Arrow Season 6 will forever be known as the season of ended friendships and cast departures, because both seem to be in news regarding the series quite a bit. Just a little over a month after the show revealed Willa Holland's departure after Thea was written off the show, it's been revealed that another longtime Arrow cast member will be saying goodbye ahead of Season 7. Paul Blackthorne will be exiting Arrow, which means fans should be on the lookout for what's going on with Quentin Lance as Season 6 draws to a close.
Details regarding Paul Blackthorne's departure and why he's leaving Arrow are unknown at this time. That said, Willa Holland's contract had expired at the end of Season 6, so it's possible that Blackthorne's contract had the same type of expiration date, and he, too, is looking to take on projects outside the show he's called home for the better part of a decade. Will Quentin Lance get an exit similar to Thea and ship off to fight evil in another faraway place, or does the show have a much more depressing exit in mind?
It's a possibility he'll get that happy ending, but there are more clues that Quentin Lance's Arrow exit won't be quite as flowery as Oliver's sister. Stephen Amell shared a Twitter photo of a scene from the series that showed a figure in a hospital bed, and while he did his best to edit the photo as much as possible, several fans analyzed the mystery character's height and seemed convinced it was Lance in the bed. Additionally, the Lance family doesn't have a great track record of survival when it comes to adventures with Oliver, so the fact that Quentin could make it to Season 6 in adventures with Oliver is a miracle in and of itself.
One wildcard at play regarding Quentin Lance's exit is the arrival of Sara Lance. The Legends of Tomorrow lead will guest-star in the Season 6 finale, although the circumstances of her visit have not yet been revealed. Sara could be on the scene for her father's funeral, or she could arrive and extend an invitation to her father that's less playing dad to a doppelganger and more linking up with her and the Waverider crew for some adventures. Paul Blackthorne departing Arrow for Legends of Tomorrow would be an awfully strange move, even for a show as weird as Legends, but with EW short on details of how this exit will go down, anything is on the table.
The countdown to Quentin Lance's final episode has begun, and fans will just have to tune in to Arrow Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET to see when the time will come for the beloved character. Fans can wait for that reveal, or check up on our superhero premiere guide to see what hero shows are just around the corner. Those looking for a more generic overview of what television is coming in 2018 can visit our summer premiere guide.
