As well as following Oliver Queen and friends in an adventure on Earth-2, the Arrow season 8 premiere also caught up with Future Team Arrow in Star City 2040. Mia Smoak, William Harris and Connor Hawke came up against a deadly new foe – the latest version of Deathstroke, who turned out to be Diggle’s own son, John Diggle Jr. But how could the child of heroic characters like Diggle and Lyla turn out to be a villain? Well, it seems we’ll find out the answer in the coming weeks.
TV Line caught up with showrunner Beth Schwartz and asked her what happened to JJ to make him hate his adoptive brother Connor so much and to turn to a life of crime. Schwartz explained that the boys “have this really fraught childhood that we’ll explain more in the upcoming episodes.” She went on to add that “[We’ll see] how they got to this place where … JJ is willing to kill his own brother, and how he went down this path.”
In the present day, the five-year-old JJ is an only child as Connor – the biological son of Ben Turner AKA Bronze Tiger – has yet to be adopted by the Diggles. Clearly the idea of having a brother never really takes and by 20 years into the future, he’s suffering from a serious sibling rivalry with his relative, who’s turned out a lot better-adjusted.
It’s good to hear that season 8 will further explore this past – or, er, future – family history, even though there’s soon to be a whole other show that also takes place in Star City 2040. The CW recently started developing a Canaries spinoff for Laurel Lance, Dinah Drake and Mia, who’ll become the next Green Arrow in the series. Presumably, other future-dwelling characters like Connor and JJ could also feature.
In the meantime, Arrow season 8 continues next Tuesday on The CW.
Published: Oct 17, 2019 02:50 pm