Arrow: Charlie Barnett Teases His Role as John Diggle Jr.

Arrow might be taking a trip down memory lane in its eighth and final season, but it will be introducing a pretty prominent new face in the form of an older John Diggle Jr. (Charlie Barnett). In a new interview with Variety, Barnett was asked about his entrance into the Arrowverse, and whether that will conflict with his role on the Emmy-nominated Russian Doll.

“I’m only on Arrow for a couple of episodes,” Barnett revealed. “And you know, it’s the last season of Arrow. So, I know — I shouldn’t say, literally I catch myself in these positions where I’m about to drop some information, but I’m like ‘Nah, let’s take a sec.’”

“I think Arrow has some interesting things coming up, but I don’t know if I’m committed to the world, let’s say.” Barnett added. “There’s a lot of worlds going on in Arrow right now.”

Barnett’s cryptic message might raise the eyebrows of some Arrow fans — especially those who have been speculating about the fate of certain characters once the show comes to an end. As consulting producer Marc Guggenheim told ComicBook.com last month, there’s definitely a possibility that some of the show’s supporting characters could have a longer life on one of the other Arrowverse shows.

“That’s a terrific question, and there’s always a chance.” Guggenheim explained. “Especially since this has now become this huge universe. We have all these different places we can go, different ways we can tell stories. And the thing I always – and I’ve been saying this for a few years now, because it’s been a universe for a few years now – whenever an actor leaves the show, I always say ‘It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.’ Because we have all these different avenues available to us, between time travel and parallel universes and animated — you name it, we’ve got all these different avenues, which is a nice thing to be able to explore.”

And of course, there’s the question of whether or not Arrow‘s future-set events – which Barnett’s John Diggle Jr. would be a part of – could get their own spinoff on the network. Network president Mark Pedowitz called that project “a possibility” during the Television Critics Association press tour, but that nothing was currently in the works.

“It was definitely meant to grow the world that we had already built and to see the next generation of what Oliver and Felicity and our present-day team have worked so hard for, and sort of see what happens in the future,” showrunner Beth Schwartz said back in April. “We love those characters and would love to see them go on in some capacity after the show’s over.”

Arrow‘s final season will begin Tuesday, October 15th, at 9/8c on The CW.