Arrow's cast and crew are likely going to deliver a final season like no other whenever the Emerald Archer heads back to The CW, and none of the Season 8 teases so far have done anything to alter those expectations. Showrunner Beth Schwartz recently revealed the season premiere's title will be "Starling City," which had many assuming that more of Arrow's signature flashbacks were on the way. But now, star Stephen Amell has us wondering if that's not quite the case.
Ever the happy hint supplier on social media, Stephen Amell shared the following post with quite a curious caption. Check it out!
As fan are probably well aware, the shot in question was taken from inside the Queen family mansion, which isn't currently in a position to look anywhere near that nice on camera. The previously swanky domicile was the victim of a fire in the past, and was last shown looking as such in Season 7 whenever Emiko paid a visit to her father Robert Queen's grave.
It's highly unlikely Oliver will get a bunch of contractors over to fix things up again when Season 8 starts. Though it would be an interesting if Team Arrow turned their talents toward home renovations, there are other factors at play here.
The first part of Stephen Amell's caption taps into the more expected explanation, that the mansion is part of a flashback sequence. Since the episode's title refers to the comic book location's name before it was shortened to "Star City" back in Season 4, it would make sense for part of the episode to be centered entirely on moments from years ago, before Oliver had to say goodbye to Felicity – Emily Bett Rickards exited the show at the end of last season – and before he knew about his secret half-sister.
But it's the rest of Stephen Amell's wording that spins things in interesting ways. What if it's not a blast from the past at all, but rather a "blast from the present?" How could such a concept even make sense?
The timeline tricks become a little easier to consider once one recalls that Arrow ended Season 7 with a visit from LaMonica Garrett's semi-omnipotent The Monitor. When that guy's around, anything can happen. He and his adversary The Anti-Monitor are crucial to the impending "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover that is already one of the most anticipated TV events of the fall season.
So does Arrow start off its final season by teasing a post-Crisis universe where Earth-1's reality has been merged with those of all of the other Earths out there, reverting the Queens' mansion back to its former glory? Also, can we take a second to appreciate The CW for taking these shows to a point where the above question is likely enough explanation for anything?
Alternately, the mansion could return to its unburned state in the present by use of time travel, rather than simply being revived visually via flashback. We can be pretty sure that time travel is coming into play at some point so that current-day Oliver can meet grown-up Mia and possibly other future Team Arrow members. Depending on how John Jr.'s story goes early in Season 8, he might be in need of a course correction as well.
The Diggle...er...the devil is in the details, though, and without more details about the mansion's return, fans can only continue to speculate on this and all things Felicity. Which would probably happen anyway, so it's business as usual. In any case, Stephen Amell was pumped to make it happen. Here's what he tweeted out ahead of the past few days of shooting.
It was previously revealed that Arrow Season 8 will be welcoming back Colin Donnell's Tommy Merlin and Josh Segarra's Adrian Chase, who also served as the villainous Prometheus. And there may be a lot more, too. Only, Tommy and Chase are going to be changed up in some way. Could those changes and returns factor into Crisis and/or whatever brings the Queen mansion back? You bet your arse...nal. (Yeah, I'm looking for more Roy Harper, too.)
Arrow will return to The CW for Season 8 on Tuesday, October 15, following the second episode of The Flash Season 6. The "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover is set to go down partly before the winter hiatus, and it's scheduled to wrap up when the Arrow-verse shows return in the new year.
