Arrow reaches its eighth and final season this fall and, by the sounds of it, The CW show will be making the most of its lengthy run and dig into its own history for its few remaining episodes. In particular, two long-dead characters have now been announced to be returning.
Entertainment Weekly caught up with Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz and exec producer Marc Guggenheim who revealed that both Adrian Chase/Prometheus (Josh Segarra) and Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell) will come back for season 8 as guest stars. However, don’t expect either character to be the same as we’ve seen them before.
“Adrian Chase comes back in a different way than expected,” Schwartz said of Segarra’s character, who originally appeared as the big bad of season 5. “We’re really excited about that because obviously he’s one of our favorite villains.”
Tommy, meanwhile, was only a regular in season 1 before Oliver Queen’s best friend was killed off. Guggenheim teased that Donnell is “not coming back as the Tommy we know,” though, so don’t expect a happy reunion between the old pals. Maybe he’ll be playing an evil alt-Tommy, much like his turn as Prometheus-X in the “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover.
Speaking of the word “Crisis,” there could be an easy way to explain these unexpected returns. At the end of season 7, the Green Arrow was whisked through a portal by the Monitor, as he was apparently needed elsewhere. This appeared to be a sign that the foretold Crisis on Infinite Earths had begun. So, if he’s exploring the multiverse, it makes sense that the Emerald Archer could encounter doppelgangers of old friends and enemies.
Arrow season 8 runs for 10 episodes and premieres on October 15th. Expect our first look to come next weekend, courtesy of San Diego Comic-Con. Watch out for it on Saturday, July 20th at around 3:30pm PST.