Warning: This story contains major spoilers from the season 6 finale ofArrow.
Read at your own risk.
The hero got arrested.
Credit: Jack Rowand/The CW
The shows moral center was killed.
The bad guy got away.
All in all, it was a pretty rough season finale forArrow.
But a distraught Laurel blasts Diaz off the roof with her canary cry, inadvertently letting Diaz get away.
Thats right, the seasons big bad escapes to live another day.
Now that Oliver is in jail and Diaz is in the wind, what will happen to Star City?
Thats always been part and parcel of the show.
We havent killed off a character in a season finale sinceseason 1.
But fundamentally, the reason we did it was sort of two-fold.
What story consequences does this lead to that excite us?
The idea that Diaz is responsible for Lances death has huge ramifications for Laurels character and her story line.
Paul has been with us since the beginning, hes an absolute joy to work with.
Hes just a class act.
I really, really enjoyed working with Paul so much over the last six years.
Oliver has ended up in prison.
These consequences seem pretty irreversible.
What was your goal here?
We were very determined to rock the show out of its comfort zone.
I think you started to see that by design at the end of season 6.
We wanted to get out from our traditional ways of telling story.
I mean, quite frankly, even the structure of the season finale is very unconventional for us.
This year the climactic battle between Oliver and Diaz happened in Act 4.
So were constantly looking for different ways to shake up the show and do things differently.
Theres no way to go back to the status quo.
We always keep the show moving forward and evolving and trying to push new boundaries.
The identity reveal is a good example of that.
Oliver and Felicity end the season on a rocky note.
Whats next for their marriage?
Ricardo Diaz got away, something you dont normally do when ending a season.
There was a mention of Longbow Hunters.
Will we see them next season?I dont feel like I can spoil that or not spoil that.
I think it probably all depends on the circumstances under which he eventually gets out.
Do you expect a time jump going into next season?Itll be the traditional time jump.
Arrowwill return this fall on The CW.
