Arrow executive producer Beth Schwartz admits wrapping up the series after eight seasons was a challenge, but feels confident the hard work will result in a perfect ending. The series has consistently delivered for the CW network since its debut, from launching an entire universe (or Arrowverse) of shows, to introducing viewers to an impressive array of heroes and villains from the pages of the DC comic book universe. Arrow also birthed a new legion of Green Arrow fans, an impressive feat for a character first introduced in the pages of the long-forgotten More Fun Comics in 1941. Now, the long-running series comes to an end with its final episode, “Fadeout.”
Even though Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen has been dead for weeks, there’s still a lot to wrap up in Arrow’s series finale: a planned spin-off show to set up, character arcs to close, and a newly-created Earth-Prime to establish. The fallout of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and Oliver’s subsequent death, are the two biggest plot points that need addressing. The end of the multi-part crossover saw all the numerous alternate Earths merged into far fewer numbers, and turned Arrow’s Earth-1 into the aforementioned Earth-Prime. There’s also the matter of Oliver’s love interest, Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), who was whisked away by the villainous Monitor in season 7. However, the character is expected to return in the last episode to attend Oliver’s funeral.
Felicity’s return allows for the character to meet her adult daughter, Mia (the future Green Arrow), for the first time, although it’s “not obviously under great circumstances because they’re at Oliver’s funeral,” according to Schwartz in an interview with Variety. “There’s a lot of wish fulfillment,” the executive producer teased. “It’s really important for me and [executive producer] Marc [Guggenheim] to honor all of our characters,” Schwartz continued.
“We spent a lot of time in the room brainstorming endings for all our characters, whether they were series regulars in season 8 or they were series regulars in season 1. We really wanted to give everyone a satisfying ending, so that you could envision what their lives would be like after the show was over.” These brainstorming sessions included debates about which dead characters could return. “We were really setting the rules [for who was back and why]. And we spell it out in the finale,” Schwartz said.
In addition to their desire to find a satisfying ending to the series, the producers have the future of the Arrowverse to consider. “We’ve had a lot of discussions about what’s new, but at the same time, because we have the possibly the spinoff, and there’s also all these other sister shows, we’ve given ourselves the freedom to be [flexible],” executive producer Marc Guggenheim said. That flexibility even extends to seeding a future HBO Max series centered around another DC property, the Green Lantern Corps, by teasing a connection to one of Arrow’s main characters, John Diggle (David Ramsey). One thing fans probably won’t see in the finale is the return of Oliver Queen, as Schwartz previously told The Hollywood Reporter, “Yes, he is really dead this time.”
More: Arrow Series Finale Images Reveal Major Characters Return, Flash Crossover
Source: Variety
