Arrow Producer Looks Back at Series Opening Scene Ahead of Finale

After eight seasons, Oliver Queen’s mission ends tonight with the series finale of Arrow and with the final chapter of the Green Arrow’s story finally here, there’s been a lot of reflection on the journey, not just of the character but on the making of the series as well. Ahead of the finale episode, “Fadeout”, series co-creator Marc Guggenheim took to social media to reflect on the series that forever changed the landscape of comic book television by offering fans a look at how it all began: the storyboards for Arrow‘s opening scene.

On Twitter, Guggenheim posted storyboards labelled “The Arrow Teaser” that breaks down those first moments viewers met Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) back in the series pilot in which we saw the castaway future hero running through Lian Yu’s woods and climbing up a rocky cliff face to find and signal a boat that would ultimately bring him home to Starling City. Check it out below.

“Tonight, Arrow ends after 8 years,” Guggenheim wrote. “Here’s a look at the storyboards for its opening moments…”

Guggenheim isn’t alone in taking a moment to look back at Arrow as the finale looms. On Monday, current showrunner Beth Schwartz also took to Twitter to share her own look behind-the-scenes at a previous season. In her post, Schwartz shared a photo of her handwritten notes for one of the episodes from Season 7 in which she noted questions about the details of making the episode work better.

Like Guggenheim’s sharing of the storyboards, Schwartz’s notes are evidence of just how far Oliver Queen has come as a character since that 2012 debut, but for series star Amell, the journey wasn’t just one that his character took. It’s one that he took as well and the actor also reflected on the “transformative journey” in his own bittersweet reflection on the series and his time as the superhero.

“Today’s bittersweet,” Amell wrote in his own post on Tuesday. “Arrow meant so much to me for so many years. It was a transformative journey… but it was time to let it go. I lace my boots and don the hood one last time tonight. I’ll forever cherish being an ambassador for Oliver Queen. Thank you for the honor.”

Arrow ends tonight with a one-hour retrospective on the series titled “Hitting the Bullseye” at 8/7c. The series finale, “Fadeout”, follows at 9/8c on The CW.