Two Photos From The Next Episode Of 'Arrow' Reveal The Return Of A Long Lost Character

The penultimate episode of ‘Arrow’ Season 7, “Living Proof,” will see the return of a rather surprising cast member, although, from the look of things, this won’t be a permanent return. Even so, with the show headed into its abridged final season, expect more ghosts of the past to the surface, if for no other reason, to give fans a final glimpse of some old favorites.

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Here is the description of “Living Proof”:

OLIVER IS PUT TO THE TEST — Oliver (Stephen Amell) finds himself in a precarious position. SCPD shows up with a warrant for Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards). Gordon Verheul directed the episode written by Oscar Balderrama & Sarah Tarkoff.

After being trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building, it appears that Oliver (Stephen Amell) is revisiting the scene, where he is visited by a ghost from the past– Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell). Of course, Oliver’s best friend was himself killed when a similar building collapsed with him inside. (What is it with Star City and collapsing buildings?)

In two new photos, you can see the reunion of sorts between Oliver and Tommy. In case you ever wondered, it looks as though facial hair continues to grow in the afterlife.

In 2017, consulting producer Marc Guggenheim stated:

“It really is about two things when we’re talking about bringing a character in. It’s we’ve got to have the right story and the actor has to be available. You know a lot of times like we wanted different characters on different shows to come in and just the actor’s not available because like, we wanted, I’ll give you an example – Colin Donnell who plays Tommy Merlyn you know, spoiler, he has a cameo in this year’s crossover. We really wanted him for last year’s crossover for the Arrow 100th episode. We really wanted, you know, Tommy to return, but he’s a series regular on Chicago Med so we couldn’t make the schedule work out.”

Indeed, Donnell has been a regular on NBC’s ‘Chicago Med’, portraying Dr. Connor Rhodes, for four seasons, since the series began in 2015. As is the norm, he has also crossed over into episodes of ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Chicago P.D.’ Prior to that gig, he starred on ‘The Affair’.