As the character with the longest resume of super-heroics in the Arrow-verse (his name is right there in the title), Oliver Queen has seen and done it all -- or so we thought. With this year's four-way crossover about to take our heroes into a crisis over on Earth-X, we're about to see Green Arrow in an entirely new light. Specifically, the crossover event will hone on Oliver's love life, and explore the self-discovery he experiences as a result. Arrow executive producer Wendy Mericle explained:
It's Oliver and one other character in the Arrow-verse's story. It really explores the question of true love, and what does that look like? It's emotionally really compelling, and you're going to be surprised by what he learns and how he learns it and who he learns it from. It's pretty crazy stuff, I'm not going to lie.
It's an intriguing angle for the crossover to take, but it also definitely opens up plenty more questions as a result. If Oliver's love life will play a key role in how this crossover event pans out, then it leaves us wondering who his "true love" really is. Remember, we're going to see an alternate Earth during this event, and the Barry/Iris dynamic has shown us that certain people are destined to be together -- even across dimensional barriers. Is Olicity as rock solid as The Flash's main couple? Was the late Laurel Lance actually Oliver's true love? Or is someone else waiting to steal Green Arrow's heart?
This seems to echo the emotional resonance of the four-way Invasion crossover that took place last year. During the Arrow portion of the recent crossover event, we watched Oliver deal with the grief of his lost family and friends who had perished ever since the death of his father when the Queen's Gambit sank in 2007. The episode (which doubled as the 100th episode special) ended with Oliver letting go of his guilt over everything that has happened over the course of the last decade. Based on Wendy Mericle's comments to TV Guide about this crossover, it sounds like this crossover could provide a similar catharsis for his future with regards to how he evolves in his search for love.
Arrow will return to The CW next week on Thursday, October 12 at 9 p.m. ET. The four-way Crisis on Earth-X crossover event will take place later this fall and begin with Supergirl on November 27. For those of you who are in the market for more up-to-date information on the rest of this season's premieres, check out our fall TV guide to keep yourself in the loop on all of the most highly-anticipated shows!
