Arrow Boss Talks Premiere’s Big Twist, Oliver and Felicity’s Shared Fight
Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Monday’s Arrow premiere.
Monday’s Arrow season premiere went back to the beginning — and to the future! Through a series of flash-forwards, viewers were introduced to Oliver’s now-adult son William (played by Chasing Life‘s Ben Lewis) as he arrived on Lian Yu. While traversing the island where his dad was stranded for so many years, William got caught in a trap. After his captor arrived, William exclaimed, “You knew my father!” The mystery figure then took off his hood, revealing himself to be… an older Roy Harper!
“When you’re on a show for so long, the challenges are trying to tell new stories with your characters,” showrunner Beth Schwartz explains. But the new timeline, which picks up 20 years after the present day, has “just opened up a huge world for us, and the creativity just poured in. Now the stories are endless.”
While the future glimpses won’t be included in every episode, they will be present “a lot,” and “all season and series,” reveals Schwartz, who is mum on details about the twist. As for whether other familiar names will appear in the future, either played by series regulars or guest stars, Schwartz would only say, “We’re going to see some of our characters,” and dig deeper into how the past affects the future.
“Part of what made this series so successful in having the flashbacks is that you were able to really get into your characters,” Schwartz shares. “Especially with Oliver, you knew how he became the way he is. And now with the flash-forwards, you’re able to see what is happening in the present day, [and] how that affects the characters in the future.”
Speaking of the present, the season premiere found Oliver trying to keep his head down in prison to mixed results. After Diaz’s inside men attacked him — and his wife Felicity and son William on the outside — Oliver chose to fight back quite brutally. (We’ll never look at The Count of Monte Cristo the same way again.) As much as the other guy had it coming, the violent incident extended Oliver’s stay behind bars, keeping him away from his loved ones.
“I love the prison story. It’s one of my favorite things this season, because it’s just so different from anything we’ve done before,” Schwartz describes. “It allows [Oliver] to be with other people. We wanted to keep him separate, because the reality of when you’re in prison [is] you’re not with your family. So his storylines are with the characters in the prison,” and in particular, wrongly convicted inmate Stanley (Gracepoint‘s Brendan Fletcher).
“The reason I love their relationship so much is because, first of all, they are opposites,” Schwartz says of the oddball dynamic. “He’s kind of the voice of the hope of the city, who believed in [the Green Arrow], because he’s the Green Arrow’s biggest fan. So he’s kind of a little bit of the light for Oliver in prison.”
[pmc_inline_gallery]
Elsewhere in the episode, Felicity told Oliver that she was done hiding from Diaz, and opted not to go into Witness Protection again. (Don’t worry, William is headed to boarding school.) And although the husband and wife are separated by their circumstances, they’re “fighting for the same thing,” which is their family, Schwartz notes. “So even though we don’t physically see them together, their goals are the same. So they connect without physically connecting, which I think is really cool. You don’t need to see them together to get that connection.”
Finally, there’s the premiere’s other big mystery: Who is the new Green Arrow crossing names off a list? “We’ll definitely unveil and explore [that] before the end of the season,” Schwartz promises, adding that Dinah and Rene will continue to be “on different sides” of the “New Green Arrow: Friend or Foe?” debate.
Arrow fans, what did you think of the season opener? Grade it via the poll below, then hit the comments!
So this is what Roy will used for? Flashforwards? He won’t be a part of Team Arrow again?
Am I the only one who thinks having flash-forwards set TWENTY years in the future is kind of pointless?
No, you are definitely not alone in that.
I think Stephen Amell is leaving this year and this is how they set up Season 8
He’s not leaving.He signed for a S8.He said it in his FB video last week and he talked about it back in August and in September that he wasn’t leaving the show.
He ain’t getting younger, and stunt work isn’t easy peasy – the show will come to end eventually. But this premiere setup so far has some tendency of potential new spin off, I would say.
Ya but he is in Fantastic shape and there are stunt doubles for a reason. The fight scenes are amazing. The show has lots of years left if needed. I’m curious about the flash forwards and I will roll with it until it doesn’t make sense. I have faith in the writers.
Are you kidding? He was on American Ninja last season doing those suicide chin ups and got to the top then he tackled another apparatus and then flew up the side of the wall and rang the buzzer with ease and a nice time. Not bad for an old “geezer”.
Nope. It seems bizarre to me.
It *might* make sense on The Flash, if part of the storyline was the Flash actively using his powers to manipulate the outcome of a known future (which is basically what a large part of this season seems to be about with the long-ago introduced newspaper headline). But, I don’t see its relevance in Arrow. All they’ve done is remove any threat of William or Roy ever being severely injured or killed.
The island flashBACKS were bad enough. Who wants to watch endless flashFOWARD scenes of William and Roy on the island having unnecessarily cryptic conversations in which they don’t speak clearly or plainly because the show can’t actually establish / set in stone what’s going to happen to all of the characters?
One episode into the new format, it’s impossible to know. The first episode was executed well, but it also informs the viewer (something I think a lot of people have overlooked) that the endgame for this series is Oliver’s death.
oh we haven’t overlooked it. We’re just hoping they aren’t stupid enough to make the endgame Oliver’s death. I’m definitely concerned. I don’t think flash forwards are a good idea at all, and I sure as hell don’t want to watch this show waiting to see how Oliver dies. No thank you! I want him to be happy at the end of this nightmare.
No, you really aren’t the only one.
It has been a long, long time since this show has left me feeling this excited. I was literally shaking the last ten minutes of the show. That fight scene, the Olicity scene, the fact that they just “12 Monkey”-ed-“greetings [donkey butt], I am future [donkey butt]”-ed it us…they hit it so far out of the park the Dodgers and Brewers paused to admire it. I really hope they can sustain this kind of quality throughout the season.
i thought it was awesome but kind of tired of every season beginning with Oliver missing from the team in sone way. How long before he’s released n Diaz is caught lol? …I figured it was older William, but I thought he pulled a Nora n came back from the future to get Roy…looking forward to the season
*he is *some
I hope Oliver is out by the crossover episodes but I’m not holding my breath.
Unless the show decides to introduce some kind of time travel element then I feel the flash-forward plot is fairly useless. It’s not like the present and future timelines can catch up with each other. Just feels a very odd story choice…
I think they should have moved the show to the future to reboot it and use the flashbacks to show present day and what happened after last season’s finale.
I guess the flash forwards could work. God knows they over did the flashbacks. Oliver was only gone 5 years. They went back to the flackback well too many times.
Ummm… so slamming a super heavy weight into a guy’s head … Shouldn’t that have crushed his skull? And slamming a super heavy weight twice into a guy’s ribs while the guys is prone and the guy’s chest barely moved? And the guy doesn’t die immediately? I will accept Resurrection Pits and Hacking supremacy and miniaturization suits, but I can’t accept that the extreme physical assaults seem to only be superficial in terms of damage. That takes me out of the story every time.
.
I also find it hard to believe the guards at the prison are just so willing to look the other way for the guy stirring at the table with Ollie, when that guy was attacked. I can see her not being a fan of a vigilante, but to not step in when the little guy was getting the crap kicked out of him was another groan-inducing scene.
*for the guy sitting at the table
It is a TV show.about ten thousand more deahs coulda happened
Its obvious that the new Green Arrow is also Roy. I mean he did the same exact Roy flip at least twice. Man, i thought it would be more of a mystery.
the new Green Arrow is adult William, trained by Roy in the future and brought back through the waverider… you heard it here first
That’s my thought too.
That was my other thought. I just am not sure if they want to bring time travel into Arrow.
Yeah, new Green Arrow is future William. Couldn’t be any more obvious. Also, they did a really good job with the makeup on Colton, because I didn’t even recognize him.
That’s ridiculous lol
I meant to say ridiculous to William. I think it’s definitely Roy, since Thea is not coming back.
When they showed a close up of the mask at the end it looked like a woman to me.
I think it’s either Roy,William from the future,a longbow hunter member but I doubt it or the character that Kat is playing.
I feel like the new Green Arrow is Roy as well. I like the flash forwards too. They have a mystery to them that the flashbacks had. I don’t think Roy will only be in the flash forwards though because Colton Haynes is a Series Regular again and those flash forwards aren’t happening every episode. I do wish this Diaz stuff was over with though. I don’t like that character and I especially hate the way he talks
That’s not Roy’s body type. Doubtful he’s the new green arrow.
“That’s not Roy’s body type. Doubtful he’s the new green arrow.”
A stuntman is under the costume. His body type is irrelevant. A lot of times in the beginning even the writers don’t know who will be the “guy”.
These days, when someone is a “series regular” it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will appear in every episode, rather it means that they’re contractually obligated to be available whenever needed. whether it’s for every episode, or just several. If someone is designated as recurring, then writers would have to alter plans if he or she isn’t available for a particular episode.
With that being said, I don’t think that he’ll only be in flash forwards either.
that’s exactly right. I’ve seen shows where someone gets bumped to series regular and the character promptly dies shortly after. You never know.
That “series regular” thing kinda went out the window when John Barrowman was signed as a series regular but scarcely appeared, or when Wentworth Miller signed as a series regular but hardly appeared. And finally, there’s Willa Holland, who was a series regular these last two years but only appeared in, what, half of each season?
Series regular just means these guys have to always be available, no matter what. They probably pick up a pretty fat paycheck on the regular, rather than what a recurring or guest would get, but that’s about it.
I totally agree. I’m OVER Diaz! Just kill the guy already! I was screaming at my TV for William (or Felicity) to kick his ass once and for all! I HATE that guy! I actually sort of liked some of the villians in the past, Merlin, Slade Wilson, Damien Darkhh (however you spell his name, he was funny!) Even Raj was interesting. I HATED the past two season baddies, though. Crazy Prometheus was bad enough, but Diaz…ENOUGH!
I feel like the new Green Arrow is Roy as well. I like the flash forwards too. They have a mystery to them that the flashbacks had. I don’t think Roy will only be in the flash forwards though because Colton Haynes is a Series Regular again and those flash forwards aren’t happening every episode. I do wish this Diaz stuff was over with though. I don’t like that character and I especially hate the way he talks
I liked the prison stuff a lot more than I thought I would, and I loved what little of Felicity and William and Felicity and Oliver we saw. Too much time was wasted by Dinah, who is still awful.
Not sure how to feel about Laurel somehow managing to be a passable DA – seems ridiculous.
I’m glad Curtis wasn’t around much. I’m curious about the future William stuff. It was good, but I was hoping for a better turn around with the newbies out of the gate.
Dinah’s gotten worse somehow. And how she’s somehow Police Captain when she didn’t earn it is beyond me.
–
I would’ve loved more Felicity and William. The Queen family are the heart of the show.
The bit about laurel being the new DA does get me.
I understand that because people thinks.its the old laurel that they would think her a good choice but this one doesn’t know anything about law and what she might know would be very “earth two” like.
It is Roy. Only he or Speedy could even attempt to fill the role. John is not good with arrows.
Flash-forwards that ultimately won’t connect to the main series if they;re not going to do a time jump seem kind of pointless to me. What’s the point of having William do or find out something in the future that ultimately has no bearing on the present timeline?
you’re seeing it backwards. Things that happen now affect what happens in the future. Future storyline foreshadows present day events since they’ve already happened. I guess it gives more weight to the decisions the characters make in present day. Personally I think Flash forwards are a mistake and the show really doesn’t need them especially with all of the material they have for this season. It’s just going to make things crowded.
the new Green Arrow is adult William, trained by Roy in the future and brought back through the waverider… you heard it here first
I enjoyed that episode but it needed less Dinah and Rene and more Diggle.
–
That parallel Olicity fight was amazing, one of the best this show has ever done. Felicity’s was visceral and realistic and I actually winced when she went threw that table! And Oliver’s shower sight was awesome because I’ve missed his solo fights so much!
–
The Olicity visitation scene was so heartbreaking and well done. I felt so much for both of them but loved Felicity’s fight back attitude. I can’t wait to see what happens there. Their reunion eventually is gonna be amazing.
–
Future William and Roy is awesome and sets up so many different possibilities. I’m pumped.
Arrow birthed the Flash and the rest of the CW DCTV.
This is Arrow complimenting what Flash is doing this season with Nora.
Adult William is trained by Future Roy and brought back into the past by the Legends. This gives them something Arrowverse worthy to do since they’re not apart of the crossover.
Plus Roy was the only one ever worthy to wear the mantle of Green Arrow. Sorry not sorry Diggle.
Not true. Smallville’s successand TomWellig is the reason for all the super shows now.
Don’t worry – boarding school is a completely safe and secure location. It’s just like witness protection except everyone knows who you are and where you are and you’re totally separated from anyone who might understand the danger you face. Makes perfect sense.
Felicity’s “girl power, independent woman” thing makes no sense. Now it’s even easier to get to William than before.
And if she wants to catch Diaz, why not take advantage of being able to hide her identity? It took five months for Diaz to find her the first time. There’s no reason she can’t work to take down Diaz while in hiding. Plus that way she has ARGUS protection. Instead she’s going to be out in the open and Diaz can track what she’s doing, and she doesn’t have protection. Stupid.
I think malcolm marlin is the new arrow
How about Tommy Merlyn??
Tommy is deffo dead tho.
His character definitely died off in the undertaking and the earth x doppelganger killed himself.
Isn’t Malcolm dead?
Okay, so I’ve gotta know; is Felicity going to FINALLY train to be a bada** like everybody else? I mean we have Laurel 2.0 as what, a politician now? I say, have Ollie’s first wife come back from the L of A and give Felicity major skills, so she can make shish-ka-bob out of stupid Diaz! I kept yelling for William to grab an iron or gun (why weren’t they armed?) and taking the jerk out! Great episode! Liked the future twist. I’m between Diggle and Roy as the “new GA”.
I bet Rene will train Felicity in boxing. They need bonding time desperately if writers want to redeem him in the eyes of viewers. Personally, one of (many) reason why I detest Rene aka Crazy Dog because his treatment of Felicity. He shown nothing but disrespect and annoyance toward her from the moment he put his paws in the show.
Are we supposed to forget that Lian Yu blew up thanks to Chase? How does that happen?
I haven’t seen the premiere yet, but clicked on this article anyway (I’m not fussed about spoilers for Arrow), and this was my first thought too. We saw it blown to bits in a calculated move by Chase, it was a huge moment in that finale. …How is there any Lian Yu left for William to visit? I definitely feel like I’m missing something?
He planted bombs throughout the whole island, that doesn’t mean he blew it completely to pieces as if there was nothing left. It’s a fairly large and substantial island, and I doubt the bombs did more than superficial damage to the surface. If I remember correctly, they even showed a bit of the aftermath from the explosion, and it had clearly done a number on the trees, vegetation, and such, but it’s not like he buried a nuke in the center of the island and blew it up.
Bombs wouldnt have destroyed the island completely, would.have gave it some very serious scars.
But as mentioned in another reply comment its supposedly nearly twenty years on s of had a fair chanve at growing back.
if the flash forwards are actually 20 years into the future, then Lian Yu would have regrown quite a bit, don’t you think?
sure. but the shallow pile of rocks that make up the graves wouldn’t
I liked almost everything about it, except the villain. If they are going to do another season of Diaz as the villain I’m going to be out very quickly. Diaz needs to die and quickly. Though since they made him a series regular, I have a feeling they won’t do that. He is a horrible villain and needs to go.
The longbow hunters will be the main villains
I was sick of Diaz about 2 episodes after he showed up. This whole the Arrow destroyed my life so I need to destroy his, is getting very old. We’ve had like 4 or 5 villains with that motivation. Enough already.
First off Roy will be a temporary arrow until Oliver comes back.. the longbow hunters are coming. The flash forward stuff will most likely continue for a few seasons untiwe catch up to the writers end game. Very similar to Queens flashbacks . The writers set a great many seasons in motion w this premire and green arrow BETTER get introduced onto the big screen in justice league.
It makes a little sense because of the shared arrowverse… Like the flash forwards for Arrow could be from the same time that Nora is from on The Flash.. I know that some of the overarching themes that seems to be flowing through The Flash and now Arrow this year are Family and Legacy but I think we’ll have to wait for more episodes before getting definitive answers.
The flashforwards are set 20 years in the future. Nora is from 30 years into the future.
The fight scenes haven’t been this good in literally years. Like, not since season 3 at least. Hope they can keep it up.
Maybe the new green arrow is Malcolm merlyn…. SURPRISE!!!!