With the final season of The CW's Arrow fast approaching, new images reveal that Oliver Queen will be accompanied by his reliable friends John Diggle (David Ramsey) and Black Canary (Katie Cassidy-Rodgers) in a rather familiar setting. The upcoming eighth season focuses on Oliver Queen's mission for The Monitor in a lead-in to this year's highly anticipated Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.
Oliver was tasked by the ancient being with helping to avoid the Crisis Event in last year's season finale, opening up a multiverse worth of toys for the CW to work with for the final season. Among those toys are returning characters, even ones who previously ended up dead. With the multiversal possibilities opened up by the introduction of the Monitor, Arrow could see the titular character travel to alternate worlds to gain help for the upcoming crossover.
As noted by CBR, Arrow's season 8 premiere episode is titled "Starling City," which was originally the name of Oliver's home until the end of Season 3, when it was renamed "Star City." Could this combined with the reintroduction of previously deceased characters hint toward dimension-hopping? Perhaps. That said, executive producer Beth Schwartz previously stated that season 8 would take place on Earth 1, the main overall hub for the Arrowverse shows. Check out this latest batch of Arrow season 8 photos below, which include Moira Queen (played by Sussana Thompson) and Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), who appear to be alive and well despite having being killed off in previous seasons.
One of the other major factors hinting at this possible new multiversal status quo is Laurel Lance's new Black Canary costume and hairstyle, which debuted in the SDCC trailer for Arrow Season 8. When fans last saw Laurel, she had returned from Earth 2 to help Oliver in the season finale, but retained the costume and hairstyle of the original Laurel Lance. This new look could potentially hint toward another iteration of the character in the Arrowverse. John Diggle seems to be sporting his current Spartan look, which seemingly suggests this is the same Diggle that audiences have watched since the pilot episode.
It's clear from the above photos that the final season of Arrow is holding nothing back, and is providing fans with a bang, fueled with nostalgic surprises. The show is now able to make the most out of the expansive playground that is the multiverse to provide fans with the best of the best, such as Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen being happily reunited with his original season 1 bow.
Arrow season 8 premieres October 15 on The CW.
Source: CBR