The end of Arrow will mark the end of an era for the Arrow-verse, which wouldn't exist if not for the success of the Emerald Archer starting way back in 2012. The series finale is tasked with including a huge ensemble of characters, explaining the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" changes, closing Oliver Queen's series when Oliver has been dead for two Arrow-verse episodes already, and satisfying fans. Showrunner Beth Schwartz hasn't dropped many details about what's in store, but she did tease some "wish fulfillment."
Addressing the fact that present-day Felicity will meet adult Mia (as revealed via the series finale images), Beth Schwartz said this
There’s a lot of wish fulfillment. One, being a parent — and I’m a new parent — seeing your child in their adult self is really crazy and also amazing when you’re proud of who she became as a woman and also honoring her father’s legacy. [It was] not obviously under great circumstances because they’re at Oliver’s funeral, but I think it was a very meaningful moment in their lives.
The backdoor pilot for the potential Green Arrow & the Canaries spinoff revealed a Mia who both has the skills and memories of the badass hero she became prior to "Crisis" and a life as a recent college grad in a relationship that was very stable, so there really is a lot for Felicity to be proud of. Of course, Felicity in the finale may have just left adorable baby Mia to run into badass adult Mia at Oliver's funeral, so this won't just be any normal mother/daughter reunion.
Beth Schwartz's comments at a press screening of the Arrow series finale (via Variety) suggest that some of her own wishes will be fulfilled, possibly with some fulfillment for fans of the Queen family dynamic as well. Sadly, Arrow may not be able to deliver Oliver, Felicity, and adult Mia sharing a scene what with Oliver being dead, but the post-"Crisis" future is uncertain. Did that Season 7 finale moment of flash-forward Felicity going with the Monitor to meet with Oliver even happen in this timeline?
Fans will have to wait until the series finale on January 28 to get all the answers, but Beth Schwartz went on to share that she and executive producer Marc Guggenheim put a lot of thought into wrapping the various characters' stories:
It’s really important for me and Marc to honor all of our characters. We spent a lot of time in the room brainstorming endings for all our characters, whether they were series regulars in Season 8 or they were series regulars in Season 1. We really wanted to give everyone a satisfying ending, so that you could envision what their lives would be like after the show was over.
Interesting! Images from an upcoming episode of The Flash confirm that Diggle will still be active in the Arrow-verse following the Arrow series finale, so his end should certainly be "satisfying" in the sense that he doesn't die! In fact, if viewers are going to get a finale allowing them to envision what characters' lives will be like after the end, maybe that means there won't be any big deaths.
Of course, Oliver is apparently really dead this time, so there may not be much to envision about his future. Still, we can hope for a happy ending for him somehow. Arrow surely didn't bring Emily Bett Rickards back just to not reunite Felicity with Oliver one more time, right?
Find out what happens when the Arrow series finale airs on Tuesday, January 28 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW, immediately following a special presentation honoring the show that started the Arrow-verse at 8 p.m. ET.
