Over the last decade, Arrow has repeatedly defied expectations. Its first few episodes were met with a collective shrug from critics, none of whom foresaw that it was the harbinger of big things to come. Since then, it’s built a substantial and passionate fanbase and spawned its own televised DC Universe, appropriately known as the Arrowverse.

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But Arrow is finally calling it quits this year. Its ten-episode eighth season will bring an end to the adventures of Oliver Queen, though I wouldn’t rule out the character returning for The CW’s perennial crossover specials. In any case, while Amell might be hanging up the bow, that doesn’t mean he can’t go out in style, and today Entertainment Weekly have released photos of his new look.

Pretty cool, eh? So, what do we know about Season 8? Well, in the run-up to its production, there was widespread speculation that some fan-favorite characters might return. That’s indeed proved to be the case, with Colin Donnell (who played Ollie’s best friend Tommy Merlyn in season 1) and Josh Segarra (who played the villainous Prometheus in season 5) confirmed to be coming back. Their return has been teased with an intriguing hint from the producers, too, who’ve said that they return “in a different way than expected.”

That method’s looking increasingly like it’ll be time travel related. While shooting the first episode, Amell tweeted a picture of the Queen Mansion, which shouldn’t be possible as it was torched as of season 7. With the crossover event this year involving Ollie’s mission with the Monitor, which will tie into this season’s big “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, I’m betting we’ll be flitting through the series’ timeline and revisiting key moments.

However it pans out, it’s certain that Amell’s departure from the role will be emotional. He’s consistently shown his love for the part, explaining to Entertainment Weekly that:

“The biggest thing that I’ll walk away [with] from doing this show is my kiddo really admires what I do. She comes to the set all the time, and I know that won’t last forever, but she sits there in video village, and she wears her cans and calls action every once in a while. Honestly, that’s the coolest thing.”

D’aww, isn’t that sweet.

Arrow season 8 premieres on The CW on October 15th.

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