Arrow Season 8: Juliana Harkavy Talks Crossovers and Final Season

There are only ten episodes left of Arrow, the show that kicked off the Arrowverse and an entire era in the CW Network’s programming, a tall order for tying up the remaining story threads, leaving fans with a satisfying conclusion to the eight-year saga of Oliver Queen and friends, and setting up the highly anticipated Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Arrow season 8 is already filming, making the cast and producers’ last appearance at San Diego Comic-Con seem all the more intense and emotional. The CW released a video of Arrowverse stars saying goodbye to Stephen Amell, and questions about what it’s like to do the show without Emily Bett Rickards and her Felicity are unavoidable.

Den of Geek caught up with Juliana Harkavy, who has played Dinah Drake/Black Canary since season 5, to chat about the “emotional” final season, the future of her character, and who she hopes to work with during the crossover. ­­

What might we be able to expect from Dinah this season?

“To be honest, I don’t know where she ends the season, which is the interesting thing of doing television versus film, because you’re going in blind,” Harkavy says. “But I think, from what I know, she’s coming into herself, because she’s always been so torn. You know there’s always been this duality: am I a vigilante? Am I police officer? I hope that she sort of settles into that resolve and she finds her place.”

read more: The Biggest Stories From San Diego Comic-Con

When it comes to closing out a show with such a long history, Harkavy says, “I just want to do our fans proud. I just want them to feel like they have closure, and the show has a legacy that speaks to people…I think the legacy of the show is really what I want to get out of it, something strong and impactful that really puts a nice button on the end of the story and makes people feel better.”

That might surprise fans who have heard Stephen Amell saying he feels a non-powered hero should die, but keep in mind that Harkavy, at least, is open about not knowing how the story ends.

In the meantime, Arrow continues to play with two timelines. There’s the present and 2040, where Dinah acts as a mentor to both the Canaries, a group of women vigilantes trying to keep Star City safe, and the next generation of Team Arrow vigilantes, Zoe Ramirez, Mia Smoak, Connor Hawke, and William Clayton. With Mia, Connor, William, and Connor’s brother JJ getting picked up to series regulars for the final season, it seems like a good bet that we’ll see plenty more of 2040 Dinah.

But which timeline does she prefer? It seems there’s pros and cons to each. With the future, “it’s so different to what we normally do and when you play the same character for so many years it’s great to have something that is a change-up.” The downside, of course, is putting on all that old age makeup.

Every year, it seems like the Arrowverse Crossovers get better and better. Last year’s Elseworlds was one of the most all-out fun events, recapturing the joy these shows are capable of when they’re at their best. Crisis on Infinite Earths will likely be the largest spectacle, as it’s the last one for Arrow. For Harkavy, she’s just hoping for some screen time with Batwoman.

“If I get a scene with [Batwoman actor] Ruby Rose, I will need a Xanax. That would be pretty great. I’ve been a fan for a while.”

In the Arrowverse, no one is ever really gone. Some stars have even had contracts across multiple shows rather than just one, like Katie Cassidy and John Barrowman. So if Dinah were to survive Arrow and her character could appear on any other show within that universe, which one would she choose?

With zero hesitation, Harkavy says, “Legends. I love Legends! First of all a lot of my friends are on the show, so that helps. Seriously Marc, are you listening?” she asked, laughing and referring to executive producer Marc Guggenheim. We certainly hope so.

“Caity Lotz is really one of my greatest inspirations and any time I work with her I learn so much not only about how to do our job, but also about how to be a strong person. She’s amazing. That would be a dream.”

Arrow returns for its eighth and final season on Tuesday, October 15 at 9/8c on The CW.

Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!