Spoilers below for Arrow's Season 7 finale, so be warned.
No matter how many other roles he takes on in his career, and no matter how varied those roles might be, Stephen Amell will forever be known as Arrow's Oliver Queen to a certain segment of the TV-viewing population. Such jobs aren't meant to last forever, though, and Arrow will be wrapping its CW run with Season 8 this fall. But does that mean Amell is completely done with Arrow-verse appearances? Not necessarily.
Regardless of what happens to Earth-1's Oliver Queen on Arrow and elsewhere in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover, Stephen Amell feels heavily indebted to The CW, co-creator Greg Berlanti and everyone else involved with Arrow and the other DC dramas. As such, he's not closing the door on making a future return, but it sounds like some very special circumstances will be required. In his words:
I owe so much to them, so if five years from now they’re wrapping up Show X and they were like, ‘You know what would be the cherry on top of the sundae? Would you come back?’ What am I gonna say? No? It’s a shitty idea that I’d say no. You do what you can. I owe a lot to people, so if they need something from me, they can always have it.
If anyone every questioned why Stephen Amell has amassed such a large and faithful fanbase, even outside of Arrow viewers, the above is a winning reason. Any number of other actors, when faced with the same question, might have backed away from it, possibly saying they want to respect the story/character/viewers by sending a character off with honor.
No doubt Amell also wants Oliver to be honored by his fate in Season 8, but he's also aware that his rise to stardom on The CW was not a solo effort. Even if no one else agreed that he still had dues to pay, Amell would still try.
So even if he would be fairly disgusted by the idea of coming back in the future as, say, Earth-3' Oliver Queen, Stephen Amell sounds like he would do it anyway, in order to help out others. Granted, he made it sound like he'd do it under pretty specific circumstances, but it might not be completely limited to that.
In Stephen Amell's head, it sounds like the most justifiable way for Oliver Queen to return in the future is as part of another show's final episode. So, for instance, if The Flash would end in Season 10, then fans could possibly look forward to a slightly older Amell reprising the archer role in Central City. (It's be slightly weirder for Legends of Tomorrow and and Supergirl to welcome him to their finales, but we'd take it.)
Stephen Amell was speaking at Megacon Orlando over the weekend, where he talked to fans about all kinds of things, from great Season 7 moments to the Green Arrow costume to more. For the most part, though, Amell was just genuinely gracious and thankful for the fans who followed Arrow through thick and thin since 2012.
I really appreciated this weekend people saying, 'Thank you for the run, we're sad that it's going,' And the fact that you're sad that it's going doesn't make me happy, but to me it also reaffirms that we're probably doing this at the right time. I think. I hope. It feels right for me and I hope we get to do it justice towards the end. I think that we will.
Many of the cards are stacked to promote the notion that Oliver Queen is going to die in Season 8 on his mission from The Monitor to save the multiverse, though it's not a done deal just yet. But even if Oliver does make the ultimate sacrifice to save Star City and the rest of the known world(s), fans can take comfort in knowing that he'll likely make at least ONE more appearance within the Arrow-verse before his superheroic efforts are done for good. Now what about Felicity?
Arrow is currently wrapped up with Season 7, with Season 8 hitting The CW this fall with a 10-episode run on Tuesday nights with The Flash. The entirety of the show so far can be streamed on Netflix, even though the streaming giant's deal with The CW has lapsed.
