WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "Leap of Faith," the latest episode of Arrow Season 8.
Since the start of Season 7, Arrow has been using flash-forward segments in its storytelling. Instead of flashing back to the past as the series had done in its first six seasons, Arrow was now showing us the future, where Oliver and Felicity's children, Mia and William, were fighting to save a post-apocalyptic Star City. The storyline featured the inclusion of many new characters, like Wild Dog's daughter Zoe, Connor Hawke and J.J. Diggle. What's more, older versions of Rene Ramirez, Dinah Drake and Felicity Smoak also appeared alongside the new, young and improved version of Team Arrow.
For the most part, this storyline was only tangentially connected to the storyline in the present. However, all of that has now changed. The latest episode of the series' eighth and final season , "Leap of Faith," ended with a massive twist when the Monitor plucked Mia, William and Connor from the future to drop them into the present. The young trio of crime-fighters now found themselves in the Arrow bunker, face-to-face with Oliver and the rest of his team.
Suddenly, both story threads are connected, and it changes everything about Season 8 going forward. Furthermore, it might also change what we thought we knew about the upcoming spinoff series, Green Arrow and the Canaries.
Shortly before the start of Season 8, The CW announced that following the conclusion of Arrow's final season, a female-centered spinoff would take its place: Green Arrow and the Canaries. The series is set to star Mia (Katherine McNamara) as her father's successor under the green hood, and she will team-up with Black Canaries Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy). Given that there was such a strong focus on the future characters in Season 7, timeline that prominently featured Dinah Drake, it was widely believed the spinoff series would be set in the dark future of Star City 2040. The theory stipulated the series would explore Mia's mission as she carried on her father's legacy to save the city she calls home.
However, the surprise ending of "Leap of Faith" changes all that. Now, Mia has time-traveled to the present thanks to the Monitor, something which already changes the timeline. Her mere presence in the Arrow bunker, and her meeting Oliver, alters the future she came from. What's more, her continued presence will surely all but erase the bleak future we have seen in Seasons 7 and 8. Therefore, it seems all but certain Mia's adventures will continue in the present day of the Arrowverse.
What's more, soon The CW's entire universe of superhero series will be consumed with the upcoming "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover, an event that will surely further alter the landscape and timeline of the Arrowverse. And given that it's been foretold that Oliver Queen will die during this crisis, Mia will now be around to pick up the hood and continue the fight in her father's name. Better yet, she will have two Black Canaries in their prime to help her along the way.
This is by no means a confirmation, but it sure looks like Mia's adventures as the Green Arrow will take place in the present day, instead of some bleak future void of light and hope.
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Arrow's final season 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.