In keeping with recent tradition, it seemed only fitting that the Arrow cast was tight-lipped about what to expect for the CW series’ final season. But if one pays close attention to their visit to TVLine’s San Diego Comic-Con suite, there are some provocative morsels to ponder.

For one, Stephen Amell seconded my suggestion that, seeing as how the Monitor showed up at the end of Season 7 to drag Oliver away from wife Felicity and young Mia into a pre-Crisis mission, Season 8 will be a bit of a “buddy cop” endeavor — though I appear to be wrong about who Oliver’s partner is….

Similarly, Amell and Katie Cassidy teased that when Season 8 opens, Laurel won’t be her usual lone wolf self but working in tandem with… someone else.

Elsewhere in the video Q&A, I asked Amell if, as Oliver goes about his pre-Crisis business, he at all hopes/expects to be reunited with Felicity someday, somehow.

But the cast had most fun rattling off the names of the characters/actors they would like to see return during the 10-episode swan song, in addition to the already announced Colin Donnell and Josh Segarra (who in the past have played versions of Tommy Merlyn and Adrian Chase).

All told, Cassidy and Gonzalez said that Season 8 feels like a tribute to the seven that preceded it, a “love letter” to fans.

And given how the Arrow crew fended off full-season job offers from other shows to instead stick around for this shortened sendoff, “To me this is already a success,” Amell avowed. “Everyone is just pulling out all the stops, and it is awesome.”

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