Arrow EP Teases Series Ending Will Be Unexpected, Even With Oliver’s Death Looming

For fans of The CW‘s Arrow, heading into the upcoming eighth and final season has been more than a little bittersweet. While a new season — and especially one that will have major connections to the eagerly anticipated “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover — is always an exciting thing for fans, but during last season’s finale it was revealed that Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) will die in Season 8. In a sense, that feels a lot like knowing the outcome before the ending arrives but according to executive producer, Marc Guggenheim, even with Oliver’s death on the horizon, the series ending will be very unexpected.

During The CW’s presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour on Sunday, Guggenheim didn’t reveal any details about what was to come for Arrow, he did say that people were thinking of things in a “very binary way. ‘It has to be X or Y.’ I think we have Z planned.”

The idea that the ending may be unexpected is something that Guggenheim has teased before. Speaking with ComicBook.com at San Diego Comic-Con last month, when he talked about how the series has the ability to have a character-based finale, as opposed to a question-based one like what Game of Thrones had.

“The good news is unlike Game of Thrones or unlike Lost, were not burdened with having to answer a question,” Guggenheim said. “We’re not burdened with ‘who’s going to sit on the Iron Throne?’ or “what was the island?’ so we get to do, I think, a much more character-based ending. So, at the same time, the complication for us is that we also have Crisis and I think a lot of the stuff that was always in my head in terms of how to end the show we’re now actually going to end up doing in the crossover instead so it’s like now what does the series finale become? But, you know, we’ve got plans.”

“I’m really excited about it. The goal is to make it satisfying for the fans, but the good news for us is we don’t have the challenges that Lost, or Game of Thrones had,” he continued. We also don’t have the ratings, so there’s that, too. But I feel the pain of Damon, Benioff, and Weiss. It’s hard. It’s a hard thing to do in a way that satisfies everyone. I also think, because I’ve been thinking how does one end a series, there’s what the initial reaction to something is and then there’s how it stands the test of time and those two things are not always the same.”

What do you think might transpire in the Arrow series finale? Let us know in the comments below.

Arrow returns for its eighth and final season on Tuesday, October 15th at 9/8c on The CW.