New Novel Will Tell The Stories Between Arrow Season 5 and 6

Seemingly before the news was meant to go public, Amazon has listed Arrow: Fatal Legacies, a new novel by James R. Tuck and Arrow EP Marc Guggenheim which will “bridge the gap” between Arrow season 5 and 6.

While the cliffhanger left at the end of season 5 — an exploding island, with Oliver moments away from returning to check on his loved ones — may not seem like it needs a lot of “bridging” to an episode that ads indicate takes place largely on the island during his rescue mission, that ignores threads left dangling throughout the back half of season 5, which have not yet been resolved.

One fan, for instance, asked on Twitter whether the book would include Vigilante, who vanished with a few episodes left in the season after being kicked off a roof by Prometheus. Guggenheim confirmed that it would.

According to the official synopsis, the novel (which will be published by Titan books) is “the untold story bridging between ARROW seasons 5 and 6, exclusive to this novel! In the devastating aftermath of season five, Team Arrow must resume their mission to protect Star City. Those who have survived Chase’s trap on Lian Yu discover that his plans did not end there. If his legacies aren’t stopped, countless more will die. Co-authored by Arrow series producer Marc Guggenheim and James R. Tuck (Robin Hood: Mark of the Black Arrow).”

The book will be available in January, presumably serving as an ideal companion to Arrow‘s winter hiatus. Given the major shocks that have shaken the series in the last few midseason finales, one has to wonder whether some of the elements set up in the novel will be things that pay off in December’s final Arrow.

Fatal Legacies is not the first spinoff novel to come out of Arrow. Arrow: Vengeance centered on Oliver’s relationship with Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, while The Flash and others appeared in Arrow: A Generation of Vipers. Guggenheim has also contributed to numerous comic book tie-ins to Arrow. This is the first tie-in prose novel to which Guggenheim has contributed.

After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the South China Sea. Oliver returned home to Starling City, bent on righting the wrongs of his family and fighting injustice. To do this, he created the persona of The Arrow and allied himself with former military man John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), lawyer-turned-vigilante Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), billionaire inventor Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and his sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland).

Arrow will return for its sixth season on The CW on Oct. 12, 2017, with the season premiere episode titled “Fallout.” The premiere will mark a move from its traditional Wednesday time slot to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT.