Since Oliver Queen’s crusade began back in the fall of 2012, we’ve seen Arrow gradually evolve into the beast that it is now. What started as one man’s journey to save a city eventually became a team effort, with the Emerald Archer himself growing as a person along the way. Long story short, he found love, took in his estranged son, and has thwarted the destructive plans of countless villains.
Of course, change is key when keeping any TV show fresh. Sure, there exist countless sitcoms that’ll never alter their status quo for long, but what keeps me coming back to any series is the assurance of seeing something different every so often.
As we mentioned earlier, Oliver is now raising his son, William, whose mother died in the blast on Lian Yu which occurred in season 5’s finale. Needless to say, that happening was among the most pivotal in the series’ history, but according to lead actor Stephen Amell himself, something on the horizon may dwarf that in magnitude.
Here’s what he had to say when speaking at Heroes & Villains Fan Fest in Chicago over the weekend:
“I think that we will do what we typically do, which is we do a basic time cut, so if we wrap up season six in May, where we find our characters we will be in October. I know where Oliver begins the year, but I know that it is something on the show, more so than anything that we’ve ever done, more so than blowing up the island, it is something on the show that we can never undo, if that makes sense. And if it doesn’t make sense, even better.”
Now, if that doesn’t sound ominous, I don’t know what does. Personally, I think it’s hard to pinpoint what the producers can do that can’t be undone, but all signs are pointing toward a back-to-basics approach, as it wouldn’t surprise me if season 7 sees the Green Arrow flying solo – or with only one sidekick.
Already, we’ve seen Team Arrow itself fracture down the center, with the newbies going off and doing their own thing. But what didn’t help matters was seeing Oliver and John Diggle coming to blows last week, with the latter jumping ship to ARGUS.
Still, none of this stuff can’t be undone, so that makes me wonder if Oliver will definitively be publicly outed as the Green Arrow, something that it seems the series has been leading up to. Actually, Smallville‘s version of the character willingly gave up this knowledge to the media, but it’s a little more difficult to let the cat out of the bag in this case because it’s widely known the iteration existing in the Arrowverse has committed murder.
No matter how the cookie crumbles, it gives us all the more reason to check out Arrow on Thursday nights on The CW for the remainder of the season.