As one would expect, Arrow will go out in style by bringing back a host of fan favorites over the course of its eighth and final season. Right off the bat, we know that Josh Segarra and Colin Donnell will return as Adrian Chase and Tommy Merlyn, respectively, and Rila Fukushima will slip back into the role of Katana shortly thereafter.
In addition to them, two actors who helped shape the series in its earliest of days will be along for the ride as well. I mean, we already know about how Susanna Thompson and John Barrowman were each coming back for another tour, but not at all what their involvement would entail.
Well, thanks to the following image supplied by IGN, we’re able to see that Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn are an item in the eighth season premiere, “Starling City.” Furthermore, Oliver Queen himself can be found in the photo as well.
Right now, your guess is as good as ours at to what’s going on, though it may be fair to assume that the two progressed their relationship beyond being just an illicit affair in whatever universe this may be. And who knows, maybe their siring of Thea and forming a loving family might have prevented Malcolm from joining the League of Assassins?
Here’s what executive producer and showrunner Beth Schwartz had to tease:
“All I can say is that it’s something we’ve never done on our show before, and we’re going to see a lot of familiar faces in a different way than we’ve done on the show before.”
If reality is this upside down in the premiere, then we can only imagine how wacky the rest of the episodes may be. With the final stretch setting up “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” rest assured that tons of surprises await us.
Arrow returns with new episodes on Tuesday, October 15th on The CW.