[SPOILERS for those not caught up on Arrow ahead.]
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Arrow has been a major driving force for superhero television since The CW’s Smallville came to an end five years back, in 2011. Airing on the same network and picking up an incredibly loyal and healthy fan base, the show has gone on to spawn more of its type within the DC superhero genre; with The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl all successful series in their own right.
This past week has been a major one for all four of the shows, when the biggest crossover (perhaps in television history) took place. Bringing characters from the different series and their locations together, an alien invasion took place - meaning, all of The CW's heroes had to band together to stop the threat from annihilating humankind. Despite that, producer Andrew Kreisberg has said alien storylines will no longer be a part of Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. The ripple effects from everything that went on in the four-part crossover however, will have a lasting impact.
As part of the EW Spoiler Room, fans of various shows get to ask questions about their favourite television series. With one particular viewer asking ‘How will the Invasion crossover affect Team Arrow moving forward?’, an answer was provided by Kreisberg:
“It forced Oliver to double down on his mission and commit to this life with all of its loses and failures and challenges."
Moving forward, based on this information, we should be seeing an Oliver Queen more dedicated to the job than ever before. Taking the bad with the good, he’s never going to get back the perfection he thought he once had, but sounds determined to make the best of every situation he’ll be in.
Making the decision for aliens only to be a part of the Arrow, Flash and Legends shows during the crossover was likely the right one. Supergirl is there to fill that void and seeing more intergalactic storylines across all four of the Arrowverse shows could be overkill for the fans. With over 20 episodes each season to fill, Supergirl for now can easily handle the extra-terrestrial stories all by itself.
Of course, there’s always the chance that writers are beginning to run out of steam with the storylines they’re currently putting out there. There’s only so much vigilante action, Speedster battling and time-traveling one can get up to before things start feeling a little stale. With such a wealth of material to draw on through the DC comic books however, the shows within the Arrowverse should have a longer-lasting shelf life than many of their rivals.
NEXT: Arrow Midseason Finale to Handle Flashpoint Fallout
Arrow continues next Wednesday with ‘What We Leave Behind’ @8pm on The CW.
Source: EW