Why Team Arrow's Latest Breakup Is The Most Serious One Yet

Team Arrow has gone through the wringer in Season 6, and last week's episode saw the unit lose another member when John Diggle dropped out after a seriously explosive fight with Oliver. Arrow fans have heard this song before, but David Ramsey assured CinemaBlend's own Laura Hurley this latest breakup is the worst one yet and the bad blood between Oliver and Diggle won't be fixed so easily. While Oliver and Felicity will still collaborate with Diggle over at A.R.G.U.S., it'll be a while before Team Arrow proper is back together. In the actor's words:

By the way, the Oliver-Diggle-Felicity thing will happen again, but they're gonna take their time. This is not going to be an easy fix. These guys have fought and broken up before and some place between four to six episodes, they're back together. That's not this time. They both have some learning to do and they will, and the show in the seventh season will take their time bringing this relationship back around. As well they should in a Season 7 that shoots 23 episodes. We really should shake the boat a little bit. So I'm glad the writers did.

Arrow fans will likely appreciate the writers' decision just as much as David Ramsey did, since keeping the show's central cast on their separate paths will possibly mean great things for the Arrow-verse. Ramsey has already confirmed his new gig with A.R.G.U.S. will lead to him appearing on The Flash, and allow for Diggle to grow as a character outside of Team Arrow. The length of the breakup will also force the writers to create new team dynamics for Oliver, as Star City's troubles have gotten far too massive for him to try and protect it all by himself.

Fans have seemingly seen the results of Team Arrow's breakup elsewhere, too, as Arrow announced Colton Haynes will return as a series regular to play Roy Harper in Season 7. Roy's return as Arsenal almost has to be tied to Oliver needing to dig deep to find allies willing to work with him in the way he wants to operate, which is somewhat unsurprising, given his attitude in Season 6. That said, everyone will eventually grow up enough to put the past behind them, as Ramsey also confirmed the classic Team Arrow will once again reunite down the stretch:

It's not the end. These guys are pretty much destined to be together. We were talking at the beginning of the season, I've said this to other folks, about how do we break a character like Diggle. What do you do to him? He just seems to, when things happen to our particular hero, he kind of wears it. You see these things come back in Oliver's life, whether he's learned a lesson of losing the Black Canary or losing his mother or losing Tommy. These things keep hitting him over and over again. You see him relearning these lessons. But Diggle, you get the sense that he learns it pretty quickly, he's more evolved, he's more centered. So we just kinda wanted to break that a bit. He has some stuff to learn as well, and we'll see that evolve through his experience with ARGUS and his separation from Oliver through Season 7.

How bad will things get for Diggle? Will his family be involved? Will he find new teammates? So many questions! And it's not even Season 7 yet.

Arrow airs on The CW on Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET. Superhero shows are popping up on television seemingly every day, so anyone who doesn't want to miss any one of them should visit our superhero premiere guide to stay informed. As for what's going on with the rest of television in 2018, visit our midseason premiere guide and summer premiere guide.