No one necessarily expects Arrow to hang up the quiver after completing its five-year flashback cycle, but it’s worth asking where stars and producers see the series heading beyond. As such, both Stephen Amell and producer Marc Guggenheim discuss Season 5 returning to form, and what that form might look like going forward.

Both star Amell and co-creator Guggenheim gave a lengthy interview with Entertainment Weekly on all things Arrow, particularly as the CW series prepares to head into its 100th episode, and a four-way crossover at that. We’ve heard Amell previously speaking to Arrow Season 5 focusing on its own rehabilitation, rather than launching another series, but it’s a challenge the actor sees as vital to continuing:

I do really believe that this season is sort of a throw-down-the-gauntlet year for us, where we’re either going to do what we do and do it well or it’s the last year. If we find that magic formula — which is not magic, it’s just hard work and playing to your strengths — then the show could go on for a really long time.

How long remains an open question, as shows like Supernatural continue well beyond Season 12, to say nothing of three other DC dramas that could keep the universe afloat without Arrow. At least as far as Guggenheim envisions, “I think we tend to look at season 5 as the end of a particular chapter.”

That chapter will reach its 100th episode on November 30, but in the meantime, check out next week’s “Vigilante” below. How long do you think Arrow should last?

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