Tommy Merlyn is officially back!Arrow star Stephen Amell shared a photo of the Season 8 premiere, which shows Colin Donnell's long-dead character back in action.RELATED: Arrow Season 8: Amell Teases Dead Villain's Return

Donnell's return as Tommy was announced in July, just days before Comic-Con International in San Diego. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim promised Donnell is "not coming back as the Tommy we know" -- and, indeed, he doesn't look like the youthful, clean-shaven version of the character who appeared as a series regular in Season 1.

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In the image, a photo of a screen that Amell snapped with his phone, Donnell's Tommy sports a beard and sour expression. It appears that, for whatever reason, Tommy isn't quite a fan of whatever he's seeing.

It is unclear how Tommy will return to the Arrowverse, since he died as a result of his father's plan to destroy the Glades in Season 1. However, showrunner Beth Schwartz revealed Season 8 is set largely on Earth-1, which may indicate this version of Tommy is not from an alternate universe. Time travel could be involved, though Tommy looks much different here than he ever did during his brief time on the series. We'll just have to wait until the series returns on October 15 for some much-needed answers.

Returning Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Katie Cassidy as Black Siren, Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke and Ben Lewis as William Clayton-Queen.