Playing Oliver Queen has been the greatest professional experience of my life... but you can’t be a vigilante forever.
Arrow will return for a final run of 10 episodes this Fall.
There’s so much to say... for now I just want to say thank you.
— Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell) March 6, 2019
The show will return for a shortened run of only 10 episodes in fall.
Check out the statement from executive producers Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Beth Schwartz below:
“This was a difficult decision to come to, but like every hard decision we’ve made for the past seven years, it was with the best interests of Arrow in mind. We’re heartened by the fact that Arrow has birthed an entire universe of shows that will continue on for many years to come. We’re excited about crafting a conclusion that honors the show, its characters and its legacy and are grateful to all the writers, producers, actors, and — more importantly — the incredible crew that has sustained us and the show for over seven years.”
Arrow kicked off The CW's sprawling "Arrowverse" in 2012 (check out our review of the series pilot for a blast from the past), spawning spinoffs including The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and the upcoming Batwoman pilot - which is heavily expected to be picked up to series in May. Executive producer Greg Berlanti and his producing partner Sarah Schechter have overseen the popular franchise (along with Black Lightning, which remains separate from the Arrowverse) from its inception, and even with Arrow's departure, the shared universe it established shows no signs of disappearing any time soon.CW president Mark Pedowitz addressed the future of the franchise at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in January, conceding that some of the Arrowverse series might be moving towards a natural conclusion: " Things will age, and we want to get the next generation of shows to keep this CW Universe going for as many years as possible," he told reporters. Arrow is apparently the first on the chopping block, which makes sense after we've spent the better part of a decade exploring the adventures of Oliver Queen and the ever-expanding roster of Team Arrow.
Arrow ushered in a new wave of superhero TV shows that arguably paved the way for more grounded or adult-skewing adaptations of beloved comic book properties like Marvel's Daredevil (which was cancelled following its most recent season) and Legion (which is ending following its upcoming season), not to mention DC's unique twists on Gotham and iZombie.
Without the success of Arrow and its spinoffs, we probably wouldn't have gems like DC Universe's fantastic Doom Patrol or the utterly bonkers roster of Marvel adult animated series in development at Hulu, nor HBO's ambitious take on Watchmen or FX's interest in Y: The Last Man. In short, Arrow made superhero shows cool again, after decades of being dismissed as campy or childish after the teen angst of Smallville and the soapiness of Lois and Clark.
Amell elaborated on the show's conclusion during a Facebook Live stream after the news broke, thanking Berlanti and the rest of the producers, along with the cast, crew, and fans.
"To the people watching this right now, to the people that have populated my social media channels over the past seven-plus years, I have made countless friends, I have been able to tell so many stories, I’ve been able to facilitate great moments for people because they’re a fan of the Green Arrow and I’lll miss that a great deal, but something tells me… even when I’m done, I won’t be gone. If you’ve watched the Arrowverse, you should understand that."
He also explained that he had been planning to exit the show after the conclusion of Season 7, when his initial contract expired, but had hoped the show might "live on beyond me."
"Towards the end of Season 6, I approached Greg Berlanti and said that I thought, both personally and professionally, that at the end of my commitment this coming season, it would be the best for me to move on," Amell said. "I’ve always been a fan of television shows that not only don’t overstay their welcome but end in a manner that really packs a punch. And so it had always been my hope that we would know when we were gonna finish this journey and not limp to the finish line so to speak."
He continued, "After a lot of discussion, Greg and I decided that the best way to do this would be to have me come back for a limited run in Season 8 which is what we’re gonna do, and from there, I had always hoped that beyond the 17 different shows that Arrow has spawned - I’m kidding, it’s only like 16 - that there was a possibility that the show could live on beyond me, because the entity of Oliver Queen, and the character and the mythos and the iconography of Green Arrow has always been something that’s bigger than me or any other actor that’s playing him or voicing him, there’s always been something more to it. I talked to Beth Schwartz and Marc Guggenheim this past Friday and Greg Berlanti this past Friday night and it was the decision of WB and CW and Beth and Greg and Marc in a very mutual way, based off of what they thought was best for the show creatively and being very honorable and respectful as it pertains to my wishes, that we were gonna end after a 10 episode run next year."
Arrow was renewed for Season 8 in January - along with new season pickups for the rest of the Arrowverse shows.