Arrow EP Talks Ending The Flashbacks

The CW/DC Comics show Arrow was a trendsetter in many ways, but one thing that made it really unique, especially in the opening two seasons, was that it had two distinct storylines, it had the present storyline, and one set 5 years in the past with Oliver Queen trapped on Lian Yu.

The team behind the show stated early on that they had 5 years of flashback stories, and now, we’re coming up to the end of Season 05, meaning that the show will end the story of Lian Yu, and focus more on the present. Speaking to ComicBookResources.com, Executive Producer Wendy Mericle noted that though they’ve been great, she’ll be happy to focus on the present stories more:

“Here’s the thing. There’s so much story on the show, and it’s really exciting for the writers and for everyone on the creative side to be thinking, ‘Wow, we really have a lot more real estate to play with,’” Mericle shared. “We always have so much story and we’re always pushing story. It’ll be great to have this extra space to play around in.”

That being said, that doesn’t mean you should expect the flashbacks to end permanently:

“That said, the flashbacks have worked so well on the show, they’re not going to be gone forever,” she teased. “We’re obviously not going to be going back to Lian Yu and we’re not going to be telling the story of the five years that Oliver was gone, but we might get some glimpses into the backstories of other characters, which would be really fun.”