One of the more interesting elements of Arrow‘s seventh season has been the flash forwards woven into the story. Each episode, a little more of Team Arrow‘s fate is revealed but tonight we found out a lot more about what the future holds — including some very surprising turns.
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Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Arrow, “Level Two”, below.
Tonight’s episode saw Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) undergoing some dubious psychiatric treatment now that he’s made it to “Level Two” of Slabside Maximum Security Prison while the remaining members of the former Team Arrow deal with a new threat in the Glades. However, while those events unfolded in the present tense in the future, Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and adult William (Ben Lewis) make their way to Star City going off the geographical codes located in the talisman Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) gave William as a child.
And the Star City of the future? It’s not in the best of shape as the pair soon discover. In fact, there are a lot of surprises in Future Star City, both about the state of the city Oliver once protected and the people who helped him do it. Read on for a breakdown of the surprising reveals about Star City and Team Arrow’s future, as well as what it all might mean as compared to a possible timeline we’ve seen before — Star City 2046.
Smoak Technologies
When Roy and William arrive in Star City, the coordinates change and direct them to an even more specific location — the former Smoak Technologies building. It has definitely seen better days upon their arrival, but William is able to the hidden item they are being led to before the police show up.
The existence of Smoak Technologies is something that fans of the Arrowverse have seen before — in the Season 1 Legends of Tomorrow episode “Star City 2046”. In that timeline, Felicity renamed Palmer Technologies to Smoak Technologies sometime between 2016 and 2031, though she abandoned the building shortly after Grant Wilson/Deathstroke came to town. In Arrow’s current timeline, Smoak Technologies doesn’t currently exist. The closest thing to it, and perhaps its predecessor in the flash forwards, is Helix Dynamics.
The future existence of Smoak Technologies raises several questions, particularly about the timeline getting there, but one that fans will no doubt be asking is how Curtis (Echo Kellum) factors in — or doesn’t.
Dinah Drake
While at Smoak Technologies, Roy and William are nearly taken by the police. However, a hooded vigilante shows up and saves them. That hooded vigilante? None other than Dinah Drake. She’s older, as evidenced by the gray streaks in her hair, and something may have happened to her in the past as her fighting style is more physical than in the present time and she keeps touching her neck — notable because she doesn’t use her Canary Cry.
She tells Roy that he really shouldn’t be there, but gets both Roy and William out after revealing at least part of why Star City is so bleak and different.
The rise of the Glades
Dinah reveals to Roy and William that there has been some sort of uprising complete with a wall built around the Glades. She doesn’t elaborate on the events that led up to this or give much more information in general. Dinah just notes that the event has led to the ruins of Star City they’ve seen as well as made it even more dangerous to be vigilante.
Zoey is a vigilante
Being a vigilante may be dangerous and highly illegal in Star City’s future, but once Dinah gets Roy and William away from Smoak Technologies it’s revealed she’s not alone. Rene/Wild Dog’s (Rick Gonzalez) daughter, Zoe (played by Andrea Sixtos in this future) is also a vigilante now and part of a resistance effort
It’s an interesting reveal, especially when in the present Dinah is seen giving young Zoey a pin that just so happens to be the Black Canary symbol from comics.
Rene isn’t in Star City anymore
Speaking of Rene, the reveal that Zoe is now a vigilante brings up some questions about Rene. Turns out, he’s not in the picture. It’s revealed that Rene “wouldn’t be caught dead” in Star City these days, though we don’t yet know quite why. Given Rene’s devotion to his daughter and his city, his absence is curious to say the least.
Felicity is dead.
The biggest reveal in the flash forwards tonight was that there is no way that it was Felicity who sent William the message that led him there. Dinah reveals to Roy and William that Felicity is dead.
It’s not clear exactly how or when Felicity dies. Given the existence of Smoak Technologies it would appear it’s likely sometime in the late 2030s or early 2040s, but the way Dinah breaks the news makes it seem like her death was somewhat recent — news that may end up being a hard blow to William despite his estrangement from his stepmother.
Star City 2046 confirmed?
With all of the major reveals tonight, one huge question emerges: does tonight confirm the “Star City 2046” timeline? At this point the best answer we’ve got is maybe. There are just enough blanks that we have yet to fill that make it impossible to tell if the grim future seen on Legends is the real future for the Arrowverse, but there are just enough similarities to make us think that some of the bigger events of that possible future become reality — such as Smoak Tech and Star City’s fall. It’s also enough to line up with some of the other, grim futures we’ve seen in other areas of the Arrowverse including some sort of Crisis in 2024 where The Flash disappears and the fact a future Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) suppresses young Nora’s (Jessica Parker Kennedy) metahuman powers for reasons yet unrevealed.
Fans will have to keep watching to see what additional details about Future Star City are revealed as Arrow’s seventh season continues to see just how things play out, something showrunner Beth Schwartz has teased in a recent interview.
“When we had flashbacks in every episode, sometimes it felt like a little too much,” showrunner Beth Schwartz said recently. “I wanted to make sure that we were telling the story we needed to tell instead of being forced to tell them in every episode. With the flash forwards, we’re able to see the consequences of what our team has done in the present day story. In the future storyline you’re going to be able to see were vigilantes effective? How did that affect Star City in the future? How did it affect The Glades? How did it affect all the characters we love? Are people going to be the same or different? It opens up the world a lot.”
Arrow airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
