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Oliver Queen | S8 Arrow Intro

TVLINE | For starters, can you clarify when you thought that you’d be done with Arrow after Season 7, and when you decided to come back for 10 more episodes?

I decided midway through Season 6 — basically over the Christmas break — that it was time to be done, and I broached that subject with [Arrowverse overlord] Greg [Berlanti]. He and and I talked for about a month before he formally notified [CW president] Mark [Pedowitz] and [WBTV president] Peter Roth, because he was like, “Think about this a lot, let’s talk about it, because once I kick it up the chain, once the ball starts rolling….” So I thought about it then. I assumed that [the series] was going to end at the end of 7, but Greg’s smarter than me, and he had a really good idea about a limited run in Season 8.

TVLINE | So at the time that you filmed last year’s “Elseworlds” crossover, when you saw that end card promising “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” did you know you would be back for the 10 episodes?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew that I was going to be back for 10 episodes of Season 8 before we started Season 7.

TVLINE | Was Emily [Bett Rickards]’s decision to leave at the end of Season 7 informed by your own thinking at the time?

Nope. Nope. Emily was a guest [star] in Season 1, and then she signed a six-year contract that ran through Season 7. She nailed it, and then she was done.

TVLINE | She wasn’t thinking, “Well, Stephen is probably gone anyway at the end of 7, so…”?

No, no. Frankly, from my perspective I really would have preferred that she stayed until the end, but from a professional standpoint, as one of her best friends… I get it.

TVLINE | I’ve said this to everybody over the years, to Mark [Pedowtiz], to Peter [Roth]…. You’ve been a tremendous ambassador for the show. You know how to tease what’s ahead without giving things away. Like, “Oliver does a thing 12 seconds into Episode 7 that will cause a reaction from someone….”

But you know that I give out spoilers all the time; I just don’t tell people that they’re spoilers. Like, I say things that are definitive plot points and it just goes [makes whooshing sound over head]. [Laughs] I love it, it’s my favorite thing.

TVLINE | You also can quote chapter-and-verse when arguing a point, like, “Such-and-such happened in the second scene of the third act of 518, and that’s why Oliver shouldn’t be saying this now.”

Right. Right. So, I get a reputation sometimes as being little demonstrative on set. That’s not what it is. It’s just, if you’re going to come to me for an idea, you better know exactly what you’re f–king talking about. Because if it doesn’t add up, I’ll have an issue with it.

TVLINE | Being such an ambassador for the Arrowverse, how does it feel to look at what’s being left behind — four or five-plus shows?

My hope is that I have played a small part in the way that Grant [Gustin] sets the tone on his show, and the way that Melissa [Benoist] sets the tone on her show, and the way that Caity [Lotz] sets the tone on her show. And maybe the way that Ruby [Rose] will set the tone on her show [Batwoman]. I hope that I played a small part in that. Or maybe not. Maybe they looked at what I did and did the opposite!

TVLINE | What sort of growth is left for Oliver over these 10 episodes?

We’re going to try to develop a sense of humor for him — in the nick of time. [Laughs]

TVLINE | What’s driving him right now?

Two things: One, he believes the Monitor, because Kara and Barry were going to die and the Monitor gave him [an alternative]. And secondarily, he believes Felicity when she says, “Whatever happens, I’ll find you.” He believes her. There’s a great exchange in [this season’s] Episode 2, between me and Rila Fukushima, who plays Tatsu, where she says, “You’re being driven by anger,” and he goes, “I’m not angry.” Because he’s not. He’s simply doing what has to be done. In a lot of ways, he was driven by anger in those earlier seasons; not so much this year. He’s just making good on the deal he made. He made a deal. He saved Barry, saved Kara…. [Sheepishly] I’m bummed out that he lied to Barry about making a deal.

TVLINE | What sort of conflicts will Oliver get into on a weekly basis, during this final run? The producers [at TCA] were talking about “humongous” events in each episode.

[Sarcastically] Well, yeah, that’d be the first time a showrunner had said, “It’s huge.” [Laughs] Oliver is doing the Monitor’s bidding. Both the first and the second episode are based around a specific task that the Monitor has given him. In both episodes he has to retrieve something.

TVLINE | But there will be opportunities for close quarters combat?

Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes. [Laughs] I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but… the first two episode are huge. [Laughs]

TVLINE | And lastly, what is one thing that, to this day, you can’t believe you got to do during your time on Arrow?

"It's something we've never done on our show before."

Oliver Queen is coming out of his short-lived retirement to join forces with the Monitor and prepare for the coming Crisis, a conflict he's been told will lead to his own death. Along the way, the series will revisit the most popular characters and conflicts from the past seven seasons, even as it also continues exploring the future of Team Arrow in the year 2049. We recently had a chance to chat with showrunner Beth Schwartz about the final season and how it pays tribute to Oliver Queen's legacy in the Arrowverse.

“There is a crisis is coming” - Oliver

“We are facing the destruction of pretty much everything” - Diggle

“Good luck” - Athena (Thanatos Guild)

“Nice of you to show up” - Laurel

“This is the night we are waiting for” - JJ Diggle

“This city will be ours” - JJ Diggle

“Less talking more fighting” - Thea

“Indiana Jones made this look way more fun” - Thea

“History is repeating itself” - Oliver

“Oliver?” - Moira

“Hi, mom” - Oliver

Comicbookmovie.com

One of TV’s longest-running live-action superhero shows, Arrow is heading to its eighth season on The CW. It spawned the Arrowverse, giving DC a small-screen foothold that Marvel had yet to find. Now its finale is tackling one of the greatest comic book events of all time: Crisis on Infinite Earths. Marv Wolfman’s and George Pérez’s continuity-straightening series was unprecedented at the time, and Wolfman’s return to the storyline for Arrow’s crossover episode should be just as epic. However, all the focus on the crossover doesn’t mean it’s the sole reason for the final Arrow season’s existence.

Arrow seemed to have been at a natural end once Season 7 wrapped, with only the event keeping it in place, at least in some fans’ minds. But according to TVLine, Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim explained that the five-part event came after the idea for Season 8. “We didn’t know that we were going to be doing Crisis in Season 8,” Guggenheim said. “And one thing I would love to clear up is this misconception I’ve read online that Crisis artificially extended Arrow’s life span, that the only reason we did a Season 8 of Arrow was to set up Crisis. That’s just patently untrue.”

EP Beth Schwartz explained at the TCAs that "the entirety of Season 8 leads up to Crisis," but this wasn’t always the plan—simply because ideas for Season 8 were bandied about before Season 7 even started, and long before Crisis was envisioned as the epic crossover finale. “Trust me—networks do not do additional episodes of anything just for one event,” Guggenheim said. “But let me put it even more succinctly: Even if we weren’t doing Crisis on Infinite Earths in Season 8, we’d still be doing a Season 8.”

That includes a plan for the absence of Felicity Smoak actress Emily Bett Rickards, who had signed a contract running through Season 7. Guggenheim confirmed that they “absolutely” had “a number of scenarios to account for Emily’s absence” before the Monitor began orchestrating his grand plan to save the multiverse.

David Ramsey talks his reaction to John Diggle having an adopted son for Arrow season 8 and the casting of future-JJ

Last season, Arrow revealed that in addition to their Flashpoint-gender-swapped son John Junior AKA JJ, John Diggle and Lyla have an adopted son, Connor. We also learned far more about Diggle’s childhood than before, with the introduction of his stepfather, General Stewart, in an excellent guest-starring role from the one and only Ernie Hudson. Den of Geek spoke with David Ramsay, who plays Diggle, to learn more about how this theme of fathers and sons will play out on Arrow season 8, the final season, this fall.

For many viewers, the surprise that JJ was gender-swapped (and no one really seemed to care?) had only just worn off when it was revealed that Connor Hawke was actually Diggle’s grown, adopted son in the future. But what was David Ramsay’s reaction when he found out?

“I was like, ‘For real?!’ That was really my reaction. Like, [my voice] really went up in inflection, the whole thing. Just like that, like, ‘Really?’ I was really like, ‘Really?’”

However, the inclusion of Hudson’s character brought Ramsay clarity: “He married my mother, but, ultimately, there was a process where he took me under his wing. But that opens up the door to me understanding that there's someone else that needs my help…and that's such a John Diggle thing. Right? That makes total sense, that John Diggle would do this. But my initial reaction was, "What, really?" But after it was explained, I totally got it.”

Viewers have, of course, already met Connor Hawke in the future. But when we last saw him in the present, he was a small child and his father, Ben Turner (former alias: Bronze Tiger), was very much still alive and out of Slabside maximum-security prison. One of the mysteries season 7 left for the final season is what happens to Ben Turner and how Dig and Lyla come to adopt Connor.

Ramsey is playing things coy, for now anyway. “I can't tell you what episode, but you'll find out. You'll find out the circumstances in which all this happens, and how and why it happens. But I can't tell you what episode that is.”

What we do know is that Charlie Barnett has been cast as future-JJ, Dig and Lyla’s other son, whose appearance next season has been teased heavily. “I've seen Charlie's work, and I was like, ‘Yes!’ And he looks like he could be me and Audrey's son,” referring to Marie Anderson, who plays Diggle’s wife Lyla.

“I haven't met him yet…I can't wait to, ultimately, hopefully, work with him. Fingers crossed.” At the time of the interview at the Summer TCA press tour (August 4, 2019), Ramsay said they had just finished working on episode two.