Warning! This post contains spoilers for the Season 5 finale of Arrow. Read at your own risk.
Remember how we spent the past year or so believing that the flashbacks for Arrow Season 6 are truly over? Well, Arrow's Season 6 premiere will apparently still use flashbacks, or at least one of them. Co-creator and executive producer Marc Guggenheim delivered the news to fans in the quote below:
At the same time, I will tell you that the season premiere of Season 6 will have a flashback. . . . To the island? If you take me literally at my word: yes, back to the island.
Exactly how far that Arrow flashback will take us remains to be seen. The finale ended on the dramatic conclusion of Lian Yu literally exploding, so I can't imagine the first episode of Season 6 picks up in the immediate aftermath, with Oliver trying to search for survivors with William by his side. Arrow Season 6 could totally pick up months after that presumably deadly event to show us what happened in the days immediately following, and that would still technically be considered a flashback, without the show needing to specifically hit up The History of Oliver.
While we could very well see a flashback from five years ago or beyond, a more current look to the past seems like the most likely scenario, as the show will have to quickly establish who survived that crazy finale, while still providing the heart-pounding action the series is known for. Plus, it would be a flashback that technically takes us to the island, which would be taking Marc Guggenheim at his word, so it fits there, too.
Exactly how far that Arrow flashback will take us remains to be seen. The finale ended on the dramatic conclusion of Lian Yu literally exploding, so I can't imagine the first episode of Season 6 picks up in the immediate aftermath, with Oliver trying to search for survivors with William by his side. Arrow Season 6 could totally pick up months after that presumably deadly event to show us what happened in the days immediately following, and that would still technically be considered a flashback, without the show needing to specifically hit up The History of Oliver.
While we could very well see a flashback from five years ago, this seems like the most likely scenario as the show will have to establish who survived that crazy finale while still providing the heart-pounding action the series is known for. It also would be a flashback that takes us to the island, which I'm going to take Marc Guggenheim at his word on.
The Arrow team has been hitting the PR for Season 6 so hard with the "no more flashbacks" line, so playful wording definitely needs to come into play here. Even Marc Guggenheim indicates in his interview to Access Hollywood that he is just as glad as the fans to finally be rid of them, so whatever we see in the premiere is apparently a necessary inclusion. He even described a brief moment of celebration shared with the writing staff after they finished what, until now, was the final flashback scene in the series.
For that reason, I believe whatever this flashback will be for Season 6 must directly be linked to the events of the Season 5 finale. Beyond the next opener, other flashbacks have been teased for characters aside from just Oliver, so perhaps we were crazy for ever assuming Arrow could exist without them.
Arrow is set to return in the Fall at its new day Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. While we continue to pry for any and all details regarding Season 6, you can and should dive into the litany of programming appearing on TV every day. Keep track of the madness by bookmarking our helpful summer premiere guide, and if you're currently watching something and unsure of when it ends, feel free to bookmark our finale guide as well.
