TCA 2019: Marv Wolfman will co-write Arrow 'Crisis' crossover episode

The eighth and final season of CW's Arrow will premiere this fall. The series, which gave birth to the Arrowverse, is preparing for the long goodbye, as are fans who anxiously await the conclusion of the series that started it all. SYFY WIRE was at 2019 TCAs in Beverly Hills, California to report on what we can expect from the series finale and the highly anticipated Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event.

Present were cast members Stephen Amell (Oliver) and David Ramsey (John Diggle), along with executive producers Beth Schwartz and Marc Guggenheim. 

We've been getting hints at the Crisis crossover, but as the fall premiere season inches nearer, we're finally getting the details we've been craving! Marc Guggenheim and the legendary Crisis writer himself, Marv Wolfman, will team up to co-write the Arrow episode (8.8). Wolfman wrote the DC comic series, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which ran between 1985 and 1986. The series is drawn by George Pérez and sought to unite the DC universe after decades of continuity chaos.

The ending of the series has been an emotional one for the series lead, Stephen Amell. "I was having a difficult time at Comic-Con. It’s been really emotional. Every episode this year, it feels like we are trying to put a button on certain stories in the show."

Amell suggests the world as Arrow knew it at the end of S7 is over. Season 8, he says, is a new world with different events. This sentiment is shared by Schwartz who says the final season is all about huge episodes, unlike anything the team has done before. "The entirety of S8 leads up to Crisis," she added.

When it comes to the ending of Arrow, no one was giving away any big spoilers, but we did get a few additional nuggets of information. The EPs say fans can expect a slew of guest stars. Schwartz says, "The whole season is basically our greatest hits and we’re tying up stories you could have seen in Seasons 2 or 3."

It's difficult to imagine the scale of the crossover, which will see five series connecting over five hours of television. Riggle calls the event unprecedented and boy howdy, he's not wrong! More details about the crossover were revealed at the CW executive session where it was announced that voice actor Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) will play the future Bruce Wayne in the Crisis event. The surprise announcement of the morning, however, came from Black Lightning (Cress Williams) who will make his crossover debut in Crisis.

Still, a question on everyone's mind seems to be why end the show now when it remains so popular? Both executive producers agree there was a desire to end the show while people were still talking about it. Schartz says ending the show with S8 represents a "rare opportunity to end the show on our terms."

The Arrowverse crossover event begins Sunday, Dec. 8 at 8pm EST with Supergirl. From there, the Crisis hits Batwoman (debuting this fall) on Monday, Dec. 9 bleeding into The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10; both series will air at 8pm EST. The event concludes Wednesday, Dec. 11 with Legends of Tomorrow at 9pm EST. 

Arrow premieres this fall on the CW.