Susanna Thompson Returns as Moira Queen in Arrow Season 8

Moira Queen, Oliver’s mother who was murdered in a heartbreaking episode during Arrow‘s second season, will return to the series for an appearance in the show’s eighth season, according to executive producer Marc Guggenheim. Susanna Thompson will return to reprise the role. Thompson has appeared in the series a handful of times in the years since her character died at the hands of Deathstroke — including a brief appearance as the voice of the Nazi Waverider’s Gideon-like computer in “Crisis on Earth-X.”

It seems likely that her appearance in the upcoming season premiere is going to be in the same vein: an alternate-Earth version of any given character could show up in the final season of Arrow, as Oliver and The Monitor move through the multiverse assembling what they need to do battle with the Anti-Monitor.

“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 @RussBurlingame on Twitter!