Arrow Season 8: 9 Announcements We Could Hear At Comic-Con 2019

Comic-Con is happening in San Diego later this week, and if past years are any indication, SDCC is where we get the first major information about what we have to look forward to in the coming season.

This year, it’s an even bigger deal with Arrow ending after a 10-episode final season, and we also have the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover coming up. With where Arrow left us at the end of Season 7, we have no real idea what to expect from Season 8, which could go a lot of places.

What we do already know for sure: The season premiere is called “Starling City.” Colin Donnell and Josh Segarra will be guest starring in Season 8, and they may be playing different versions of their characters than we have ever seen before. Crisis is looming. Katherine McNamara and Joseph David-Jones (Mia and Connor) will be series regulars. And there are some new costumes that Marc Guggenheim has shown off.

And now, before anything else leaks or comes out about Season 8, GreenArrowTV is making a list of predictions for 9 possible announcements we could be hearing at Comic-Con in 2019. These are just predictions, or even hopes; in no way is this based on any insider information. Also, we’re not We Got This Covered; we’re not going to pretend this is real news when it’s not. We’ll revisit this list later and see how many of these predictions turned out to be right.

What is “Starling City” all about? First off, let’s take a look at the season premiere title: “Starling City.” Star City hasn’t had that name for several seasons, and here’s a probably not so bold prediction: The episode is about another Earth, one that we’ll be seeing in the coming Crisis. With the announcements of Colin Donnell and Josh Segarra guest starring already, we’ll assume they’re back for the season premiere. Maybe Tommy is the Dark Archer as we all predicted he would be back when Arrow premiered in 2012? And could “Starling City” follow a world where Oliver never came back from the island, and thus, someone else became the Green Arrow? Perhaps that new Green Arrow costume belongs to Adrian Chase? Either way, some things will surely be confirmed in the first trailer.

That black leather jacket belongs to either Laurel or Mia. There’s a portion of the fandom that for whatever reason doesn’t want Mia Smoak to become a Canary, but considering how iconic that character is to the Arrow mythos, it wouldn’t surprise us one bit, though her as a new Green Arrow in the future would be equally awesome. If that’s not the case? We’ll be seeing Katie Cassidy Rodgers in her most comics-accurate Black Canary costume to date. Another possibility? If Adrian Chase is Green Arrow in “Starling City,” perhaps he’s teamed up with Caity Lotz’s Canary. It could happen…

More guest stars will be announced. Colin Donnell and Josh Segarra are big announcements, but we wouldn’t be surprised if we get a few more names revealed for appearing in Season 8, if not the season premiere, especially if we’re going to other worlds. Paul Blackthorne, Susanna Thompson, Willa Holland, and John Barrowman would all definitely fall on that list, and they’d surely be the most likely; who knows if Titans casting Esai Morales as Slade will keep us from seeing Deathstroke again. To see Celina Jade again as Shado would be interesting, and maybe there’s a world where Emiko (Sea Shimooka) was always on the side of good. Wasn’t Jamey Sheridan’s Robert Queen the Green Arrow of Earth-2? Maybe that’s another one we could see. And it’s been an awfully long time since we’ve seen Jessica de Gouw as the Huntress, hasn’t it?

Smallville stars in Crisis. Before Arrow, there was another long-running TV series featuring DC Comics characters on The CW. Our prediction? At least one of the main leads of Smallville — no, not Allison Mack — will be announced as appearing in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and taking that a step further, it’ll be either Tom Welling or Michael Rosenbaum. A Justin Hartley Green Arrow announcement would be awesome, but with his This Is Us commitments, that might not be a possibility.

John Diggle will wear a green ring. David Ramsey’s John Diggle will be seen with the Green Lantern ring at some point before the series is done — even if it’s just an alternate-universe version of him. Bonus: Lyla Michaels will be seen as Harbinger from another world, complete with metal suit and big 80’s hair.

Future Star City backdoor pilot. Our prediction is that one of the ten episodes of Arrow Season 8 will be a “test run” for a series starring Kat McNamara and Joseph David-Jones as Mia and Connor. There might not be an announcement at SDCC, but someone on the panel will ask if fans are interested, and there will likely be cheering. Also, don’t be surprised if Ben Lewis (William) and/or Andrea Sixtos (Zoe) are upgraded to series regular status for the final season.

A new Arrowverse series will be announced. Even without a Star City 2040 pilot, and even though The CW already has 5 or 6 DC shows already at a given time, another new series development, possibly involving a character that will be in Crisis, will be announced… and it will center among one of the major characters we know from the Justice League. (Our money’s on a character whose name is heard in the song “Sunshine Superman.”)

James Bamford will direct the Arrow series finale. Because he’s great, and because he’s been there from the beginning.

Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity) will be back. Probably the biggest splash of an announcement for Arrow’s final season would be that Emily Bett Rickards, who departed the series with the Season 7 finale, will be appearing in the eighth and final season. Maybe the announcement will be for just the series finale. Maybe more. Or perhaps Emily has already filmed something for Crisis, when she made her last appearance in “You Have Saved This City?” Regardless, nothing could energize a lot of Arrow fans as much as knowing we’d see Felicity again, even if it’s just for a little while.

We’ll find out for sure what is on the way with the Arrow final season panel this Saturday, July 20 at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. Leave your own thoughts and predictions below!