Arrow’s Colin Donnell Teases Tommy’s Season 8 Return Will Give Fans What They Want

Earlier this month Arrow fans got exciting news about the upcoming final season of The CW series, that news being that two fan-favorite actors would be returning, Colin Donnell and Josh Segarra. However, that news was quickly tempered by a pretty significant caveat. Donnell’s Tommy Merlyn and Segarra’s Adrian Chase/Prometheus aren’t coming back quite as fans remember them. Now, though, Donnell is clarifying just a bit saying that Tommy’s return will be satisfying for fans.

Speaking with TV Guide at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Donnell explained a bit about Tommy’s return.

“I think Stephen said it best at Comic-Con,” Donnell said. “I think fans are going to see Tommy in a way that they’ve maybe wanted for a while.”

It’s an interesting claim especially that the way fans have really wanted to see Tommy is alive and well. For those who may not recall, Tommy was an important figure in Season 1 as Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) best friend, though their relationship was strained upon Oliver’s return from the “dead”. In the season finale, however, Tommy was mortally wounded in the Undertaking, he and Oliver making amends before Tommy succumbed to his injuries. Since then, Tommy’s death has been a point of pain for Oliver, so much so that “Tommy” even appeared to Oliver as his conscience of sorts in Season 7. If Tommy’s Season 8 return is going to give fans what they want, it’s possible we’ll get to see Tommy alive and well in some fashion.

And given what teases we’ve had of the upcoming season, that’s entirely possible. The season premiere is entitled “Starling City”. As fans of the show will remember, Arrow’s central location was known as Starling City for the first three seasons, eventually being renamed as Star City after the apparent death of Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh). With all of that in mind, there’s no telling exactly what this title could be a reference to. We’ve also seen glimpses of Queen Mansion and know that Susanna Thompson will also be returning to reprise her role as Oliver’s mother, Moira Queen. It’s possible that we could be getting a flashback of sorts in the season premiere or, even more likely given the impending “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, a look life on an alternate Earth, one where things ended up very differently for the Queens and those they love.

“It’s a love letter to the show; it really is,” Arrow executive producer and “Crisis on Infinite Earths” showrunner Marc Guggenheim told Green Arrow TV. “I was telling Beth [Schwartz], it felt a lot like the series finale, not the season premiere, in the best possible way, almost to the point where we’re like ‘what are we going to do for the series finale?’ I mean, we know, obviously, but it has that kind of resonance to it, and that’s exciting.”

Arrow returns to The CW this fall for its eighth and final season, a ten-episode run that will bring the story of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Felicity Smoak (Emily Beat Rickards, who exited the series at the end of last season), John Diggle (David Ramsey), and the rest of Team Arrow to a close (unless, of course, there is a spinoff planned). The series’ end will coincide with The CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” mega-event, which will run for five episodes over December 2019 and January 2020, featuring episodes from Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Batwoman. That seems particularly meaningful since in Arrow’s season seven finale, The Monitor arrived to tell Oliver and Felicity that Oliver would need to join him — and that he would not survive the experience of helping The Monitor defend the multiverse in the Crisis.

Season eight of Arrow will premiere on October 15, 2019. Are you excited about “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and the final season of Arrow? Comment below or drop me a line at @lifeinpolaroid on Twitter.