Lamenting the end of ARROW

By now you will be well aware that Arrow is coming to an end. Last night Stephen Amell announced that the series would be drawing to a close with a 10 episode eighth season.

Whilst the internet mourns we decided to put down in words some of our thoughts about the landmark DCTV series drawing to a close.

Firstly: it’s very important to note that Arrow is coming to an end because Amell and the creators have decided that it is time. The series has NOT been cancelled. Plenty of poorly researched articles are calling this a cancellation.

The show is simply ending.

There are no flagging ratings. There’s no network executives forcing the show out – that we’re aware of. It’s simply time for the show to move on and you know what, that is a good thing.

There’s nothing worse than a TV series outstaying its welcome and living well beyond its sell by date. I said this myself in a tweet earlier today but it is much better for a show to end when you aren’t ready than for an announcement like this to elicit a reaction of “Phew! It was about time it ended.”

Stephen Amell is an intelligent man. He knows that the fans will only stick around for so long. He’s also social media savvy so is no doubt aware of the criticisms that some of the more recent seasons of Arrow have faced. Making the decision to end the series now is brave, bold and heartbreaking all at the same time.

The Facebook live video he used to announce the news is an emotional watch. It’s easy to see this is a man who is married to his work, but he also has a young family at home. A home which isn’t Vancouver. I believe a round of applause is in order for him making the decision to put his family first.

As for the show itself: there’s plenty of chance that characters will migrate to other shows in the so-called Arrowverse. The flash forwards of season 7 don’t lend themselves to that theory right now but we also don’t know that future will still come to pass.

Characters like Diggle could still appear thanks to his connection to ARGUS, similarly – as we saw in this week’s episode of The Flash – Lyla can also cross between series. I wouldn’t rule out future appearances for Earth-2 Laurel given that she has dotted between shows and has Sara over on Legends of Tomorrow.

I do think that this will be the end of Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity however. The character has gone through a huge arc over the past seven years and I genuinely feel that it is time to give her a rest. There’s nothing wrong with keeping her character in the background in case an Earth shattering story comes up in the future. But for now Felicity needs to disappear from our screens for a while alongside the Olicity moniker.

What I take away from Arrow ending is a profound sense of pride that this show birthed an entire TV universe. We wouldn’t have The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning or the upcoming Batwoman without having first had Arrow.

Amell and co. have given us what DC Films has yet to be able to do on film. It has presented a, mostly, coherent multiverse of characters which has been able to make us laugh, make us cry and most importantly brought us over 450 hours of television to date.

The future also looks bright for DCTV. The CW is committed to continuing this universe and we’ll see the beginnings of this with Batwoman later this year. There’s also that rumour Matt Ryan will be leaving Legends of Tomorrow for another crack at a Constantine solo series.

There’s literally no end of possibilities for characters who could be developed for future series. Bringing Oliver Queen’s story to an end just shows the maturity and clever thinking which will allow this universe to remain fresh and relevant for many more years to come.

This isn’t the end… yet. For now we raise a glass to brave decision making and look forward to the time we have left with Team Arrow.

Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, David Ramsey as John Diggle and Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance/Black Siren. Season 7 will see the return of Colton Haynes as Roy Harper/Arsenal.

Arrow airs on The CW Mondays at 8/7c. In the UK the show airs on Sky One on Thursdays at 9pm.

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