The Arrow-verse is set to lose its original show in the 2019-2020 TV season thanks to the upcoming end of Arrow. The series that started it all on The CW will wrap up after a shortened eighth season beginning in the fall, but fans are already hard at work to honor the characters. A bunch of fans banded together to raise money to put up an Arrow billboard in Times Square, and Stephen Amell is all over it. Here's what's happening.
Only days after news broke that Season 8 would be Arrow's last, fans set up a Paypal initiative to raise money for a Times Square billboard, with the goal of showcasing Original Team Arrow (comprised of Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity) and Olicity in particular. The goal was to hit $14,000, and 83% of that goal has been hit in the eight days since the initiative went live. At the time of writing, that makes for $11,640.00, and the page updated to state that enough money was raised.
When Stephen Amell, who actually wanted Arrow to end with Season 8, learned about the mission to raise money for the billboard, he announced his support via social media. Take a look:
Stephen Amell didn't reveal who put him onto the cause and he didn't seem to know many details about it when he fired off his tweet, but his support is touching. By retweeting the earlier post, he undoubtedly exposed it to a whole lot of people who might not have otherwise found out about it, and he proved that he's willing to get in on fan enthusiasm for a good cause.
Given that fans have raised over $11,000 so far, Stephen Amell will presumably donate the full $10,000 he promised on Twitter. There are no details about how the donors will get to pick the charity to receive his funds, but I assume that there will be a vote of some kind. Nearly 600 people have contributed to the billboard cause so far, although it's being run by a group calling themselves "Goodbye OTA Project Members."
Here's how the group describes the goal:
OTA Forever is an opportunity to say goodbye in grand fashion. All funds collected with be put towards a billboard that will run for 24 hours in Times Square. This is a chance for fandom to work together and send out three favourite superheroes out with style while letting them know how much we love them and will never forget the impact they had on our lives.
The Arrow billboard will only be up for a day, but that's still respectable. Billboards in Times Square can't come cheap, and the fans should be commended come coming out in droves to raise money. Although it will be a while before we find out how Oliver Queen and Original Team Arrow will end their time in the Arrow-verse, the characters will be honored in grand fashion by fans in the real world.
For now, you can catch new episodes of Arrow Season 7 on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. The midseason is packed with DC TV superheroes thanks to the CW heroes and those getting into trouble over on DC Universe. Stephen Amell and the cast's reactions to the end of Arrow are worth a look as well.
