Arrow kicks off its eighth and final season in the fall, bringing an end to the show that started the entire Arrow-verse. With only ten episodes to wrap everything up and build to the gigantic "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover that is going to do something major to Oliver, a lot is going to have to happen. Two big returns from former stars are going to take place, but in unexpected ways. Prepare to say hello to Josh Segarra and Colin Donnell again!
Josh Segarra played Adrian Chase/Prometheus in the fifth season of Arrow, while Colin Donnell has played Tommy Merlyn off and on since the very first episode of the series. It's too soon to say exactly how Arrow brings them back, but there are undoubtedly going to be some wild twists. After all, both Adrian Chase and Tommy Merlyn are quite definitively dead.
Both actors are returning as guest stars rather than recurring or regulars, and showrunner Beth Schwartz teased some of what to expect. Let's start with Segarra as Chase/Prometheus.
Adrian Chase comes back in a different way than expected. We’re really excited about that because obviously he’s one of our favorite villains.
Adrian Chase died in the Season 5 finale, when he shot himself in the head as his final revenge against Oliver. Was why killing himself revenge? Well, he was connected to a dead man's switch that would set off explosives all over Lian Yu, where pretty much all of Oliver's friends and family except for William were stuck. Adrian was arguably Oliver's most unhinged nemesis since Slade Wilson back in Season 2.
Josh Segarra reprised the role in Season 6, although not as one of the Arrow-verse's many resurrected villains. He appeared in a hallucination after Oliver was exposed to Vertigo, and the fake Adrian Chase tormented and confused Oliver throughout his drugged-up state.
Does Beth Schwartz's tease mean that Arrow found a way other than resurrection or hallucination to bring back Adrian Chase? Will this be an Adrian Chase from a parallel universe or reset timeline? It's hard to rule anything out when The Flash has messed with Arrow before.
One character who has returned as a hallucination and as another version from a parallel universe is Tommy Merlyn, played by Colin Donnell. Beth Schwartz went on in her chat with EW to share this:
[Colin Donnell is] not coming back as the Tommy we know.
Well, Arrow has already brought back Colin Donnell following present-day Tommy's death via hallucination, flashback, evil Nazi parallel version, and another hallucination. How can Arrow bring him back in a new way, short of resurrection? The show has proved in the past that even bodies that have been dead for quite awhile can return after a dip in a Lazarus Pit, and one major character was resurrected that way in Season 7. Could this be how we get a new version of Tommy?
I'm inclined to say no, but we'll have to wait and see what Beth Schwartz and Co. have in store for Tommy -- if Colin Donnell is indeed playing another version of Tommy -- in Season 8. While Donnell's departure from Chicago Med as a regular ahead of Season 5 (although he will return for the premiere) was sad for Med fans, if it freed him up to return to Arrow one last time, Arrow fans can be happy!
2019 Fall TV Premiere Schedule: Dates For New And Returning Shows
Arrow returns to The CW in a brand new time slot in the fall. Not a lot has been released about Season 8 so far, although the flash-forwards will continue and a whole bunch of characters from days gone by may be back. The title of the season premiere is a real head-scratcher, so fans have plenty to speculate about in the coming months.
