One major problem that plagued most Arrowverse shows was CW’s inability to end them at the right time. While most of them started on a high note, especially Grant Gustin’s The Flash, which was the biggest superhero show on TV upon its release, the writers couldn’t carry the momentum in the later seasons. But things could have been very different for the CW show that started it all, Arrow.
Had CW stuck to the original plans for the show, Arrow could’ve ended on a really high note, as instead of going on for 8 seasons, season 5 was originally intended to be the show’s end.
Arrow Could’ve Ended With One of Its Best Seasons
While the first season of Arrow, which kickstarted the Arrowverse, was received well among fans and critics, it was the sequel that pushed the CW show to new heights, thanks to Deathstroke. Following in its footsteps, the showrunners were able to maintain this quality in the first half of season 3, which saw Ra’s al Ghul as the main antagonist, but saw a gradual decline in the latter half. Then came season 4, which dropped the ball completely, as not only it didn’t live up to the standards set by its predecessor, but it also lost the dark and brooding tone of the show.
Reasonably, not many were expecting much heading into Arrow season 5, but unlike most CW shows, it subverted all expectations and is often considered one of the best in the series. Much of it was because of Josh Segarra’s Adrian Chase, aka Prometheus, who succeeded in breaking Oliver Queen and stood to toe with Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson. Interestingly, per Stephen Amell, Arrow was originally intended to run for five seasons, which is parallel to Oliver’s time on Lian Yu.
Amell explained:
“Well, I think that the way that Arrow was… I mean, Arrow was designed in theory to go five years. Right? Like, there’s this whole journey and we sort of, we had the flashbacks and eventually you catch up. Trying to be very careful here.”
But instead of ending the Emerald Archer’s story on the highest possible note, CW extended the show, leading to two underwhelming sequels, which tainted season 5’s impact.
Stephen Amell Is Open to Doing More Green Arrow
Although there has been no announcement regarding the involvement of Arrow in James Gunn‘s DCU, Stephen Amell did showcase interest in reprising the role of the Emerald Archer.
The Code 8 star believes that there might be more stuff to do with the character, which kickstarted the Arrowverse back in 2012. He told CBR:
“I love the [superhero] genre. I’ve said this before, but there might be more fun stuff to do with Oliver Queen. So we will see.”
While CW missed the opportunity to end Arrow at its peak, with a shortened season 8, the network was able to give Amell a deserved send-off with the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.
Arrow is available to stream on Apple TV.
