The CW’s just-released schedule for the spring of 2020 has revealed that Arrow will have its season finale on January 28, two weeks after the conclusion of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and a week after the return of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The series will onclude following the events of “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” the five-show crossover (plus numerous cameos, but who’s counting?) that begins in December and concludes in mid-January after the end of The CW’s holiday break. The series, which was The CW’s first superhero series following the end of Smallville and has spawned a number of spinoffs, was renewed last season with a limited order and a “final season” designation.
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Shortly after that renewal came the news that Oliver Queen would die in “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” the result of a deal he made with The Monitor during the “Elseworlds” crossover. The season has a total of ten episodes, including seven before “Crisis” and two after, including a backdoor pilot for The CW’s hoped-for Green Arrow and the Birds of Prey series.
After eight seasons of dark and violent nights, it seems Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) will find some version of peace in finale, if the final two words of the series finale are to be believed. Ahead of the start of production on “Fadeout,” the series finale, producer Marc Guggenheim shared the cover page to the episode yesterday, as well as a heavily-redacted final page of the script. Of the actual content in the script, only the words “Of possibility…” are visible — followed by a fade to black and the series’ end. Oliver Queen will have his hero’s ending, and the Arrowverse will go on without Stephen Amell.
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.
The title for the final episode, which is to be directed by veteran Arrow stunt coordinator James Bamford, is “Fadeout,” which both seems like an appropriate title for the end of any series and also shares its name with a part of a bow, giving it a dual meaning in a series about a modern-day Robin Hood.
Arrow airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following episodes of The Flash on The CW.
