From the outset, Arrow‘s creative team stressed that they had a five year plan for the series. That’s most evident in the flashbacks, which begin with Oliver’s shipwreck five years before the pilot episode. As the show progresses, Oliver’s journey from the island of Lian Yu back to Starling City continues on toward its inevitable end, where we’ll eventually catch up with the Oliver from Arrow‘s inaugural episode.
We’re now over halfway through that proposed five-year plan, and while the show has offered plenty of twists and turns over the course of its three seasons, it’s also been playing the long game for one particular story arc: that of H.I.V.E., the secretive criminal organization that hired Deadshot to kill John Diggle’s brother, Andy.
The seed for the H.I.V.E. storyline was planted in the pilot and then expanded upon when they were mentioned by name in season two. Recently, we finally met a woman from H.I.V.E. – who approached Deadshot about killing Andy – via flashback, and now we’ve learned that we’ll be seeing much more of the mysterious organization in season four.
Actor David Ramsey, who plays John Diggle, provided the news himself in a recent interview:
“From my understanding, H.I.V.E. is going to be a big part of next season’s big baddie. We are going to delve right into why H.I.V.E. hired Deadshot to kill Andy and what H.I.V.E. is all about to begin with. There will be a lot of Diggle’s connection to H.I.V.E. next season so stay tuned.”
H.I.V.E., the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination, is an organization of supervillains whose members include Talia al Ghul and Deathstroke. There’s no word on who the “big baddie” is that Ramsey’s referring to, or how H.I.V.E. will factor into Oliver’s five-year journey, but it’s an exciting prospect nonetheless, especially if it means that Arrow will finally stray away from the current (and troublesome) League of Assassins storyline.
