How the “Arrow” series finale may set up HBO Max’s “Green Lantern” TV series

While The CW was saying goodbye to one superhero in the Arrow series finale Tuesday night, it may have been saying hello to another as the show seemed to tease that the Arrowverse is getting its version of the Green Lantern character.

Streaming service HBO Max is currently developing a Green Lantern TV series, leading some to speculate that there will be a crossover between the Earth-12 Green Lantern Corps in the new series and the Arrowverse on Earth Prime.

In Arrow Season 6, Episode 10, John Diggle (played by David Ramsey) was knocked down after a box crashed down from space and landed very close to him. Opening the box, it bathed Diggle in a green glow. We did not see what was in the box, but fans are speculating that the box is the perfect size to contain a certain all-powerful ring.

The Arrow showrunners have not confirmed the box contains Green Lantern’s ring, but seeing as the signature jewelry is up there with Aquaman’s trident, Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth and Batman ’66’ s shark repellent bat spray in the hall of fame of DC Comics iconic items, this glowing green box seems to hint that John Diggle will be the Arrowverse version of the John Stewart Green Lantern.

This has previously been hinted at in Arrow . In the Elseworlds Arrowverse crossover, the Flash of Earth-90 (John Wesley Shipp) asked Diggle why he was not wearing his ring when he met him, and in Season 7 we met Diggle’s stepfather Roy Stewart (Ernie Hudson)—a hint that Diggle was very close to being John Stewart.

Arrowverse showrunner Marc Guggenheim has told multiple publications that production firm DC Entertainment asked him to include this scene, but also that they had told him he was not allowed to say why. For example, he told Entertainment Weekly : “In Rocky IV when Rocky did the press conference for his Ivan Drago fight, he said, ‘It’s going to be on Christmas in Russia,’ and people are like, ‘Why?’ And he’s just like, ‘That’s what I was told.’

“And every time David [Ramsey] and I field questions about what was in the box, [it’s] basically like, that’s what I was told. What I mean by that is: This was something that was worked out over a year ahead with DC Entertainment. We very specifically negotiated and discussed the parameters, and I feel like to say anything beyond what we have shown you would violate our agreement with DC.”

Ramsey, meanwhile, told TV Guide : “It wouldn’t be Arrow if there wasn’t some question even after that opened-ended tease. And it’s a huge tease, and obviously, your mind goes to only one thing—there being a ring and him becoming this wonderful character and joining this galactic police group—but it’s still open-ended, and that’s the way we wanted to leave it.”

If Diggle does become the Green Lantern, however, this may be a different version of the character than those that will appear in the upcoming HBO Max Green Lantern series, which according to Den of Geek will be set on Earth-12 as opposed to the Arrowverse’s Earth Prime.

Arrowverse executive producer Greg Berlanti said: “The series is going to span several decades and focus on the origin story of two major Green Lanterns on Earth.” Whether one of these will be Diggle, or a parallel Earth version of him also played by David Ramsey, or whether the Arrowverse and HBO Max versions of the character will cross over in future has not been revealed yet.

Arrow Season 8 is streaming now on The CW app and website and is expected to be released on Netflix on Wednesday, February 5.