The CW's show 'Arrow' has had many flashbacks over time and this has been an important part of the storytelling for the show. However, in the season 7 premiere, the show surprised us by taking us into the future. According to ComicBook, Beth Schwartz, the writer of the show, says that these flash forwards are going to be an essential part of the series going forward. 

Last episode, 'Arrow' fans saw Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and the rest of the Team Arrow handling the season 6 finale fallout, specially Oliver being locked up while Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) is out on the loose with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and William (Jack Moore) as his targets.

Meanwhile, we see a certain young man traveling to Lian Yu with no understanding of the current status until it is revealed that the young man is William himself, from roughly 20 years in the future and he's on Lian Yu to find an older Roy Harper (Colton Haynes). Schwartz told Entertainment Weekly that these flash forwards will be a recurring part of the series. 

"We're going to keep it all season and series," Schwartz said. "We didn't know how long the show was going to go on for, so we always knew that after season 5, there wouldn't be flashbacks. So, we had talked about flash forwards years ago. Like, 'Is this what we're going to do when there aren't flashbacks?'"According to the Schwartz, the flash forwards are a way to bring something fresh to the series and open up new stories for the long-running series.

"I think it opens up our world immensely," Schwartz said. "For a seven-season show, coming up with new stories that we haven't done before is definitely a challenge. I think this is a really great way to tell some of these stories and also add a lot of mystery because we can introduce something in the future and then you're like, 'How the hell did that happen?' So in the present-day story, you're going to really want to tune in to see all those details."

This new trick to introduce flash forwards is exciting, but they pose a lot of questions. The fans of the network's Arrowverse know that we got a look at the future before. In 'Legends of Tomorrows' in the first season, fans got a raw look at the dystopian Star City in 2046.

The timeline is something that appears to be a real possibility, considering that 'The Legend's of Tomorrow's zari Tommaz (Tala Ashe) comes from a similarly bleak future around the same time. Adding to it, the elements of Star City 2046, Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) and Diggle (David Ramsey) having a son rather than a daughter, have become a part of the 'Arrow's' present. However, Schwartz did shoot down the idea that Arrow's flash forwards would be connected. 

"This is not connected to Legends," she said. "This is our own future."

Keep watching how these flash forwards will impact the storyline of the show. Catch the next episode of 'Arrow' on October 22.