In early August, it was announced that Colton Haynes would not be back as a series regular for ‘Arrow’ Season 8. Because of that, Haynes’ future on the show was unclear, as it would have been within his rights to simply not come back at all. But it has been confirmed that Haynes, who plays Roy Harper, will be back in a recurring capacity.
‘Arrow’ showrunner Beth Schwarts confirmed to Entertainment Weekly:
“We couldn’t have ended the show without having him back.”
In all fairness, there were 22 episodes of Season 7, and even though Haynes was credited as a series regular, he only actually appeared in ten of those.
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In related news, Willa Holland (Thea Queen) is also coming back as a recurring cast member, after exiting the series on a regular basis in Season 6. There are some lingering questions about these two characters, so look forward to the show resolving some of that.
Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), David Ramsey (John Diggle), Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance/Black Siren), Rick Gonzalez (Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog), and Juliana Harkavy (Dinah Drake/Black Canary) will remain as series regulars, while Katherine McNamara (Mia), Ben Lewis (William), and Joseph David-Jones (Connor) had been promoted to series regulars, and Charlie Barnett has been cast as the adult John Diggle Jr./J.J.
Other returning ‘Arrow’ favorites slated to return for the final season include: John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn), Colin Donnell (Tommy Merlyn), Rila Fukushima (Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana), Byron Mann (Yao Fei Gulong), Josh Segarra (Adrian Chase), and Susanna Thompson (Moira Queen). Some of their characters are dead, so it remains to be seen if they will appear in flashbacks or if they will factor into the parallel universes of the “Crisis” storyline. Emily Bett Rickards will not return as Felicity Smoak at all.
‘Arrow’ returns to The CW for its eighth and final season on Tuesday, October 15.