'Arrow' finale reveals Arrowverse's Green Lantern, confirms long-running fan theory about John Diggle
This article contains spoilers for 'Arrow' Season 8 Episode 10 'Fadeout'.
'Arrow' fans have been speculating that John Diggle (David Ramsey) may be an alternate version of John Stewart aka Green Lantern for a very long time. Those speculations intensified after The CW's last major crossover before 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', 'Elseworlds', revealed that in at least one parallel world, John's last name is Stewart and he is the iconic Green Lantern of Earth (or Space Sector 2814 for die-hard GL fans).
Now in the very last episode of 'Arrow', that long-running plot thread has finally been resolved. In the final moments of 'Arrow' Season 8 Episode 10 'Fadeout', we see Diggle and his family preparing to leave Star City and move to Metropolis, but before he can leave Diggle is distracted by what appears to be a meteor falling from the sky. Except it's not a meteor at all. In fact, it's a strange box that's filled with a bright green light and even though we don't see the traditional welcoming message or see the actual ring, Green Lantern fans know that this is the moment Diggle gets inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. Ahead of the finale, David Ramsey told TVLine on January 24 that the mystery of whether or not he is the future 'Green Lantern' would finally be answered in the episode.
"Without a doubt," Ramsey said. "You are absolutely going to get your answers. And well-deserved answers. We've been talking about this for years and I think everyone by the series' end will be very happy."
While we don't know if Green Lantern John Diggle will make any future appearances in the Arrowverse, it would be a shame if he didn't, especially considering how long we've waited for this moment. That said, there is a 'Green Lantern' series planned for HBO Max, which is being developed by 'Arrow' co-creator Greg Berlanti. During the same interview, Ramsey also said that he has spoken to Berlanti about the upcoming show, though he didn't reveal if he would be a part of it.
“I’ve talked to Greg about it and they have a great plan. It sounds fantastic,” he revealed. “People are champing at the bit to see this universe, to see this military corp come to live-action and I’m among the people who are so excited."
“It’s great for television, man,” he added. “I mean, people are going to be really stoked about this show.”
'Green Lantern' doesn't have an official release date yet but it should be arriving on HBO Max sometime in 2021. The 'Arrow' series finale aired on The CW on January 28.