Arrow Final Season Premiere Synopsis Released

The CW has released the official synopsis for “Starling City,” the season premiere of Arrow‘s eighth and final season, which will begin on October 15. In the episode, Oliver revisits his past…but we don’t really know any more about how than we did before the synopsis was released. Yes, “Starling City” is no longer the name, and Oliver has been seen in teasers for the season interacting with characters from the show’s past…but it is not yet clear whether it’s just time travel at play, or whether he and The Monitor are moving around the multiverse ahead of the events of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

Either way, the show will take a decidedly different tact this season, with Oliver and Diggle on The Monitor’s quest while in the future, Ben and Mia struggle to deal with some Diggle family drama. You can check out the official synopsis below.

SEASON PREMIERE – While trying to decipher The Monitor’s (guest star LaMonica Garrett) mission, Oliver (Stephen Amell) returns to Starling City where he encounters familiar faces. Meanwhile, Mia (Katherine McNamara) and William’s (Ben Lewis) team clash with a new foe.

That new foe is likely John Diggle, Jr., who leads the Deathstroke Gang in the 2040 future where the Mia-centric flash-forwards are set.

The episode was directed by Arrow stunt guru James Bamford, from a screenplay written by showrunner Beth Schwartz and Arrow co-creator/consulting producer Marc Guggenheim, whose role in the first half of the season will likely be bigger than it has been recently since he is running “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

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, the Canaries-centric spinoff gets picked up to series). 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.