SPOILERS AHEAD for all Arrowverse shows up to 11/6/18. (And potential spoilers for future Arrow episodes if I’m right!)

Another season, another Green Arrow impersonator. But, unlike Merlyn and Slade, this guy seems to be a genuine good guy. There are very few living characters in this show who are both archers and alive, which makes our options quite limited.

From what we can tell, especially in episode 4, this new archer appears to be an adult male — Rene also refers to the archer as a “him” — so we’ll limit these guesses to the men of the show. He crosses names off a list and tells his victims they’ve “failed this city”. Sounds familiar…

With these our only clues, let’s take a look at some of the least and most likely candidates.

POSSIBLE, BUT UNLIKELY

Stephen Amell as Green Arrow

(12) Green Arrow / Oliver Queen

But he’s in prison, right? Well, with the exception of Felicity visiting Oliver in the first episode of Season 7, it is possible that Oliver’s timeline is not taking place at the same time as everyone else’s. However, not only would he need to escape early, but no one in the prison would have noticed — otherwise our heroes would certainly have heard about it. And if it is him, why would he stay away from his friends and family? And hasn’t he given up on the List?

Karl Yune as Maseo

(11) Sarab / Maseo Yamashiru

Yes, he died. Yes, he could have been resurrected. But while he could be brought back via Lazarus Pit, that comes with a whole bunch of side effects, including blood lust, and this new Green Arrow seems to be doing just fine. A more likely solution is that, like Bronze Tiger (who recently made a surprise reappearance), his death was erased because of Flashpoint!

Byron Mann as Yao Fei

(10) Yao Fei Gulong

This would be a shocker, wouldn’t it? Oliver’s first friend on Lian Yu also died early on, but a Flashpoint reversal could see him looking out for his old protege. They’ve been bringing up Oliver’s origin story a lot this season, so it would make sense to revisit this character. But I just don’t see it happening.

Matt Ward as Komodo

(9) Komodo / Simon Lacroix

Not only did he invent that awful soft drink, but Lacroix is a criminal, wanted for murder in 7 countries. Why would he randomly return to Star City and start saving people? Who knows — Flashpoint has been known to change people’s personalities too.

DARK HORSE OPTIONS

Colton Haynes as Roy Harper (future)

(8) Roy Harper / Arsenal (Future)

As long as we’re including time travel in the realm of possibility, why not Roy from the future? After all, he’s an archer and has pulled off a Green Arrow impersonation before. But I don’t buy that he’d use a List, unless he’s bitter about Oliver’s imprisonment, which made his sacrifice for nothing.

Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke (Possible Future)

(7) Green Arrow / Connor Hawke (Future)

In a possible future, we see that John Diggle, Jr. has taken up the Arrow mantle and begun calling himself Connor Hawke. For it to be this same version of the character, it would require time travel, as current John Jr. is still a toddler. While time travel and the re-appearance of this character would throw another wrench into an already complex Arrow season, it would make sense that John Jr. is part of Future Zoe’s Vigilante Resistance. It’s also possible that John Jr. named himself after another archer named Connor Hawke — who could be our man under the mask.

Stephen Amell as Dark Arrow (Earth-X)

(6) Green Arrow from Another Earth

The doppelgänger thing has been done to death on these shows, but with Earth-2 Laurel sticking around as a regular, it looks like the Multiverse is here to stay. I’m not sure I buy them bringing in yet another lookalike though.

Ben Lewis as William Clayton (Future)

(5) William Clayton (Future)

For some reason, this is the most popular theory circulating right now. However, this would have to require time travel, which, while prevalent in the other Arrowverse shows, has yet to be explored on Arrow. It would provide a connection between the flash-forwards and the present. However, it doesn’t appear that this William is an expert archer.

TOP CANDIDATES

David Ramsey as The Green Arrow (John Diggle)

(4) John Diggle

I still wonder why they toyed with the John-as-Arrow storyline. John claims to be over it, but was it just me, or was there a little gleam in his eye as he handed Dinah some files that he mysteriously obtained. Is he going out behind his wife’s and team’s backs? After all he said to Lyla about trust? That does seem to be a pattern with the Diggles…

Colton Haynes as Arsenal (Roy Harper)

(3) Arsenal / Roy Harper

That’s what we all assumed it would be until it turned out that Roy’s long-awaited reappearance occurred in a flash-forward. It will still be a significant reveal if the new archer is revealed as Roy, but it would make the most sense — with his name cleared, he could come back to Star City. It may also tie in to the future timeline and explain what led him back to Lian Yu. But something about it is too easy. If I know Arrow, they’re trying to fool us into assuming the mystery man is Roy.

Who are you?

(2) Someone New

With so few male archers left alive on the show, it’s very likely that our new archer is just that — a new archer. There are plenty of other male archers in the comics that have yet to be explored on the show — Golden Archer, Deadeye, Bull’s-Eye, and even a few people just called The Archer.

Promotional Image for this year’s Arrowverse crossover, titled “Elseworlds”

(1) Oliver Queen [alternate reality] as portrayed by Grant Gustin in the Elseworlds crossover.

You can see it now, can’t you? They capture the new Arrow mid-season, he takes off his mask and…it’s someone who looks like Barry Allen claiming he’s Oliver Queen. It’s unlikely the archer will be unmasked for at least a few more episodes, so this would fit right in with this theory. This could be an Oliver Queen who just returned from Lian Yu with a quest for vengeance, which would explain the fact that he uses a List and says “you have failed this city”. However, is it risky for Arrow to assume all of its viewers (many of whom only watch this show) remember what Barry Allen looks like, after his minimal involvement in the series after he left for his own show?