It's the beginning of the end for Oliver Queen as Arrow season 8, which is set to be the final season of the DC Comics-based TV series, has officially started filming. It was initially confirmed back in March by star Stephen Amell that the show will be reaching its conclusion with the upcoming season. Now, the star, as well as showrunner Beth Schwartz, have both shared set photos from the first day of production, signaling that the end is near.

Starting with Stephen Amell, the actor shared a photo of the clapboard as they were getting ready to film the first scene on day one. It doesn't reveal too much, but we see that James Bamford, who has directed a number of episodes of Arrow in the past, is at the helm for the season premiere episode. It's also revealed that Gord Verheul is serving as cinematographer. Amell provided a simple yet fitting caption with the photo, which reads as follows.

"One last time."

Additionally, showrunner and executive producer Beth Schwartz also decided to commemorate the occasion with a behind the scenes photo. Though, one could argue hers was a bit more revealing. We see an Arrow Pop! Figure on a table next to a copy of the script for the first episode of season 8. Upon inspection, we see that the episode will be titled Starling City. As for what that means exactly? All fans can do is speculate until we get a bit more information. Schwartz had this to say in her caption.

"First day of shooting! #ArrowSeason8 #TheFinalSeason"

This is a bittersweet time for DC fans. Arrow kicked off the ArrowVerse on The CW, which has arguably become the most beloved shared universe outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That universe now also includes The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and the upcoming Batwoman series. Yet, even the best of things must end eventually. To that point, Stephen Amell surely wants to explore other opportunities in the future outside of playing Oliver Queen, and nothing would be worse than having the show overstay its welcome. Indeed, many fans might argue the show's best days are behind it, but the creative team has the chance to bring things to a proper conclusion.

Arrow, which was co-created by mega-producer Greg Berlanti, originally debuted in 2012. It's since gone on to have a truly impressive run, airing 160 episodes to date. In addition to the final run of solo adventures, Oliver will also be part of this year's major ArrowVerse crossover event, Crisis On Infinite Earths, which was announced at the end of last year's Elseworlds crossover. This season will be much shorter than usual, as it was previously confirmed that it will consist of just ten episodes. Arrow season 8 is set to begin its run on October 15. Be sure to check out the post from Beth Schwartz and Stephen Amell's Twitter account below.