‘Arrow’ Showrunner Teases No “Happily Ever After” For Roy

Colton Haynes returned as Roy Harper in the final moments of Arrow‘s season premiere with a surprising twist. He’s older, appears to be living on Lian Yu, and came face-to-face with an older version of Oliver’s son William.

With the character having reunited with Thea (Willa Holland) in Season 6 before heading off into the sunset so to speak the flash forward is a curious one and, according to showrunner Beth Schwartz, fans will soon find out that Roy didn’t exactly get his happily ever after.

“You’ll see a lot more in episode two that he’s much darker,” Schwartz told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview. “He’s definitely been burned. There will be a lot of mysteries to reveal throughout the season about what happened to him in that time span. We don’t like the happily ever afters, apparently.”

Roy being on Lian Yu and sought out by an adult William (Ben Lewis) — who himself will have a season-long story arc this year — certainly implies that there may be a lack of happily ever afters for other characters on Arrow as well. During the Season 7 premiere, William comes to Lian Yu by boat to seek Roy out. While it’s not clear if William is asking Roy to come out of retirement, to help him train, or for another reason altogether, with Roy in full Arsenal gear — and the less-than-pleasant history of Lian Yu as where Oliver was stranded for five years among other things — it’s probably not for a cheerful reason. It’s also a reason that Haynes told ComicBook.com was as one that no one would understand.

“I got a call from Greg Berlanti, and he said ‘Hey!,’” Haynes said. “I was shooting [American] Horror Story at the time. And he said ‘If you want to come back, you’re welcome to come back. We have a great idea,’ And it’s the craziest idea. Roy Harper’s coming back in a way that no one is going to understand. It’s amazing, and I was like ‘I can’t wait to be around my friends and my family!’ And so, I, of course, jumped at that opportunity.”

What do you think about the idea of Roy — and others — not having a happily ever after on Arrow? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Arrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.