I might’ve given up on Arrow — what else would you expect with the departure of Felicity Smoak — but that doesn’t mean I’m done with the Arrowverse. And I’m not just talking about current shows still airing, like The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow.
In fact, I specifically want to see more from the Arrow world. Well, from the future Arrow world. Specifically, the next generation of Original Team Arrow.
The thing about television is that, despite the long-running nature of shows, particularly on The CW, is that eventually it fades. It becomes gradually worse as producers run out of story ideas, when characters fulfill their journeys and when there’s a pressure to keep it going despite that.
Arrow has suffered from that. It’s suffered from expired storylines, an overabundance of characters, plot-driven storylines and the pressure to exist for The CW’s annual crossover event.
In fact, Stephen Amell recently said that, for him, Arrow ended after season 7. Basically, they decided to bring Arrow back for a final season to set-up the epic Crisis on Infinite Earths. You know, the crossover where they’re probably going to kill Oliver Queen despite everything he’s done as a character and for this Arrowverse.
Sorry, we were talking about the new Arrow…
While I’m over the Arrow that this network is going to force on fans for another 10 episodes, there’s no denying that season 7 did a lot to set up potential spinoffs for the future. Spinoffs that, even without the original actors, could be compelling.
As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one spinoff we’re talking about here. And that’s Next-Generation Original Team Arrow. Or Original Team Arrow 2.0.
Arrow opted to, instead of flashbacks, do flashforwards as a storytelling device this season, which was hit or miss. Dinah, for example, was miss. Mia, however, was a hit. As was William and Connor.
And in Star City 2040, everything changed.
It was an entire episode centered in the future with Mia, William and Connor leading the way. It gave us a sense of what this spinoff series would look like. It felt like, essentially, a backdoor pilot. And it was glorious.
Oliver and Felicity’s kids, Mia and William, and Diggle’s son, Connor. God, it was the rebirth of Original Team Arrow. It was the Next Generation of OTA.
Everything about them was perfect. From the look right down to their roles on the team. Mia was Oliver, the skilled fighter and leader. William was Felicity, the tech guru that’s sure to make you laugh. Connor was Diggle, also a skilled fighter and reliable right-hand man.
Oh, and the romance tease with Mia and Connor? Sweet lord. The chemistry. ALREADY.
An OTP on OTA? It’s inevitable.
Then there’s the fact that The CW has done this before. Made a spinoff series based on other series and set it in the future. That would be Legacies, which is a spinoff of The Originals, which centers on Klaus’ daughter Hope Mikaelson.
Legacies isn’t a carbon-copy of The Originals. And it’s best that way. But it’s able to take elements from The Originals — and weave that history through the series — while also being something else entirely. But Legacies is clearly Hope’s story.
The same would go for Next-Gen Team Arrow. It would be Mia, William and Connor’s stories, with stories and teases of their parents woven through. It’d be a great way to explore their childhood — which hopefully isn’t this current, depressing-as-hell reality Arrow created last season.
The thing that made Arrow the success that it was is the dynamic between Oliver, Felicity and Diggle. They’re the heart of the show. They’ve always been the heart of the show.
And if The CW green-lights a Next-Gen Team Arrow spinoff, Mia, William and Connor would be the heart of it.
I can only hope that, if it does happen, that whoever runs this series learns from Arrow‘s mistakes. That just when things are starting to click, don’t forget the heart of show. Give us those dynamics. Give us those moments.
Give us what made us fall in love with the idea in the first place.
