Arrow's 8th season to be the last one.

[costas22]

Yep, remember Chloe's arc in season 10? This will probably be something similar. They will write her out in a way that makes her presence felt all the time. And then she'll return for the crossover and the finale, unless Emily's schedule doesn't allow it.

Haven't heard any different, so I assume Katie Cassidy will be back next season. Portraying Laurel-who-isn't-really-Laurel-but-lets-pretend-like-we-never-killed-her-off. I still shake my head at that. It was one of the most idiotic decisions a show like this has ever made and it damaged Arrow's viewership beyond repair. All because Guggenheim was too arrogant and ignorant to know better.

Excuse the rant. The EBR news made me wonder what might have been if they went a different direction in season 4.

[TheSecretVampire]

Yep, remember Chloe's arc in season 10? This will probably be something similar. They will write her out in a way that makes her presence felt all the time. And then she'll return for the crossover and the finale, unless Emily's schedule doesn't allow it.

Haven't heard any different, so I assume Katie Cassidy will be back next season. Portraying Laurel-who-isn't-really-Laurel-but-lets-pretend-like-we-never-killed-her-off. I still shake my head at that. It was one of the most idiotic decisions a show like this has ever made and it damaged Arrow's viewership beyond repair. All because Guggenheim was too arrogant and ignorant to know better.

Excuse the rant. The EBR news made me wonder what might have been if they went a different direction in season 4.

No please go on, I want to hear more of your rant!

For real, I usually agree with what you post here and once again you are spot on. Killing off Laurel was the dumbest decision ever in these shows. And we all know they were quite a few dumb decisions made aka We are the Flash and making Iris a speedster for a episode, but killing off Laurel is number 1. It just amuses me how one show goes hand and hand with the comics for the most part in The Flash and Arrow does it's own thing....makes no sense to me at all. I'm no showrunner but if it were up to me, I would've had Black Canary/Laurel a much bigger role in a show about GREEN ARROW beginning back in season 1 episode 1 and by now she would've been hand in hand with Oliver/Green Arrow.

[K. taylor]

I once thought about writing some fanfic where Laurel was the Black Canary in season 1. Altruistic and not killing. Helping in a vigilante way similar to her law practice by day. A lot would've stayed the same, only she would've had more depth to not living The Hood because he's a killer and she's not. Eventually when she finds out Oliver is the Green Arrow, if she wanted to push a no-killing agenda, it'd come from a place of experience. "See, you can do it this way because I've done it my whole time as the Black Canary." Etc. Etc.

But I've never had the time to write whole modified seasons. I think it would've been really cool if Laurel and Oliver were getting closer by day but rival vigilantes by night.

[costas22]

No please go on, I want to hear more of your rant!

For real, I usually agree with what you post here and once again you are spot on. Killing off Laurel was the dumbest decision ever in these shows. And we all know they were quite a few dumb decisions made aka We are the Flash and making Iris a speedster for a episode, but killing off Laurel is number 1. It just amuses me how one show goes hand and hand with the comics for the most part in The Flash and Arrow does it's own thing....makes no sense to me at all. I'm no showrunner but if it were up to me, I would've had Black Canary/Laurel a much bigger role in a show about GREEN ARROW beginning back in season 1 episode 1 and by now she would've been hand in hand with Oliver/Green Arrow.

Thanks! I hadn't truly ranted about Arrow in a while.

It's not like anyone demanded a 100% faithful adaptation to the comics. The Flash has done its own thing as well (Wally being Iris' brother, for example) and fans have been ok with it because it at least honors its source material. Arrow started out like this as well. It took some liberties (Moira surviving, Oliver getting shipwrecked with his father, Oliver cheating on Laurel with her sister...) and fans just accepted most of them because they hoped the story would still go in the right direction. Even the Olicity backlash wasn't really because Oliver and Laurel were never going to be a couple again (the relationship had too much baggage after the Sara mess, anyway). It was poorly received by non-shippers because it was a blatant attempt at fan service, with red pens, ferns and the rest of the nonsense. Then they botch the manner in which Laurel becomes the Black Canary and a year later they kill her off, which is where the wheels truly came off. Guggenheim tried to justify the whole thing by blaming the canon or by saying that they needed to remind the audience that there are stakes involved, but he was hardly convincing. What's even worse is that they had a chance to fix it through the Flashpoint storyline and they still didn't do it. Instead they introduced Juliana as the Black Canary and when they finally realized how costly their mistake was, they brought back Katie Cassidy as well. Leading us to the mess we are in now.

I don't know. Like you, I am not a showrunner either. But the Black Canary character shouldn't be that hard to figure out, even if she never becomes Oliver's soulmate. Like K.taylor mentioned, Laurel could have done her own thing and led her own crusade as the Black Canary. Speedy could have done the same. Arrow wasn't obligated to throw them all immediately under one bunker roof and have Felicity be at the forefront along with Oliver while the Black Canary and Speedy are just there as secondary characters.

[President_Luthor]

I would expect EBR to pop up for the crossover and series finale, as much of the flashforward fallout will likely be spelled out by the season finale. Can't say I'm surprised as Oliver checking out soon leaves Felicity nowhere else to go storywise and I don't see the flashforwards having much steam left to go on for future Felicity either. It's too bad too since she became a bit more tolerable in the last two seasons than in the previous five lol.

Won't add much on how Laurel-1 was handled. Obviously doubling down on Olicity had a negative impact on Laurel/BC, though I readily reserve slings and arrows for their inexplicable rush to make Sara a Canary first ... no matter the cost to Laurel's development.(With the end of the series, I can now count this as an unforgivable sin at par with killing her in S4. It combined with Felicity becoming a lead from S2-S3 to knock down Laurel's status -definitively too- from co-lead to just another also-ran roster member. Not all Sara's fault, mind you, but hers and Felicity's elevation as characters came at Laurel's expense.)

It probably should have been Quentin or Speedy in the grave in S4. I get that people "like" them, but in terms of story -- nothing they did in S5 or S6 merited the attention they got, when it did happen. They had their chance post-S4 to do something interesting with them, and the result was ... meh. Letting them go in S6 was a mercy. And a season or two overdue.

I've grown to like Laurel-2 but it's also bittersweet as we can see the potential of Laurel in the show, had they committed to her character.

[TheSecretVampire]

I don't want to turn this into a bash Felicity issue because despite me not liking her character that much, especially in seasons 3 and 4, I did think she was alright in the other seasons and they did really tone down on her character the last 2 seasons but I think this is a good thing that she is leaving because Team Arrow needs to solve stuff on their own. What I mean by that is like everything that they have a cyber net issue, it gets solved in like seconds because of Felicity making things easy most of the time.

[President_Luthor]

Her "super" power besides miraculous tech ability is, yes, plot exposition. To be fair, most of the techies in the whole Arrowverse share that power aka moving the story along plotwise: Cisco, Winn, Gideon, etc.

Felicity has been tolerable, even likeable, from S6-S7. There are the times they treat her like she walks on water, but these later seasons it hasn't been as in your face as cringe-worthy S3-S4.. Her "descent" into darkness was more credible this time around esp. with Anatoly getting into her head. And her growing friendship with Laurel actually helped both characters.

Oliver was fine using computers in S1, so maybe we'll get more of that too.

[costas22]

Don't be surprised if there are a number of situations next season where Team Arrow is in a pickle and it's solved by Felicity from a distance. Or Oliver and Diggle come up with the solution after they've talked to Felicity on the phone or something. Smallville worked around Chloe's absence by dressing up Tess as Watchtower. Don't know if Arrow has a backup character like that. Maybe Lyla. Either way, I don't think they will have Oliver or Diggle smarten up and solve these problems themselves, because it would diminish Felicity's importance within Olicity and OTA. And we can't have that.

That's more or less the problem with the Felicity character: Her elevated and overstated importance. Her personality hasn't been *very* annoying since Season 3 when she was either crying or chewing Oliver out at every turn. And aside from her ridiculous self-entitlement over the William issue, I think she was ok in seasons 4 and 5. And I probably would have been ok with her in seasons 6 and 7, if you guys are right. But the fact that they killed off William's mother just so William can become an Olicity child was messed up and it highlights how they can't resist to sacrifice other characters just so they can prop her up.

[costas22]

Not confirmed yet so take this with a grain of salt. A Twitter user who was at Tom Welling's latest panel said that he announced he will be in season 8 of Arrow.

[jon-el87]

Not confirmed yet so take this with a grain of salt. A Twitter user who was at Tom Welling's latest panel said that he announced he will be in season 8 of Arrow.

If true, I'm hoping that he'll play a different character. Seriously, the Arrowverse writers can do whatever they want with their own characters (and their adaptations of DC characters). But, leave the old shows (all of them) alone.

If he does show up and ends up playing Clark, it'd just be a cheap ratings ploy (as the newer shows struggle to stay over one million viewers). Not to mention, the characterization would be all wrong. Tom's Clark frequently made it clear, that he never got into comics. Meanwhile, the Arrowverse is full of people who make neverending nerd references (Harry Potter, Star Trek, etc.). So, you'd end up with him doing that too. Not to mention, the Arrowverse have already turned one Superman into a jobber. Leave Tom's and other other Supermen alone.

[costas22]

If true, I'm hoping that he'll play a different character. Seriously, the Arrowverse writers can do whatever they want with their own characters (and their adaptations of DC characters). But, leave the old shows (all of them) alone.

If he does show up and ends up playing Clark, it'd just be a cheap ratings ploy (as the newer shows struggle to stay over one million viewers). Not to mention, the characterization would be all wrong. Tom's Clark frequently made it clear, that he never got into comics. Meanwhile, the Arrowverse is full of people who make neverending nerd references (Harry Potter, Star Trek, etc.). So, you'd end up with him doing that too. Not to mention, the Arrowverse have already turned one Superman into a jobber. Leave Tom's and other other Supermen alone.

Amen to the bold part. I only saw Tyler's Superman in the season 2 episodes of Supergirl and I can't say I was impressed with how they wrote him. People liked his light tone, but he didn't have the aura that Superman should have, IMO.

I am not familiar about one thing. During last year's Crossover, was John Wesley Shipp's Flash supposed to be the same Barry Allen from the 1990 Flash series? If he was, then it wouldn't surprise me if they have Tom Welling play Superman from "Earth Smallville" in the Crisis crossover. They would clearly have permission from the WB/DC hierarchy to do so.

That said, I completely agree that he should play a different character. Don't want to see Smallville!Clark or a similar version in the hands of these writers. Even if he plays a Superman who's retired (since Tom won't wear the suit for any price). The Arrowverse shows used to overlook Smallville alumni for potential cameos. Funny how things change when the ratings keep dropping.

[Haggard01]

Amen to the bold part. I only saw Tyler's Superman in the season 2 episodes of Supergirl and I can't say I was impressed with how they wrote him. People liked his light tone, but he didn't have the aura that Superman should have, IMO.

Yeah I've seen just Superman in the early season 2 episodes for Supergirl and I am not impressed with that, or what I have heard elsewhere is they just turned Superman into a jobber to prop up Supergirl.

Really makes me wish they just had no Superman and Kara was the only one who made it to earth so no Superman gets turned into a jobber. Same thing with Kate Kane is I wish they just had Bruce Wayne not even become Batman or exist so tha no doubt Bruce does not get turned into a jobber on Batwoman despite being currently "missing."

I am not familiar about one thing. During last year's Crossover, was John Wesley Shipp's Flash supposed to be the same Barry Allen from the 1990 Flash series?

Yep he was supposed to be the one from the 90's series.

That said, I completely agree that he should play a different character. Don't want to see Smallville!Clark or a similar version in the hands of these writers. Even if he plays a Superman who's retired (since Tom won't wear the suit for any price). The Arrowverse shows used to overlook Smallville alumni for potential cameos. Funny how things change when the ratings keep dropping.

Yeah I agree I would rather they not butcher Smallville Clark in this. No kidding, once the ratings have fallen across the board they are now very desperate.

[TheSecretVampire]

Ok, so they will get Tom......hopefully, they can also get Michael Rosenbaum and Justin Hartley to appear as well.

[jon-el87]

http://www.greenarrowtv.com/smallvilles-tom-welling-to-appear-in-arrow-season-8/

It isn't true. Tom told a joke at a convention (no doubt, after having been asked 20 times, that day, about appearing on Arrow) and someone took it as fact.

[acer15]

Will they have any Characters from Arrow join the Legends once the show is over?