John Barrowman Returns to the Arrowverse in “Elseworlds” Crossover Photo

A familiar face is set to return to the Arrowverse in next month’s “Elseworlds” crossover, and now we know that it will be with a bit of a twist.

A slew of “Elseworlds” photos were released earlier today, which previewed what fans can expect in the reality-bending event. One of the photos, for the Arrow portion of the event, shows an alternate version of Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) serving as a Central City police officer — alongside alternate versions of Joe Wilson (Liam Hall) and Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman).

As fans will remember, the former Arrow and Legends villain appeared to sacrifice himself in Arrow’s season five finale, although his death was never entirely shown onscreen. Because of that, the possibility of his return has been floated here and there, with Barrowman hinting at a convention appearance that he would somehow appear in Arrow‘s seventh season.

Even then, fans might not have entirely expected to see Barrowman return for “Elseworlds”, much less be sharing the screen with Arrow’s current Big Bad. But considering the off-the-wall nature of the event, nothing feels impossible at this point.

The Arrowverse has also played with this idea of having alternate versions of villains be police officers, with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance from Earth-2 Deadshot in The Flash‘s second season.

“Elseworlds” will see the Arrowverse’s main trio plunged into a pretty unique situation, as Barry Allen and Oliver Queen have their lives swapped once Dr. John Deegan (Jeremy Davies) rewrites reality. Because she’s from another Earth, Kara Danvers ends up being the only one who is aware of what’s happened to Barry and Oliver, and agrees to help them fix things.

“I think this year, it feels a lot more like individual [episodes],” The Flash showrunner Todd Helbing explained to EW. “Flash kind of feels like a Flash episode, Arrow feels like an Arrow episode, Supergirl feels like a Supergirl episode.”

“It’s like a three chapters of one story,” Supergirl EP Robert Rovner echoed, “but they’re all kind of unique to their own show.”

“It feels like it’s going to be our strongest crossover, our funniest crossover.” Gustin added. “I don’t know what fans are excited for, but I’m excited just to see Superman, Flash, Supergirl, Green Arrow, and Batwoman all on screen together. It’s pretty amazing.”

Are you excited to see Barrowman return to the Arrowverse in the “Elseworlds” crossover? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

The “Elseworlds” crossover will begin on Sunday, December 9th with The Flash at 8/7c, followed by Arrow on December 10th at 8/7c, and Supergirl on December 11th at 8/7c.