Just when we thought Arrow was finally going in the right direction by cutting some characters (even though they're the wrong ones), it looks like a familiar face from Arrow past will be returning for Season 7. It was announced today that Colton Haynes will be reprising his role as Roy Harper on the series, though that leaves Thea's fate somewhat in doubt. The two recently left together with Nyssa al Ghul to hunt down some remaining Lazarus Pits (which sounds like a great show in its own right), and it was a nice way to say goodbye the a well-liked original cast member in Willa Holland. Do they end up destroying the Pits and then Roy decides he wants to be a vigilante again, or does she die on the journey and so Roy decides to reunite with Team Arrow?

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Image via The CW

The series' EPs said of Haynes return,

“We’re very fortunate and excited to welcome back Colton to Arrow. While we’ve always enjoyed Colton’s returns to the show, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him return as a proper series regular — and we’re very excited about all the creative opportunities Roy Harper’s return affords us.”

Interesting. And where does this leave the Newbies? (EP Marc Guggenheim also just commented on how miscalculated that feud was ...) Will we be losing more characters before the season is over, since the show is already feeling so overcrowded?

For now, Haynes simply said of his return to the show that, “I could not be happier to return to my role as Roy Harper alongside my Arrow family.”

We'll see where things go from here, but it seems like there may be more changes to come in the next few weeks as the series wraps up its sixth season.

Arrow airs Thursday nights on The CW.

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Image via The CW
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Image via The CW