‘Arrow’: Colton Haynes Not Returning as Series Regular for Final Season
Arrow is gaining a few new series regulars for the final season, but it’s also losing another: Colton Haynes (Roy Harper).
“I didn’t exit the last season of Arrow,” Haynes wrote on Twitter Thursday. “I was not asked to come back for the final season as a series regular. But y’all know Roy … he’s never gone for too long.”
That’s a sentiment executive producer Beth Schwartz echoed to GreenArrowTV.com, which first reported the news of his departure. “We hope to have him back,” she said.
Haynes was introduced in Season 1 and departed in Season 3. He guest starred in a few Season 4 and Season 6 episodes before returning as a series regular for Season 7. He appeared in both the present and future timelines last season, and his storylines in both ended in such a way that explaining his absence shouldn’t be difficult.
When Roy showed up in Star City in the present, he was dealing with the bloodlust after being resurrected via a Lazarus Pit, and as we saw in the future, he was still feeling the effects of that rage. And when we first saw him in the future, he had exiled himself to Lian Yu. The series never made it clear exactly when that happened, so it could very well be that he spends almost two decades on the island.
The Season 7 finale also saw the adults become fugitives and leave the kids — Mia (Katherine McNamara), William (Ben Lewis), Connor (Joseph David-Jones), and Zoe (Andrea Sixtos) — to watch over the city. McNamara, Lewis, and David-Jones were all promoted to series regulars between seasons, and Charlie Barnett is joining the cast as adult JJ for the final season.
Getting a lot of angry messages so just to clarify…I didn’t exit the last season of Arrow. I was not asked to come back for the final season as a series regular. But y’all know Roy…he’s never gone for too long 🤗🤗🤗
— Colton Haynes (@ColtonLHaynes) August 8, 2019
Arrow, Eighth and Final Season Premiere, Tuesday, October 15, 9/8c, The CW
