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Arrow's David Ramsey Breaks Down that Major Green Lantern Tease

"After six long seasons of teasing, teasing, teasing," Ramsey joked

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Lindsay MacDonald

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from the Arrow series finale. Read at your own risk!]

Practically since the moment John Diggle (David Ramsey) first appeared on screen in Arrow, fans have speculated that the ultimate destination for that character would be to become the Green Lantern, a.k.a. John Stewart. In the Arrow series finale, fans finally got some pay-off on the long-held theory.

After saying goodbye to the memory of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Diggle prepared to leave Star City for Metropolis, when what looked like a meteor fell from the sky right next to him. When he bent down, we saw the meteor was actually a small box, and when Diggle opened it, something green glowed inside.

Arrow certainly didn't come out and say that it was a Green Lantern ring, but it's hard to ignore the parallels in the Green Lantern origin story there. According to Ramsey and executive producer Marc Guggenheim, that tease was mostly about getting permission from DC to incorporate the Green Lantern into the finale.

"This was something that was worked out over a year ahead with DC Entertainment," Guggenheim told reporters at a screening of the finale. "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."

​David Ramsey, Arrow

David Ramsey, Arrow

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"After six long seasons of teasing, teasing, teasing," David Ramsey joked when speaking with TV Guide about the finale twist. "We did have some restrictions from DC, so we had to kind of play within that. But 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. It was great to have some sort of answer, but we're left with some questions."

One of those questions has to be whether Ramsey has been tapped to play a new incarnation of the Green Lantern in HBO Max's upcoming Green Lantern series. Though little is known about the series so far, it is helmed by Arrowverse mastermind Greg Berlanti, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that this has all been part of a very elegantly constructed plan.

Ramsey, of course, is keeping quiet about the possibility, but it does sound like he wouldn't take much convincing if that were the plan.

"Stephen [Amell] had a great quote around the second or third season," Ramsey told TV Guide. "He had an interview, and they asked him something about playing the character for a long time. He said, 'You know, at the end of the day, I'm an actor wanting work.' And we are. No matter what level you are, we are actors who work. And it begins on the page, so whether it's John Diggle or John Diggle Stewart or however that works, of course, I would be open to that... Greg Berlanti, however -- it's almost without a question. I think he's prolific. Anything he wants to talk to me about, I'm happy to hear it."

Regardless of a potential new spin-off, we haven't seen the last of Diggle yet. He'll appear in an upcoming episode of The Flash this season, and Ramsey continues to be a go-to director for the Arrowverse.

"David and I, We've actually talked a lot about Diggle's and David's post-Arrow future. We've got some really good ideas, and I'm going to stand pat on that," said Guggenheim. "I will also say David has become a remarkable director, so we're as interested in him behind the cameras we are in front."