The CW.