Arrow reaches its eighth and final season in a couple of months’ time, bringing to an end the show that kicked of The CW’s ever-expanding DC TV universe in the first place. That’s why we call it the Arrowverse, after all. The fact that the founding father of the franchise will soon be over, though, presents fans with an interesting problem: do we still call the Arrowverse the Arrowverse even though Arrow is out of the ‘verse?
According to star Stephen Amell, yes, we should. While attending the Fan Expo Boston convention over the weekend, the Oliver Queen actor was asked by someone about how the Arrowverse would change without him and his show. He touched on how Grant Gustin’s Flash might well become the face of the franchise, but he hopes fans won’t rename the shared universe to reflect that.
“I think that kind of by definition once our show is done then in my opinion it… Grant (Gustin) as Barry Allen becomes the central point in the universe for sure and he’ll do a great job with it. Just don’t start calling it the Flashverse … just keep calling it the Arrowverse. But you know, there will always be… we just happened to be first.”
Amell probably doesn’t need to worry about this. We’ve all been calling it the Arrowverse for too long now to start thinking of it as something else. The network’s sizzle reel released at Comic-Con last month did appear to be trying to rebrand the franchise as “The CW-verse,” though. It’s possible, if they keep pushing it, that it could stick, but we can’t see that happening. Remember how Warner Bros. announced that the DC movie franchise would now be called the Worlds of DC instead of the DCEU? No? That’s because no one’s ever referred it as that since.
Arrow season 8 kicks off on The CW from Tuesday, October 15th. The 10-episode run will then conclude some time in January, following the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover.