'Arrow' Showrunner Talks Oliver's Season Arc Ahead of Final Season

Beth Schwartz is opening up about the final season of Arrow in a new interview, particularly about Oliver Queen’s end.

Speaking to TV Guide, the showrunner talked about Oliver aka Green Arrow’s death, and if the character truly will die at in the final moments.

“I think we decided to do that because it’s the story,” she shared of Oliver’s endgame of his death in the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. “We didn’t want that to be the shock — that he dies. And having that tease at the end of [Season] Seven, we were hoping it would bring everyone back to be like, ‘How does he die? What do you mean he dies? Does he really die?’”

Knowing that Oliver will meet his end in the final season also means that the final moments will be his ultimate sacrifice.

“I mean knowing, having the Monitor tell him that he’s going to die, but he’s got to do it to save the multiverse — I mean his theme of the season is a hero’s sacrifice and every character’s going to go through that this season,” Beth adds. “And this is the ultimate hero’s sacrifice, to know you’re going to die, but you’re going to save so many people’s lives.”

She continued that Oliver’s final sacrifice has always “been something that from the creation of the show has been [the ending] from the beginning. I know Marc [Guggenheim] could probably answer this better, but I know that he’s sort of always thought that was how the show would end.”

Arrow returns in October on The CW.