8 Questions Raised by the ‘Arrow’ Season 6 Finale

Arrow‘s Season 6 finale was touted as a wild, unpredictable ride with “Life Sentence” and The CW series certainly delivered.

Spoilers for tonight’s season finale of Arrow, “Life Sentence”, below.

The episode saw Team Arrow‘s fight against Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) finally reach its climax. With FBI reinforcements, the heroes made a major push to take down the crime lord who had been plaguing not just them but all of Star City this season. However, the effort did not come without a price, though. Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) died after taking a bullet for Laurel/Black Siren (Katie Cassidy) and if that wasn’t enough, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was taken away in handcuffs having made a that means a lengthy sentence behind bars in a supermax prison.

And all of those sacrifices may have been for naught. Despite Laurel using her sonic scream to blast Diaz off the roof of a building into the river, Diaz somehow survived. He was seen watching Oliver’s press conference from inside some lair, his eyes dark with rage. Things are most certainly not over.

So, if Diaz is still around, Lance is gone, and Oliver is in jail, there are a lot of questions about what to expect in Season 7. We know that the upcoming season involves something that the show can’t undo — Amell himself teased it at Heroes and Villains FanFest in Chicago last month, but we have other questions now that Season 6 is behind us.

Read on for what we’re asking about after “Life Sentence”.

What’s next for Diaz?

Ricardo Diaz lives to cause problems another day. Despite Laurel’s efforts to kill the crime lord, Diaz survived. But his operation was dealt a major blow with Oliver able to clone the contents of the drive with all of Diaz’s secrets on it so we want to know what’s next for the villain.

Clearly, we’re going to see him again, but we kind of knew that going in. Ahead of the season finale, departing showrunner Marc Guggenheim explained that the DC Comics villain team, the Longbow Hunters, would be name dropped in the episode and they were. It’s even possible that the Longbow Hunters are who rescued Diaz from the river, which would make sense. In comics, Diaz is the leader of the criminal group and now that the characters are officially part of the Arrowverse, there as a few stories the series could pursue with Diaz and the team next season.

What’s next for Laurel?

Tonight’s episode was particularly difficult on Laurel. Diaz used her to attempt to get Quentin to do as he demanded and then, when Diaz attempted to kill her, Quentin took the bullet instead. She was there at the hospital when Quentin died, the evil doppelganger of Earth-1’s beloved Laurel stepping up and contacting Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) in what had to be the most awkward and difficult situation imaginable.

So what’s next for her? We’re thinking that there might be redemption in the cards. Quentin never gave up on Laurel and now that he’s gone, it’s possible that she may truly try to live up to his hope for her. The idea of redemption is something that Cassidy teased when speaking with ComicBook.com’s own Brandon Davis at Heroes and Villains FanFest in Nashville last weekend.

“Yeah, absolutely.” Cassidy revealed. “I think there’s room for redemption for her character. And I think, what I believe is that if they do reveal more of her backstory, and sort of tell her story actually, there’ll be a lot more of an understanding of why she acts the way that she does.”

Will we see ‘Green Arrow: Escape From Super Max’?

Oliver Queen said it himself: he was heading for incarceration in a federal supermax prison. For those who have been keeping track of comic book movies, that might have caused your ears to prick up.

You see, there was once a Green Arrow movie planned under the name Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max. The film would have followed the general idea that Green Arrow ends up incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. This ends up with him locked up with some real villains in a high security supermax facility and those villains? Are ones he put there. However, he ends up putting together unlikely partnerships in an attempt to escape.

Since we can’t imagine Arrow doing an entire season or more with its main character in prison, we have to wonder if some variation of that abandoned project is in the cards for Season 7.

Does Oliver’s incarceration set up for Roy’s return?

Fans already have one thing to look forward to next season and that’s the return of actor Colton Haynes as Roy Harper. However, since the announcement fans have wondered how exactly we would see the character again. After all, last we saw he was heading off with Thea Queen (Willa Holland) to destroy three new Lazarus Pits that had been discovered.

Tonight’s episode might have created an entry. Before being hauled off, Oliver revealed to the city that he was the Green Arrow and that Roy Harper had covered for him. He also called on his friends and team and allies to help protect the city now that he would be behind bars. With Diaz still out there and Roy officially being cleared (at least by Oliver) this could be the opening needed for Roy to return. Team Arrow will likely need the help.

How will Star City react?

Star City got hit with some major blows tonight. First, the FBI showed up and took things over. Second, the acting mayor died. And, possibly the biggest blow of all, a man whose family has long been a big part of Star City and served as the mayor outed himself as Green Arrow.

How will the city react to that? It’s a huge reveal, but even more than that the city still has the anti-vigilante ordinance and, even though they have evidence that vigilantes aren’t bad guys and even though they have a villain still running loose, will they really walk that ordinance back or will they double down, thanks to Oliver’s reveal?

As it stands, Star City is not in an enviable position.

How will Oliver realistically get out of this?

Oliver made a deal with the FBI and is now behind bars, presumably forever. Yet, it’s unlikely that he is going to stay in prison all that long. He’s the central character, after all. So how does Oliver get out?

The most likely possibility is that the government will need his service somehow. If Diaz ends up being the villain next year and things get bad enough, Oliver may be let out to try to stop him kind of in the vein of the Suicide Squad. There’s also the possibility that whatever is on Diaz’s flash drive is enough that the government could outright pardon him. We’re not saying that these are likely, but it they are two of the most realistic options we can think of.

Other than, you know, a prison break.

Is Team Arrow really off the hook?

Part of Oliver’s deal with the feds was that his allies — specifically Team Arrow — be given immunity. But is it really that easy?

For starters, Oliver didn’t really live up to his end of the deal. Diaz is still at large. Also, just because they have federal immunity doesn’t mean that they aren’t still in violation of state and local laws. It also doesn’t mean that they can simply go back to doing the same things that got them in trouble in the first place. We want to know if there will be continued ramifications for Team Arrow or if the show is just going to sweep it all under the rug.

Will ‘The Flash” season finale impact ‘Arrow’?

The Flash‘s season finale isn’t until Tuesday and it has seriously high stakes. That show’s seasonal big bad, The Thinker, is enacting a plan to wipe the intelligence and emotions of every person on the planet so that he can be in charge, leading and “enlightening” them. He calls the plan “The Enlightenment” and it has terrifying implications.

With the two shows being in the shared universe — Diggle did appear on The Flash this week — if The Thinker is successful will that impact Arrow’s seventh season? We don’t expect that it will. Maybe The Flash will stop DeVoe before it takes wide effect or something else will happen, but if it did? Well, as we have seen in previews for The Flash season finale The Enlightenment does impact technology. Maybe it’s how Oliver gets out of prison.

What did you think about Arrow‘s season finale? Sound off in comments below!

Arrow will return this fall.