Stephen Amell On Arrow Season 8, Chances of Felicity’s Return & Crisis

When we last saw Oliver Queen at the end of Arrow’s seventh season, he was taken away from his wife Felicity and young daughter Mia because of a deal he made with the character The Monitor who we first met in the 2018 Arrowverse crossover “Elseworlds.” As the showw starts with its final season on October 15, Oliver is a man on a mission… working with the Monitor. How is that going?

“We don’t know how much time passes between [Seasons] 7 and 8,” Stephen Amell told GreenArrowTV on the press line for Arrow at the 2019 Comic-Con International in San Diego. “Certainly enough time to let my hair grow a little bit. But Oliver is doing the Monitor’s bidding. What we get into in the early part of it is like what do I actually know about the Monitor? Should I just trust him? Clearly, when I told him that I needed to save Barry and Kara, he gave me an arrow that allowed me to defeat Evil Superman. So from that standpoint, he’s trustworthy, but, like, am I really willing to put everything on the line for this guy?”

As this mission took Oliver away from Felicity, how is he coping without her?

“He’s doing okay,” Stephen answered. “It’s very important to me that he stands by his decision. That he’s not morose. There’s a reason, and there’s a very, very good reason that he is actually quite emotionally distraught in the season premiere, because he unexpectedly loses someone. But it’s also important that when Felicity says to him ‘hey, wherever you go, whatever you do, I will find you’ that he believes in that.”

Producers have said Emily Bett Rickards is welcome to return as Felicity before the series is over, and many fans want to see her back as well, so we asked Stephen about the chances of seeing Emily’s return before all is said and done.

“Maybe.,” he said. “Frankly, it would feel sh***y to end the series [with] not seeing her again. But I’m also a big fan of goodbyes, and when you say goodbye, it’s okay to just say goodbye.”

And beyond some of the big guest stars, what has Stephen Amell most excited for Crisis on Infinite Earths?

“An idea that I pitched that is being pitched out in the coming weeks,” he teased. “I think it’s really cool idea. Burt Ward’s cool. I mean, I hope I get to work with Brandon Routh, but more than that, I have this one idea that I think would be so cool and I hope we can make it happen.”

We hope whatever it is happens too.

You can see video of our interview with Stephen below, in which he also teases a big scene in the season premiere.