Fadeout

"Of course, life will go on. It always does. But how? What twists and turns it will take, I can't say. I don't know what the future holds...except to say expect the unexpected. Oliver may be gone, but his mission endures. That mission lives on, Oliver lives on, in the people he inspired. Some will take that mission to the rest of the world...maybe even beyond that. Because if the past eight years has shown us anything...it's that this universe is far bigger than any of us could have dared imagine. Even if it is a little less bright, without him in it."

—John Diggle's eulogy at Oliver Queen's funeral

"Fadeout"
Information
Season 8 » Episode 10
Episode number	170 of 170
Original airdate	January 28, 2020
Written by	Marc Guggenheim Beth Schwartz
Directed by	James Bamford
Chronology
Preceded by	"Green Arrow & The Canaries"

"Fadeout" is the tenth and final episode of the eighth season of Arrow, and the one-hundred-seventieth and final episode overall. It aired on January 28, 2020.

Synopsis

After eight seasons, and the launch of countless superheroes, the series wraps up the story of the Green Arrow. Emily Bett Rickards returns as Felicity.[src]

Cast

Main cast

• Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Hood/Green Arrow
• David Ramsey as John Diggle/Spartan
• Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog
• Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/Black Canary
• Katherine McNamara as Mia Queen/Green Arrow
• Ben Lewis as William Clayton (archive footage)
• Joseph David-Jones (credit only)

Special appearance by

• Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance/Black Canary
• Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers
• Grant Gustin as Barry Allen

Special guest star

• Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
• Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen
• Colton Haynes as Roy Harper/Arsenal
• Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific
• Willa Holland as Thea Queen/Speedy
• Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance
• Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary
• Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn
• Sea Shimooka as Emiko Adachi

Guest starring

• Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels
• David Nykl as Anatoly Knyazev
• Katrina Law as Nyssa al Ghul
• Lexa Doig as Talia al Ghul
• Joe Dinicol as Rory Regan/Ragman

Co-starring

• Keri Adams as Bethany Snow
• Tiahra Allen as Young Sara
• Johnny Cuthbert as John Byrne
• Marcello Guedes as Young JJ
• Jessica Heafey as Ms. Pedowitz
• Jack Moore as Young William Clayton

Uncredited

• Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson (archive footage)
• LaMonica Garrett as Mar Novu (archive footage)
• Brandon Routh as Atom (photograph)
• Franz Drameh as Firestorm (photograph)
• Nick Zano as Steel (photograph)
• Lucia Walters as Susan Brayden (photograph)
• Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Vixen (photograph)
• Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory (photograph)
• Marc Guggenheim as a memorial visitor

Plot

The episode opens with a voiceover montage with Oliver Queen giving a very general recap of his journey, bringing the audience up to his death and the rebirth of the universe due to his sacrifice. At the end, he declares that some part of him will always be the Green Arrow.

Starling City 2014. It's the night that Deathstroke killed Moira Queen, but this time, that reality is different. Oliver frees himself and fights off Deathstroke, saving his mother. In the present, Moira talks to the Emerald Archer documentary crew about knowing about that alternative reality. She also explains that Oliver's friends have told her that he's the reason "everything changed" and that their world is a gift from him.

Dinah is next, talking about processing everything, as does Rene, touching on Oliver's legacy. Diggle also talks, struggling a bit with the loss of Oliver. Once the cameras stop, Rene comes to chat with him. Turns out Oliver just fixed things. He got rid of all crime in Star City and it's time to honor him. At the bunker, the team - including Roy - toasts to Oliver. They chat about their future. Quentin Lance is alive and still mayor. He's endorsing Rene as his replacement. Dinah is chief of police. Diggle feels like things aren't over.

Flashback, Starling City 2012. Diggle wants to help Oliver in the field. Oliver resists and researches his next target: John Byrne, a human trafficker. Diggle wants to know how many names are on the list. Oliver tells him the mission is never over. Flashback: the raft after the sinking of the Queen's Gambit. Robert Queen still ends his own life. We then move to Star City 2040. Mia wakes up in her bed and Sara is in her room, having time portaled to come get her for Oliver's funeral.

At the bunker, Laurel is struggling. Roy gives Dinah her "Mark of 4" tattoo and reveals that he's nervous to talk to Thea. It's revealed Emiko is alive, too. Another flashback. Diggle continues to clash with Oliver about joining him in the field, with Diggle trying to convince Oliver that there are other ways to get justice than killing people and losing himself isn't worth it. In the present, Mia uses the computer in the bunker and tells Dinah that something happens in the future - William's kidnapping - and she currently feels helpless. The news then breaks that in the present, William is kidnapped from Central City.

The team has a mission: save William. Felicity shows up. Ragman is also there, as is Curtis and Lyla. Felicity reveals she implanted a tracker in William, but it's not helpful now. She gets a list of possible locations and now the entire assembled team sets off to check them out to save William. Thea and Roy check one location and he's not there. Before they go to the next, Roy opens up to Thea and says he wants to marry her. Another location, Ragman and Rene clear it. His rags work at long last and he's been fighting for justice to honor Oliver. Ragman tells Rene he is the member of the team most like their slain leader. Diggle and Lyla clear another. William's kidnapping has her rattled as she feels indebted to Oliver for giving them back their daughter. Green Arrow Mia then lands on a rooftop and finds William. John Byrne has him.

A flashback explains the significance. When Oliver locates Byrne back in the day he doens't kill him. Instead, Oliver put him in prison and ruined his life. In the present, Mia chooses not to kill him either. He is going back to prison. Back at the Bunker, Felicity learns Mia is her daughter. The news reports the that Oliver must have inspired a new Green Arrow. Another flashback. Oliver gives Diggle training tips and tells him that he didn't kill Byrne. He took Diggle's advice. At the Queen Mansion, Thea says yes to Roy's proposal.

Laurel meets with Quentin. She is having trouble with her existing and Earth-1 Laurel not since Oliver "fixed" everything. Quentin tells Laurel that Oliver didn't fix the Laurel situation because it didn't need fixing. At the bunker, Diggle, Dinah, and Rene have another moment together before turning off the lights one last time. Later, a statue of the Green Arrow is unveiled in Star City.

And now, the funeral. Thea questions why Oliver couldn't bring back their dad. Moira explains that Oliver could only change the things that didn't change him, meaning Robert remains dead. Emiko approaches to meet Thea and is welcomed by both women as family. Tommy speaks with Laurel-2 and reveals that he's aware of the reality in which he was dead. He also says that Laurel-1 was his wife. It's unclear what her fate was, though implied that she died and remains dead. Nyssa and Talia are there as well with Nyssa explaining she had her marriage to Oliver erased. Mia introduces herself to Felicity and reveals that she did, in fact, meet Oliver. They hug. Barry pays his condolences as well, as does Kara. Anatoly is present, they buried a casket of mementos. Diggle offers a eulogy honoring Oliver's journey and sacrifice.

Everyone begins to move on. Lyla heads to Metropolis with the kids. Mia returns to the future. Rene oversees his campaign. Dinah heads out into the unknown. And, then, something crashes into the earth near Diggle and he pulls an item out of the crater. Opening the box, he's bathed in a glowing green light.

We flash forward one last time, to Star City 2040 and the moment where, in Season 7, The Monitor took Felicity into the unknown. She arrives, dressed as she was back in Season 1. She's in Moira Queen's old office. This is Oliver's afterlife: he's been waiting for her in the moment he first saw her and it's not in the IT department. It's when he saw her talking to his photo on his mother's desk all those years ago. Now, they have all the time in the world together in a perfect world.

Trivia

• Marc Guggenheim posted a picture to clarify viewers on where the title came from. In it, the fadeout is the area on a longbow where the grip tapers into the risers and limbs of the bow.
  • In the episode, Mia instructs William on the parts of a bow, pointing out the fadeout.
• Stephen Amell and David Ramsey got the ending they wanted for their respective characters.
• The final scene was a brand new scene Marc Guggenheim came up with after he just finished meditation class one morning at the time the ending had not been written. Guggenheim posted the script of the ending after he considered about doing it on the night of the airing in case it was cut..
  • Stephen cried when Guggenheim told him about it at the Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. But there were a lot of hurdles because Emily Bett Rickards's involvement played a crucial role in getting the scene over.
• This episode was preceded by a TV special airing prior to it, titled Arrow: Hitting the Bullseye.
• Madison McLaughlin and Jessica De Gouw were unable to make an appearance due to scheduling conflicts.
• Of the main cast, John Barrowman ("Malcolm Merlyn"), Josh Segarra ("Adrian Chase"), Kirk Acevedo ("Ricardo Diaz"), Ben Lewis (Older "William Clayton") and Joseph David-Jones ("Connor Hawke") do not make an appearance.
• There was talk about getting Emily to appear in the flashbacks but couldn't because she was only available to film for two days.
• Slade's appearance at the beginning of the episode makes use of unused footage from "Unthinkable" in which Oliver dreams of what would've happened if he had saved his mother.
• From Mia's perspective, it had been two weeks after the events of "Green Arrow & The Canaries", as opposed to Dinah Drake and Laurel Lance's point of view, as they were versions two months before the events of said episode.
• This is the first and only episode to feature two different title cards during and at the conclusion of the episode.
• Marc Guggenheim made a cameo appearance during the statue reveal.
• This is William's only episode where he does not have a speaking role.
• Rene says to Diggle that is arms are the size of "telephone poles", a reference to the first season when Oliver says a variation of the line saying to him that his arms are "the size of bowling balls."
• This is the first episode since The Flash episode "Invincible" that Barry Allen and Laurel have been in the same episode.
  • This is also the first episode that Kara Danvers and Earth-2 Laurel have been in the same episode.

Production

Preparation ran from October 22 until October 30, 2019. Shooting ran from October 31 until November 13, 2019.

Gallery

Videos

Arrow 8x10 Promo "Fadeout" (HD) Season 8 Episode 10 Promo Series Finale

Arrow Season 8 Episode 10 Fadeout Scene The CW

Arrow Season 8 Episode 10 Suit Up Scene The CW