Here's how Arrow ended after 8 seasons
The award-winning DC TV drama has concluded, but what was Oliver Queen's final fate? **CONTAINS SPOILERS**
The flagship of The CW's Arrowverse said its final farewell on Tuesday night in the US.
The final ever episode of Arrow focused around Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) funeral, the hero having died two episodes earlier, and summoned characters from past, present, and future.
Indeed, Oliver himself, although having departed ‘life’ as the Green Arrow, returned in a flashback to the events of the show's first season.
Writer Marc Guggenheim explained to Entertainment Weekly that “the obvious solutions [for the finale] seem to be do a flashback story, which also would honour the flashback convention that’s been so important to the show, particularly in its first five years.”
Fans were treated to the return of many much-loved but departed characters. It is explained that Oliver sacrificed his life in the latest crossover, to not only restart the universe, but also resurrect many of the people he had lost in the past eight years: Tommy (Colin Donnell); his mother, Moira (Susanna Thompson); Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne); and Emiko (Sea Shimooka).
The finale ties-up may lose knots and addresses unanswered character questions, here are the major take-aways…
What happened to the major characters?
To fans' delight the beloved but complicated romance of Oliver's sister Thea (Willa Holland) and her on/off boyfriend Roy (Colton Haynes) had a happy ending, they got engaged! Rene Ramirez (Rick Gonzalez) became Star City's new mayor and Diggle (David Ramsey) and his wife Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) packed up and headed to Metropolis.
Why did Earth-2 Laurel survive?
To fans 'surprise, writers chose to leave Earth-2 Laurel (Katie Cassidy) in place and not bring back the original. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim admitted to Entertainment Weekly that that decision was “really driven by the [planned] spin-off", Green Arrow and the Canaries.
Executive producer Beth Schwartz added that to move away from a character who has in every sense “redeemed” herself, would feel like they were “shortchanging” an important story for her.
Will Mia continue the Green Arrow legacy?
Oliver and Felicity’s (Emily Bett Rickards) daughter Mia (Katherine McNara) also played a pivotal role in tying up characters relationships. Fans saw her and her mother reunited when she is an adult and the reaction from fans was very emotional.
Mia then returned to 2040 to continue her duties as the new Green Arrow.
Did John Diggle become Green Lantern?
Diggle’s final scenes on Arrow have sparked fan rumours that Diggle will continue on in the Arrowverse and pick up the mantle of the Green Lantern. In the finale episode, Diggle finds a box at a meteor crash site containing a glowing green light... his Green Lantern ring?
Guggenheim confirmed to Deadline that Diggle's journey to becoming a Green Lantern "was something that we’ve been working our way towards for a good long time now.” He added that keeping fans speculating about a characters potential narrative trajectory was key because “even though the show ends, as long as the characters are alive the characters continue on.”
The unexpected twist of the green-lit box, alongside Diggle’s relocation to Metropolis, aka the home of the Superman & Lois spin-off, strongly suggests that his time within the DC TV universe might not be over.
What happened in Arrow's final scene?
For fans, the very last scene was the most important and it appears to have been everything they could have hoped for. The much-loved romance between Oliver and Felicity was left on an unexpected happy note after they are reunited, forever, in the afterlife.
Fan reactions have erupted - in a good way - on social media, with the ending satisfying most loyal Arrow viewers in their bittersweet moment of farewell.
You can watch all seasons on Arrow on NOW TV and Amazon Prime
