Arrow season 8 is set to bring back numerous old faces from the show’s past, just before it comes to an end. The saga of the Green Arrow has given us a lot of fan favorite characters who’ve come and gone over the years, and it seems like as many of them as possible will feature in the series’ final hours. Chief among them is Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), who hasn’t been a regular since season 1, though he’s made the occasional guest appearance over the years.
Donnell’s return for season 8 was revealed last month, but now star Stephen Amell has given us our first look at Tommy in the upcoming run. The star shared a snap of a screen playing the season premiere, which unveils a bearded Donnell. So, we know he’s going to be back in the opener.
“Watching the premiere,” Amell captioned the image. “Holy googley woogley.”
We’ve previously been warned to expect some big changes to the character when he returns. Not least that he’s alive again, after being killed off seven years ago. It seems likely that the Tommy that Donnell will play in season 8 is a doppelganger from another universe. Amell has also confirmed that Ollie will be aiding the Monitor this season, ahead of the collapse of the multiverse in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” So, it’s plausible that he’ll be visiting other worlds.
Additional familiar faces returning alongside Donnell include Susanna Thompson (Moira Queen), Josh Segarra (Adrian Chase), Rila Fukushima (Katana) and even his on-screen dad John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn). We’re sure there are plenty more where they came from, too. For one, Colton Haynes has teased he’s not done with the show despite not serving as a regular this year.
The 10-episode Arrow season 8 is currently 30% of the way through filming and kicks off on The CW from Tuesday, October 15th.
