For fans going into Arrow‘s eighth and final season, it can be quite difficult to map out the final chapter in Oliver Queen’s journey. Fortunately, recent announcements coming out of the latest TCA press event have cleared up certain matters, such as revealing the premiere takes place one week after season 7’s finale.
But when it comes to me, however, I can’t help wondering how this tale will end and how the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover factors into it. When it was disclosed that Arrow‘s part in the five-hour event will air in January, I probably wasn’t the only one wondering if said episode will function as the series finale.
Per Deadline, episode 8×08 will serve as part of the “Crisis” crossover, but it’s this full quote from consulting producer Marc Guggenheim served up by Gamespot that really lets us know how the final three episodes are structured:
“I would say Episode 9 is very specific. We know exactly what happens in it. It’s not related to the crossover. And it’s too early for me to talk about exactly what that episode is. But it’s, you know, if we do it right, it’ll be really special. And then Episode 10 will be a proper series finale.”
Right now, I’m just as baffled as you are as to how the episode directly following “Crisis” can have nothing to do with it. One possibility occurring to me is that it’ll be devoted entirely to the flash forward segments, effectively wrapping up the adventures of Mia Smoak and her pals in 2040, but we’ll have to wait and see.
On the plus side, we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that a proper series finale awaits us. In my view, a show that’s lasted for eight seasons shouldn’t end during a crossover – even if it’s one of the biggest superhero stories to ever go down in live action.
Arrow returns with new episodes on Tuesday, October 15th on The CW.