Arrow’s Final Season Will Break The Show’s Significant Tradition- Here’s How
The Arrowverse crossover event has become a staple of The CW, but this year is going to be a particularly epic one. As we all know, it is the last season for Arrow, the flagship show of the franchise. Arrow’s final season will include the 2019 crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. We have a few teases about what’s to come, thanks to the hints and spoilers dropped here and there.
A Significant Tradition Of Arrow Series
Since the first season of the series, the penultimate episode of every season has from a song by rock legend Bruce Springsteen. But in the show’s final season, this tradition is going to break. Due to a mandate from the network, the planned title for that episode “Livin’ in the Future,” which would have maintained the Springsteen-inspired naming tradition, will be rejected.
Arrow consulting producer and co-creator Marc Guggenheim revealed both the planned title and the fact that the network had shot the plan down. In spite of the decision to reject title, Guggenheim boosted fans to imagine that the Springsteen title was the “real” one.
Ironically, there has already been an episode this season named “Leap of Faith,” which shares a name with a Springsteen song, although that was a happy accident and not a direct reference to the tune.
The Arrow Tradition Traced In Every Season
The Springsteen title tradition goes back to the first season when the penultimate episode was named after the title track from the Darkness on the Edge of Town album. Another song off of Darkness on the Edge of Town, “Streets of Fire” was the episode where Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim confirmed, yes, these are Bruce Springsteen titles. Season three featured “This Is Your Sword,” a song from Springsteen’s album High Hope and Season four had “Lost in the Flood,” a song from his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park.
Season five featured “Missing,” a song prominently featured in Sean Penn’s film The Crossing Guard. And season six had “The Ties That Bind,” from Springsteen’s 1980 album The River. A regular presence at Springsteen’s live shows, the song deals with themes of family and honor that permeated all of Arrow’s sixth season. Last year’s title, “Living Proof,” was a song about the birth of Springsteen’s first child, which was tied to Mia’s role in the season
