Arrow's Season 8 Premiere Sets Up Crisis Crossover By Looking To The Past

The eighth and final season of Arrow, the show that launched The CW's superhero universe, premieres Tuesday. With it comes not only the beginning of the end for Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and his team of vigilantes, but the first steps toward the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event. To do that, Arrow is revisiting its own past, as familiar faces reenter the picture.

It was previously revealed that among the characters returning for the Season 8 premiere were Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell), and Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson), none of whom have regularly appeared on the show in some time. In fact, the entire episode is structured in a way to take the audience back in time eight years to the show's first episode. "I feel like this episode specifically is a love letter to the pilot and to the series," executive producer Beth Schwartz explained to GameSpot and a small group of press after the screening.

In revisiting characters like Moira, Malcolm, and Tommy, Schwartz said the series can explore "what the character Oliver Queen/Green Arrow has meant to all of the other characters in the show and how he has affected everyone's life."

And while it's unclear how these appearances are happening--the Season 7 finale saw the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) calling on Oliver to leave Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and help prevent the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths--they won't be the only familiar faces in Season 8. It was previously announced that Willa Holland would reprise her role as Thea Queen, while Colton Haynes revealed on Twitter he would appear as Roy Harper. They, along with even more returning characters, will help Oliver and the fans of Arrow get a sense of closure in the home stretch of episodes.

"The season is pretty much just our series' greatest hits as well as a build-up to [Crisis on Infinite Earths]," Schwartz concluded.

Arrow airs Tuesdays on The CW.