"Arrow" Boss breaks season 7 with its shocking timeline

Warning: spoiler alert! Do not continue if you have not watched the first season of Monday, the seventh Arrow.

A new generation of the Queen family has landed on Lian Yu.

In arrows the first season of the seventh season on Monday, fans have seen the traditional flashback sequences of the series replaced by something else, Someone & # 39; a the other mysterious story (and a substantial bank account, as one might think) to visit the infamous North China Sea island, where Oliver Queen (Stephen amell) became the Green Arrow all these years ago. When he finally lands, he embarks on a mission of another kind, but it is only at the very last moment of the episode that we finally discover why he came.

After being hunted by a hooded archer, he turns out to be an altered Roy Harper (Colton Haynesreturning to the regular series role this season), the man reveals that he is no stranger at all. That's William, Oliver's son. That's the future!

"We have always known, as after the fifth season, that there will be more flashback," Beth Schwartz, host of the big revelation, told the press. "So we talked a lot about doing flash-forward years ago."

"Which partly explains the success of this series in the series, is that you really managed to get into your characters because you knew, especially with Oliver, that you knew how he had become as he is "she added. "And now, with the flash-forward, you can see what's happening nowadays, how it's affecting our characters and the future, who's really, really, really, creatively, to tell these stories. "

On Sunday, at the CW launch event, in partnership with #SeeHer, Schwartz opened the doors on exciting reporting opportunities that the timeline presents, giving a sweet tribute to another popular show that recently surprised fans with a flash-forward: That's us.

"I really like That's us, and Dan Fogelman was actually my first boss in Los Angeles, so he's the best person in the world, "she yelled. But I'm a big fan of this show and also Westworld in the way they play with time. I think it's so smart. As a member of the public, I love watching this kind of story. "

When it comes to ArrowSchwartz explained: "We have been telling the story of our characters for seven years and they have really helped the city. [as] vigilantes – are they good or are they bad? We can now see if their actions have really helped in the future. This is the most interesting part for us and we really need to know more about what happened as what happened at this missing time is always good. Mystery on Arrow that's the key and that's what I like about the show. "

Last season, the DC Comics-inspired series continued to use flashbacks to tell different stories about several of its main characters. This year, the series jumps about 20 years to explore the mysterious circumstances that brought William to Lian Yu. Schwartz confirmed that, although flash-forward will not be present in every episode, they will explore a narrative arc along the way. season: "We will not keep the mysteries alive, we will answer them as well." – by presenting with enthusiasm the newcomer of the series Ben Lewiswho plays the oldest William.

"I'm so excited to announce it because it's awesome," she marveled at the actor, previously known for her roles on Chasing life and Degrassi: the next generation. "It's a very good actor and it's another thing we've done a good job keeping quiet."

the Arrow The creative team was also excited to explore William's story further through the timeline jumps, including how the trauma of growing up around the vigilantes might affect him later. "We have always been like, this kid had a hard time!" Schwartz told ET. "What does it look like when you're an adult and we talk about it? It's always something we talked about."

And while flash-forwarding has no correlation with other iterations of the future that Arrow verse fans have seen on CW's derived series – such as the Legends of tomorrow visit to Star City 2047 – Schwartz played sparingly on the characters we could see growing old in the 2040 scenes, as well as whether or not Haynes appears as Roy in the current scenarios.

However, some mysteries will be solved as soon as possible, such as the identity of the city's new green arrow, which has taken over the torch of vigilance while Oliver languishes behind the bars of the security prison. maximum of Slabside – and even has its own list of targets. "We will definitely unveil and explore [that] before the end of the season, that's for sure, "Schwartz assured him.

The theme of season seven is "redemption," and the executive producer said that "it will affect all of our characters – obviously, Oliver's character is the most important."

"In terms of everything he has done in the last six years and … because his identity is unveiled, which is also a huge serial moment," she said. explained, "everyone knows who he is and it's going to be huge, he's going to have to face that all season too, he can not hide behind the mask, the prison, or whatever."

As for the life behind bars, Schwartz noted that things would not become easier for Oliver in the next episodes, especially now that he gave up his mission to keep his head up and down. avoid angry antagonists among his fellow prisoners.

"He's learning a lot during his stay, which is really cool," said Schwartz. "It was a little different from the one we've ever seen where he was not the hero and thinking that it was the best way for him to be in jail." So obviously, when his family is attacked, he can not be the Green Arrow … So, he's going to continue struggling to know what it's like, being the Green Arrow as long as you're behind the bars? It's not easy. "

The showrunner also noted that Oliver, who "does not like not to control things," will most likely attack him to be locked up as a villain like Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) and the Longbow Hunters are wreaking havoc on Star City. "He's inside while the Big Bad is out there so it's been very hard for his character, but creative, very interesting for us to play with.You will have to see how our group manages to manage that. "

The first one showed how each of the team members managed life in his absence, including Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), who was on the run and who participated in the witness protection program with his son William (Jack Moore). But when Diaz proves that he can find them even through the darkening layers of defensive government, attacking them and killing them almost inside their hiding place, Felicity decides to confront the Battle front, returning to Star City and resuming heroic identity.

"We played her nice parallel with Oliver, where she's hiding, she's not herself," Schwartz said. "She is in custody and then, when someone attacks her family, she can not ignore it."

"She has to fight, so she's going to understand how I'm going to fight without my husband, who happens to be the Green Arrow?" she added. "It will be his challenge in the first half of this season."

Felicity might or might not have the help of the rest of the team, as Schwartz remarked: "Everyone in our old team is trying to figure out what it means for them to be a hero for the city." And she confirmed that René (Rick Gonzalez) is undoubtedly the "most interested" to know more about the new green arrow, after the fans have seen him get up to help the vigilante to flee during the first of the season.

"Rene definitely has the biggest fight," she added. "Obviously, at the first, he got into that Wild Dog outfit and he … Everyone will have a different opinion than coming back."

For Dinah (Juliana Harkavy), his new position as police captain asks him about his return to the world of heroic heroes. "She is going back a bit to her roots," Schwartz said of the former cop who became Black Canary. "We see in the first, she fully believes [in] the law now, she is now on the other side of things, which is so interesting. That's because, and Rene calls her, she's now the person chasing them, but she believes that what's best for the city is the law and the order and not necessarily the vigilantes. "

John Diggle (Another original member of the team moving away from the vigilante lifestyle)David Ramseywho is now working for his wife, Lyla (Aubrey Marie Anderson), at A.R.G.U.S., "that I like a lot," noted Schwartz.

"We'll see in future episodes how he manages what happened to Felicity," said the producer about Green Arrow's former right-hand man. "He's kind of Oliver's brother, and he obviously wants to protect his family, but he's now full-time at A.R.G.U. So we'll see some stories from A.R.G.U.S., which is really fun."

For the moment, he will share offices with Curtis (Echo Kellum), another former member of the team who seems more than happy to get away from the heroic life and find his usual screens. "We will see that Curtis has been a little more traumatized than expected by the situation last season," said Schwartz. "That's why he specifically chose his position at ARGUS, which will come out this season."

However, the most difficult transition is yet to come for Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy), who works to fill the shoes of his counterpart of Earth-1 and complete his journey from villain to hero.

"She has the kind of farther to redeem herself," said Schwartz, recalling the theme of the season. "She's the DA as we saw in the first, but she's sort of, her long arc of the season is about, is it Laurel or is she Black Siren? "

Arrow Mondays at 8 pm ET / PT on the CW.

Additional report by Philiana Ng.