One of the most surprising developments about the current season of Arrow is the addition of sequences set twenty years into the show’s future.
Ever since the DCTV series’ debut on The CW, the show has jumped between different time periods in Oliver Queen’s life showcasing key moments in the vigilante’s past. The Season 7 premiere revealed that this season’s sequences instead take place decades into the future as Oliver’s adult son William ventures on to the island of Lian Yu to reunite with Oliver’s former partner, the now middle-aged Roy Harper. Series showrunner Beth Schwartz has since provided hints on the fate of Arsenal in the show’s present and his outlook as an older man in the timeline.
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“You’ll see a lot more in episode 2 that he’s much darker,” explained Schwartz in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “He’s definitely been burned. There will be a lot of mysteries to reveal throughout the season about what happened to him in that time span. We don’t like the happily-ever-afters.”
The show’s present has the team deal with Oliver being incarcerated after confessing to his vigilante activities at the end of the sixth season while a new Green Arrow arrives in Star City. In the meantime, Schwartz promises the flash-forwards will also provide insight on William as someone who grew up as the son of the original Green Arrow.
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“Last year we spent a lot of time with Oliver as a father, and those stories were extremely dynamic,” revealed Schwartz. “Trying to figure out what it’s like for a child to have a father who is Oliver Queen has been endless with the amount of stories we can come up with. How that affects a small child with all the trauma he’s been through, it’s interesting to see how William turns out when he’s an adult.”
Airing Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT on The CW for its seventh season, Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Echo Kellum as Mr. Terrific, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Colton Haynes as Arsenal, Kirk Acevedo as Diaz and Katie Cassidy as Black Siren.