Stephen Amell Addresses If He Would Return as a Different Earth's Oliver Queen After Arrow Ends

While the Arrow season seven finale strongly suggested that Oliver Queen will die -- or at least be shuffled off the board -- during the winter "Crisis on Infinite Earths" event, series star Stephen Amell has not completely discounted the idea of returning to the role. How could that work? Well, one of the great things about existing in the DC Universe is that it's really a DC multiverse -- and we have already seen some variant Oliver Queens, so who's to say fans couldn't get at least one more before all is said and done?

During his panel at MegaCon in Orlando this week, Amell suggested that he would be happy to come back and repay what he considers some personal and professional debts if he was asked to do so -- although it sounded like he would be more apt to do it as a curtain call for one of the Arrowverse shows than as just another cameo.

"If you were to ask the people that were involved in Arrow, 'how long should it go?' The answer would have been five years," Amell admitted. "You would have told the flashback story and you would have told concluded your story as you caught up the flashback story to the beginning of the series. That's the best synchronicity of the thing. That's not the way that network television works; we kept going. I feel like we had a year that was, I would call it 'in limbo.' We knew it was a good season but we knew during that season, we made the decision that either season 7 or season 8 we were going to wrap it up. And I feel like the endgame — no pun intended — was going to make the show sharper. For me, it was just very important to go out strong. When I did the video announcing that we were going to wrap things up, I said, 'I might be leaving the show but no one's ever going to be gone.' I owe so much to, in no particular order, to The CW, to Warner Bros., to Greg Berlanti, to David Nutter, to Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim and Beth Schwartz, James Bamford and Todd Pittson, and JP Finn. I owe so much to them so if five years from now they're wrapping up Show X and they were like, 'You know what would be the cherry on top of the sundae? Would you come back?' What am I gonna say? No? It's a shitty idea that I'd say no. You do what you can. I owe a lot to peopled if they need something from me they can always have it."

The eighth and final season of Arrow will tie into the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths," The CW's annual crossover. This year, it will be five parts and split up over December 2019 and January 2020. Last week's season finale, "You Have Saved This City," played very much like a series finale and teed up what is sure to be a very different season 8 since Oliver is separated from Team Arrow and Emily Bett Rickards, who plays Felicity, is leaving the series altogether. The series will return in the fall, when it will air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following episodes of The Flash on The CW.