The CW’s Arrow closed Season 7 with a major change for its central hero. Oliver Queen, having saved Star City, retired to a secluded life of peace with Felicity and, in time, their daughter Mia but his happiness was short-lived when The Monitor showed up to collect on his “Elseworlds” bargain, revealing that Oliver will die, but that he needs his help to save the multiverse from a coming cataclysm. While fans saw the general outcome of things — Oliver being absent from his daughter’s life as he left to save the world — what adventures the hero would find himself having was left for the upcoming Season 8, something that executive producer Marc Guggenheim and showrunner Beth Schwartz say will take Oliver all over the world and more.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Guggenheim and Schwartz talked a bit about Oliver’s (Stephen Amell) journey in the show’s final season.
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“[We’re] taking the show on the road, really getting away from Star City,” Guggenheim said. “Oliver is going to be traveling the world and we’re going to go to a lot of different places. Every time I see Oliver and the Monitor, it’s like, ‘Okay, we are very far from where we started.’ But again, that means the show has grown and evolved.”
“This is sort of his final test because it’s greater than Star City,” Schwartz added.
Yet, for all of the travel and moving away from Star City, there are definitely going to be things that hit closer to home. It was announced previously that Colin Donnell and Josh Segarra would both be returning for the final season. Donnell played Oliver’s best friend Tommy Merlyn in Season 1 while Segarra gave life to what is arguably Arrow‘s best-ever villain, Adrian Chase. While context for their returns remains a bit of a mystery, Amell explained that Arrow will be playing their “greatest hits” in the final season.
“Episode 1 is an ode to season 1, and episode 2 is an ode to season 3,” Amell said. “We’re playing our greatest hits.”
Playing the greatest hits also includes a new costume for the end of Arrow, one that has a distinct throwback feel lining up with the first season look. Amell recently shared a touching behind-the-scenes photo featuring himself in the Season 8 costume while his daughter, Mavi, wears the Season 1 jacket. It’s a touching photo, and one lines up nicely with something Amell said last year about the only thing his character had left to do on Arrow: leave a legacy.
“The only thing that is left for him to do – and he doesn’t need to die to do this – is he needs to leave a legacy.” Amell said in an interview last year. “Because we have all these other shows that exist. So whether Arrow continued on in the absence of Oliver Queen, or someone else took up the mantle of the Green Arrow… I think leaving a legacy is the last box left to tick for the character.”
Arrow‘s final season will begin Tuesday, October 15th, at 9/8c on The CW.
