'Arrow' Canceled After Season 8: Will He Die in Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Oliver Queen is hanging up the bow and arrow. Or, he’s going to die. Either way, Arrow on The CW will end its lengthy run on television later this fall in an abbreviated ten-episode Season 8. While story details are unknown for now, forward-thinking fans can probably anticipate that the end of Arrow will time to the universe-shattering 2019 crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” In other words, the Green Arrow is probably going to die right?

Right?

On Wednesday, Arrow star Stephen Amell dropped a TV news bomb when he tweeted that the long-running DC superhero series, currently in its seventh season, will finish with a final ten episodes in the fall of 2019.

“Playing Oliver Queen has been the greatest professional experience of my life… but you can’t be a vigilante forever,” Amell shared to his 2.83 million followers on Twitter. “Arrow will return for a final run of 10 episodes this Fall.”

He added: “There’s so much to say… for now I just want to say thank you.”

Besides Supernatural, which has been on the air for so long now it’s old enough to be a freshman in high school, Arrow has been one of the longest-running shows on The CW network. The series premiered in the fall of 2012 as a gritty, modern interpretation of the DC Comics character, the Green Arrow, an affluent billionaire who fights crime using his unparalleled aim with a bow and arrow.

The success of Arrow soon spawned what became known as the “Arrowverse,” an interconnected franchise of television and tie-in comic books based on the DC Universe. The first spin-off series was The Flash (now in its fifth season), starring Grant Gustin as the super fast superhero.

In 2015, Supergirl, starring Melissa Benoist and produced by Arrow and The Flash producer Greg Berlanti, aired on CBS. Originally kept separate from the continuity, it was quickly folded into the universe in a Season 1 episode titled “World’s Finest.” In 2016, another spin-off crossover series Legends of Tomorrow began airing on The CW, featuring characters from Arrow and The Flash embarking on their own adventure.

But it all started because of Arrow, which modernized the story of the Green Arrow, a DC superhero created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp in 1941.

All four shows, plus the canceled NBC series Constantine (which happened thanks to a “revival” episode on Arrow) have since co-existed in the Arrowverse, which also means annual crossovers.

Since 2014, The CW has promoted DC-centric crossovers in which episodes from each show serve as chapters of a larger event. Last year’s event, “Elseworlds,” formally introduced the Batman mythology, which was represented by the prominence of Batwoman, played by Orange is the New Black star Ruby Rose. A Batwoman series is currently in development.

In 2019, DC/Arrowverse fans will witness an adaptation of the 1984 DC crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, which served as a major shake-up and reboot to DC’s comic book canon upon its publication. While it’s unknown what the TV “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will do to the Arrowverse, it appears one major casualty has already occurred.

Arrow airs Mondays at 8 p.m. Easter on The CW.