A new Arrowverse TV series set in Star City 2040 would be the best of all possible spin-offs from Arrow. The first of The CW’s DC series will come to an end with season 8 later this year, but the world can live on by continuing the story that started in Arrow season 7’s flashforwards.
Few could have predicted what Arrow would become over the course of a decade when it first aired in 2012. Dismissed by many as a made-for-TV version of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, the show was successful enough to inspire a number of spin-offs, such as The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. These shows joined together to form a shared multiverse that became popularly known as the Arrowverse. It could be argued that had it not been for Arrow’s success, the wide variety of more mature live-action comic book shows currently in production would not exist.
Despite being renewed for an abbreviated season 8 heading into the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event, Arrow season 7 seemed to largely reveal the majority of Team Arrow’s fate through a series of flashforwards to the year 2040. It was here that William Clayton, Oliver Queen’s son from a one-night-stand in college, attempted to make contact with his father’s vigilante friends for the first time in two decades after receiving a strange coded message. His quest for answers and closure brought him to a dystopian Star City, where the police and local government were effectively owned and operated by a powerful corporation called Galaxy One and vigilantism was punishable by death.
Along with the vigilantes Arsenal and Black Canary, William also began working with his childhood friend Zoe Ramirez (now the new Black Canary), a government agent named Connor Hawke and Blackstar - a pit-fighter in the Star City underground, who was ultimately revealed to be Mia Smoak, William’s half-sister. Under the tutelage of the elder heroes, the four young guns created a new Team Arrow, saving Felicity Smoak from the clutches of Galaxy One and Star City itself from total destruction as part of a scheme to gentrify the city with a bombing. The Arrow season 7 finale offered the perfect set-up for a spin-off series, as the mentors agreed to fade into the shadows and leave the protection of their city up to the next generation of heroes.
It seems that the creative team behind Arrow may already be taking steps to create a 2040 themed spin-off show. Joseph David-Jones, who plays the role of Connor Hawke, has been confirmed as a series regular for Arrow season 8. Though the rest of the ensemble has yet to be confirmed as also being a part of the new season, this suggests that the story of Star City’s future heroes will be continuing in some capacity later this year.
While a continuing flashforward storyline in Arrow season 8 is not proof of an upcoming spin-off, it is confirmation that the creative team isn’t done with Mia, Connor, William and Zoe yet. Indeed, showrunner Beth Schwartz has said that she “would love to see them go on in some capacity after the show’s over.” That ringing endorsement seems to suggest that while the world of 2040 is bleak, the future is looking bright for the next generation of Star City’s heroes.
More: How the Arrowverse Season Finales Set Up Crisis On Infinite Earths
