The Arrowverse may no longer have Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), but his legacy on Arrow lives on, primarily through his two children, Mia (Kat McNamara) and William (Ben Lewis.) With William being Oliver’s first kid, the character had an interesting run as he began as a bit of a surprise to not just viewers, but the Green Arrow himself. William had an incredible journey, both during his teenage and grown-up years, putting this character in a slightly different position from Mia as her present version is still a baby. From the moment Lewis’ incarnation got introduced, William’s arc in the final two seasons went to a whole new level.
With a proposed spinoff in Green Arrow and the Canaries, William’s time with the franchise may not be done as the character played a pivotal part in the backdoor pilot. As the series has now ended, it’s time to look at 10 of William’s best moments and events during his time on the show.
Grown-Up William’s Debut
When the seventh season opened up, a new storytelling device was brought in with Beth Schwartz taking over as showrunner. With new leadership came new stories and ideas for the series. After having followed Oliver’s origin story for five seasons in flashbacks, the show decided to introduce flashforwards on a regular basis.
But the season premiere was still a big surprise when it came to Lewis’ debut on the show. After getting to Lian Yu and finding an old-looking Roy (Colton Haynes), that’s when it became clear that these scenes were flashforwards to the future and the guy on the boat was William this entire time.
Visiting Lian Yu In The Future
It wasn’t uncommon for Oliver to visit Lian Yu more than twice during the show’s run. To William, however, it probably wasn’t easy when the adult version had to go back to the island. The teenage version suffered one of his biggest losses in life thanks to this island as his mother Samantha died due to Prometheus blowing it up. The moment when it becomes clear that it was William that the flashforwards we’re following made the return to Lian Yu even more painful.
Making Oliver Aware He Is A Father
While it was during The Flash portion of the second crossover between the two Arrowverse series, it’s still a major one for Oliver. The two-part event was used to set up Legends of Tomorrow with the focus on the Hawks and Vandal Savage. But part 1 had a scene that would change Oliver’s life for the rest of his time in the franchise.
As Oliver and Barry (Grant Gustin) are cracking some joke about Flash having his own coffee named after him, someone accidentally bumps into them and drops a Flash action figure. When Oliver picks it up to give it to the boy, he is shocked when the kid walks up to Samantha Clayton. Even though this was way before they found out for sure, Oliver knew instantly that based on the boy’s age and how many years it had been since he and Samantha hooked up, he had just bumped into his own son.
Meeting Oliver Before Knowing The Truth
One of the final parts of the crossover was Oliver making the arrangement with Samantha about being able to see William. Samantha was okay with it as long as he didn’t tell William or anyone else about being his father, Oliver could see him. Despite a very dramatic setup, the moment Oliver and William get to properly meet, was still a beautiful moment that kicked off their dynamic for the next few seasons.
Becoming A Green Arrow Fan
Something that was hilarious from the audience’s point of view was the fact that initially, William was way more into the Scarlet Speedster than the Emerald Archer. From him only having Flash-related action figures to the backpack, it was always cute that Oliver’s own son didn’t have the Green Arrow as his favorite hero. But that all changed in the fourth season.
After being kidnapped by Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), Oliver and the team ends up rescuing him, which becomes pivotal for William going forward. Once reunited with his mom, he is all about the Green Arrow, now demanding an action figure of Star City’s famous vigilante.
Revealing He Is Gay In The Flashforwards
Once viewers found out that season 7 was using flashforwards to show the future of Star City, there were a lot of things that got revealed down the line. While teenage William was never given any romantic love stories, his grown-up counterpart reveals a significant part about himself. In a very casual and organic way, fans discover that William is actually gay, which was a strong move as it extends the LGBT representation in the Arrowverse.
Discovering Blackstar’s Identity
One of the other big characters to get introduced in the flashforwards was McNamara’s mysterious Blackstar. While it was evident that there was something big about this fighter, the moment when her identity is fully revealed is where it affects William in a major way.
In a confrontation during the thirteenth episode, Blackstar reveals herself to be Mia Smoak, Felicity’s daughter and his half-sister. To say that William was shocked would be an understatement as this opened up a whole new dynamic in his life going forward.
Attending Oliver’s Funeral
Due to the events of the Green Arrow and the Canaries backdoor pilot, William never got to join his sister in attending their dad’s funeral. However, the series still had the William in the present join his family and friends as they big farewell together to the fallen hero. Even though it would have made for an even bigger moment between both of Oliver’s grown-up kids to be there with Felicity, it was just as important that they had William of 2020 be present.
Meeting Oliver In The Past
The ending of the third episode in season 8 and leading right into the fourth installment, was one of the biggest points for the final season. As Mia, William, and Connor had just been lost their friend Zoe, they got taken from 2040 to 2019, landing right in front of present Team Arrow. The scene where Oliver’s kids meet their dad is absolutely heartbreaking, with Mia seeing him for the first time and William being reunited with his dad after all this time.
Coming Out To Oliver
Once being in the past with his father, William would end up sharing some strong moments with Oliver before the hero’s final adventure in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Given that Oliver wasn’t there for the rest of William’s childhood, William has a moment where he shares what his life is like in the future. One of the details he reveals is that he is gay and the reaction Oliver gives makes the scene that much more powerful and incredible.
