Season 6 (Arrow)

Series overview
Season 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8

"See, family, they rely on one another. Family trust each other. See, when the family does well, each member prospers, but if just one person betrays that family..."

—Ricardo Diaz^[src]

The sixth season of Arrow premiered on October 12, 2017, on The CW and concluded on May 17, 2018. The season consisted of 23 episodes.

Synopsis

After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the North China Sea. He returned home to Star City, bent on righting the wrongs done by his family and fighting injustice. As the Green Arrow, he protects his city with the help of former soldier John Diggle, computer-science expert Felicity Smoak, his vigilante-trained sister Thea Queen, Deputy Mayor Quentin Lance, brilliant inventor Curtis Holt, and his new recruits, street-savvy Rene Ramirez and meta-human Dinah Drake. Oliver has finally solidified and strengthened his crime-fighting team only to have it threatened when unexpected enemies from his past return to Star City, forcing Oliver to rethink his relationship with each member of his "family".^[src]

Cast

Main cast

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/The Hood/Green Arrow and Oliver/Dark Arrow
David Ramsey as John Diggle/Spartan/Green Arrow
Willa Holland as Thea Queen/Speedy
Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak/Overwatch
Echo Kellum as Dr. Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific
Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog
Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/Black Canary
Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance/Black Siren and Laurel Lance
Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance

Recurring cast

Adrian Holmes as Frank Pike
Jack Moore as William Clayton
Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels
Venus Terzo as Dr. Elisa Schwartz
David Nykl as Anatoly Knyazev
Kacey Rohl as Alena Whitlock/Kojo Sledgehammer
Michael Emerson as Cayden James
Sydelle Noel as Samanda Watson
Kathleen Gati as Raisa
Tobias Jelinek as Sheck
Johann Urb as Vincent Sobel/Vigilante
Pej Vahdat as Sam Armand
Teryl Rothery as Jean Loring
Tina Huang as Kimberly Hill
Gina Ravera as Lydia Cassamento
Kirk Acevedo as Ricardo Diaz/Dragon
Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke
Caity Lotz as Sara Lance/White Canary
Colton Haynes as Roy Harper/Arsenal
Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn/Prometheus and "Tommy Merlyn"/Green Arrow

Episodes

#	Episode name	Directed by	Story by	Teleplay by	Original airdate
1	"Fallout"	James Bamford	Marc Guggenheim & Wendy Mericle		October 12, 2017
Oliver deals with the fallout of the explosion on the island.
2	"Tribute"	Laura Belsey	Adam Schwartz	Marc Guggenheim & Beth Schwartz	October 19, 2017
Oliver tries to balance being the mayor, Green Arrow and a father to William. Anatoly returns to Star City with a deadly agenda.
3	"Next of Kin"	Kevin Tancharoen	Speed Weed & Oscar Balderrama		October 26, 2017
A rogue black ops team led by Onyx breaks into Kord Industries and steals something lethal. Oliver struggles to connect with William so he reaches out to a surprising source for help.
4	"Reversal"	Gregory Smith	Sarah Tarkoff & Emilio Ortega Aldrich		November 2, 2017
Just as Oliver starts to get things in order, Black Siren launches another attack on the citizens of Star City.
5	"Deathstroke Returns"	Joel Novoa	Ben Sokolowski & Spiro Skentzos		November 9, 2017
Slade returns and asks Oliver for help in tracking down his son. When they learn Joe has been taken hostage by mercenaries, their mission to save him gets complicated by a terrible revelation that could shatter Slade's hopes of reunion forever. Meanwhile, Vigilante reappears in Star City.
6	"Promises Kept"	Antonio Negret	Oscar Balderrama & Rebecca Bellotto		November 16, 2017
As Slade continues to uncover clues about his son's last few years, Oliver makes a big decision. Meanwhile, Green Arrow leads the team into battle against "The Dragon", a villain who is stealing valuable tech in Star City.
7	"Thanksgiving"	Gord Verheul	Wendy Mericle & Speed Weed		November 23, 2017
Oliver celebrates Thanksgiving with his family but the happy moment is interrupted. Meanwhile, Black Siren returns to wreak havoc on the holiday.
8	"Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2"	James Bamford	Marc Guggenheim & Andrew Kreisberg	Wendy Mericle & Ben Sokolowski	November 27, 2017
Barry and Iris's wedding brings the gang together, but things go awry when villains from Earth-X attack the ceremony. All of the superheroes band together with help from their super friends like Citizen Cold, The Ray, Felicity Smoak, Iris West and Alex Danvers to take on their most formidable villains yet. Earth's mightiest heroes - Green Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash and White Canary - lead their teams into battle to save the world.
9	"Irreconcilable Differences"	Laura Belsey	Beth Schwartz & Sarah Tarkoff		December 7, 2017
Quentin Lance is kidnapped by Black Siren and Cayden James, who are looking to trade Quentin's life for a weapon of mass destruction. Oliver and Team Green Arrow must figure out a way to save Lance while still keeping the city safe.
10	"Divided"	James Bamford	Ben Sokolowski & Emilio Ortega Aldrich		January 18, 2018
Despite losing half his team, Oliver remains confident that he, Felicity and Diggle can stop Cayden James and Black Siren. However, when he discovers one of Cayden's secrets, he decides to team up with an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Dinah spends time with Vince.
11	"We Fall"	Wendey Stanzler	Speed Weed & Spiro Skentzos		January 25, 2018
Cayden James ups the ante by launching his plan to take control of every aspect of the city. Despite the scope of Cayden's plan, Oliver is determined to foil it with just the Original Team Arrow - and without the aid of Rene, Dinah or Curtis. But things get complicated when William is endangered as a result of Cayden's handiwork.
12	"All for Nothing"	Mairzee Almas	Beth Schwartz & Oscar Balderrama		February 1, 2018
Oliver continues his battle with Cayden James. Dinah and Oliver have a major disagreement that endangers the life of one of their own.
13	"The Devil's Greatest Trick"	J.J. Makaro	Sarah Tarkoff & Emilio Ortega Aldrich		February 8, 2018
Cayden James discovers a secret about Green Arrow that pushes him over the edge. Knowing everyone and everything he loves is in danger, Oliver must decide if he can do this alone or if he needs to turn to his old teammates for help. William starts to demand more of Oliver's time.
14	"Collision Course"	Ken Shane	Oscar Balderrama & Rebecca Bellotto		March 1, 2018
Oliver, Diggle and Felicity disagree with Dinah, Curtis and Rene on how to handle Black Siren. The two teams face off and a fight ensues.
15	"Doppelganger"	Kristin Windell	Christos Gage & Ruth Fletcher Gage	Speed Weed	March 8, 2018
Oliver and Thea are shocked to hear that Roy Harper is back in Star City. However, when they discover the circumstances of Roy's return, Oliver and Thea realize that Roy is in trouble and jump in to save him. Black Siren makes a shocking decision.
16	"The Thanatos Guild"	Joel Nova	Beth Schwartz & Ben Sokolowski		March 29, 2018
Nyssa al Ghul returns to Star City to warn Thea that a group of renegade League of Assassins members are planning to attack her. This group, led by Athena, is intent on finding a mysterious box that Malcolm left behind and will stop at nothing to get it. Nyssa helps Oliver come to a life-changing realization.
17	"Brothers in Arms"	Mark Bunting	Sarah Tarkoff & Jeane Wong		April 5, 2018
Oliver and Diggle face their biggest challenge yet. Curtis is disappointed to find out his new boyfriend has a firm anti-vigilante stance.
18	"Fundamentals"	Ben Bray	Speed Weed & Emilio Ortega Aldrich		April 12, 2018
In his darkest place yet, Oliver wonders if he has failed at everything – being a father, a mayor and a hero. His frustration rising, Oliver lashes out at Felicity and William. A surprising visit from an old friend has Oliver questioning his next move.
19	"The Dragon"	Gordon Verheul	Spiro Skentzos & Elizabeth Kim		April 19, 2018
Looking to expand his empire, Diaz and Laurel meet with the Quadrant, a coalition of mafia families who run national organized crime. Meanwhile, after Oliver's recent decision, Felicity and Curtis double their efforts on building Helix Dynamics.
20	"Shifting Allegiances"	Alexandra La Roche	Wendy Mericle & Rebecca Bellotto		April 26, 2018
Oliver turns to an old friend to help battle Diaz; Rene is out of the hospital but has a hard time readjusting to life as Wild Dog; Lance discovers something shocking about Black Siren.
21	"Docket No. 11-19-41-73"	Andi Armaganian	Ubah Mohamed & Tyron B. Carter	Marc Guggenheim	May 3, 2018
The pressure mounts for Oliver who begins to wonder if he will lose everything in his battle to save Star City. A familiar face returns.
22	"The Ties That Bind"	Tara Miele	Ben Sokolowski & Oscar Balderrama		May 10, 2018
Diaz targets Team Arrow and their loved ones. Oliver struggles with Felicity putting herself in danger when she gets the chance to stop Diaz for good.
23	"Life Sentence"	James Bamford	Wendy Mericle & Marc Guggenheim		May 17, 2018
With a new ally on his team, Oliver engages Diaz in an epic final battle.

Trivia

This season marks the first to have multiple versions of the title card which mostly follows a similar vein to DC's Legends of Tomorrow where the logos for each member are shown. "Tribute" was the first episode to introduce the variant that starts off with the canary for Black Canary followed by the Wild Dog logo for Wild Dog, the T for Mr. Terrific, the eye for Felicity Smoak, the Spartan helmet for Diggle, and finally the Season 6 arrowhead for Green Arrow. Some episodes, beginning with "Next of Kin" to "Thanksgiving", did not include Diggle's emblem after he temporarily replaced Oliver who stepped down for a while to take care of William. The order starts from the most recent member to the longest member of Team Arrow. The mid-season title card changed the emblems for Wild Dog, Mr. Terrific and Black Canary to red instead of the usual color the others have which showed their change into New Team Arrow. "Fundamentals" recycled the Season 1 title card while "The Dragon" featured Ricardo Diaz's emblem that's shaped into a jade dragon. From "Shifting Allegiances" to "Life Sentence", the episodes go back to using the original title card.
This is the first season of Arrow:
- to feature Rick Gonzalez and Juliana Harkavy as series regulars after both promoted following their recurring appearances in the previous season.
- since Season 2 with more main characters than the previous season and in which the main antagonist is not killed or presumed killed.
- to not to feature Ray Palmer since his introduction in Season 3.
- since Season 4 to feature Katie Cassidy as a series regular.
- where the main antagonist's story spans onto the next season.
- To not feature David Ramsey (John Diggle) in every episode.
This season was the last to feature Willa Holland and Paul Blackthorne as series regulars. Holland was credited up until her last appearance in "The Thanatos Guild". However, Willa and Paul both returned as special guest stars in the seventh and eighth seasons.
This season marked the departure of showrunners Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle.
The Inside Arrow videos originally featured Wendy Mericle discussing the first seven episodes, and Marc Guggenheim discussing "Irreconcilable Differences" before Beth Schwartz took over to discuss the last seven episodes of the season at the time she was announced as the new showrunner two weeks after "Brothers in Arms" aired.
This is the only season that John Barrowman doesn't reprise his role as Malcolm Merlyn.
This season is similar to Season 3 of The Flash. Like Barry, Oliver made disastrous mistakes out of fear and then, in the end, he went to prison to pay for his penitence (though Barry went into the Speed Force).
This is the last season of Arrow to contain 23 episodes. The final two seasons would have fewer episodes.
This is the only sixth season of an Arrowverse series that does not have a female lead isolated away from her friends/teammates for a large part of the season.