Willa Holland stars in “Arrow”

Get ready for reruns! The Christmas hiatus is fast approaching, which means we’re about to hunker down for that agonizing break in fresh episodes until the new year. As always, some shows have been, or will be, deemed too awful to make it into the 2016 lineup, and will languish for eternity in that well-populated graveyard of tanked shows. Others programs, however, just keep giving us gold.

CW’s “Arrow” is in the latter camp. Now in its fourth season, the DC Comics-based series is maintaining a loyal audience, drawing roughly 2.5 million viewers per episode. Its spinoff, “The Flash,” is raking in the numbers as well, and a second “Arrow”-spawned DC Comics series is expected to premiere early next year. In the wake of last week’s highly anticipated crossover with “The Flash,” “Arrow” winds down for the holiday season with a new episode airing Wednesday, Dec. 9, on CW.

Between movie theaters and prime time, it seems that just about every superhero in every incarnation from every franchise is getting screen time. The roster of leather-clad crime fighters in “Arrow” has been steadily growing, and with a crossover episode tying together three different series, this season boasts the most yet.

When the show started out, however, there was no Black Canary (Katie Cassidy, "Gossip Girl"), Speedy (Willa Holland, "The O.C.") or the rest, it was just Arrow, a.k.a. Oliver Queen, saving the day. Played by Canadian actor Stephen Amell (“Hung”), the billionaire playboy-turned-vigilante spent five years shipwrecked on an island before the start of the series, after which he returned to his home, Starling City, to save it from the crime surge threatening to overrun the city completely. The character went through a few different monikers -- Hood, Vigilante and Arrow -- before hanging up his quiver in the season 3 finale to settle down for a quiet life in the suburbs with the second half of “Olicity,” Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards, “Soldiers of the Apocalypse”).

It came as a surprise to no one -- watching Oliver go for jogs, chop onions and vacuum the living room wouldn’t make for terribly gripping TV -- that the domestic simplicity didn’t last long. Thank goodness for dastardly villains!

"When Oliver left Starling City, it was left to Dig [David Ramsey, “Blue Bloods”] and Laurel [Cassidy] to be Team Arrow without the Arrow," executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told The Hollywood Reporter in October, after the season 4 premiere. Also on Team Arrow this season is Thea Queen, a.k.a. Speedy, Oliver's kid sister whose exploits over the past few seasons have certainly earned her a place on the super squad.

This season’s lead bad guy, Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough, “Minority Report,” 2002), proves to be more than Oliver’s friends can handle on their own, however, so our hero promptly returns on the scene as Green Arrow, finally adopting the name of the character in the comics.

Stephen Amell as seen in “Arrow”

“It felt right for the natural evolution of Oliver’s character to become what we know in the comics,” said executive producer Wendy Mericle in the Hollywood Reporter piece. “We’re doing a slight change in the show this year in terms of what kind of superhero he’s going to be.”

The newly named Green Arrow has been kept plenty busy this season, dealing with Darhk and running for mayor, but never busier than last week, which saw a two-night crossover event with “The Flash” -- a tradition that began last year in the latter’s freshman season and which we can expect every season going forward for both shows.

Arrow and Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash (Grant Gustin, “Glee”), exist in the same world, and Allen first appeared in two episodes of "Arrow" before springboarding into his own series. Last year’s team-up between the two proved a huge success, earning “The Flash” its highest ratings since the premiere and breaking ratings records for “Arrow” with 3.9 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18 to 49.

While each of those episodes could conceivably stand on its own, that wasn't the case this time around. Those who don’t regularly tune in to “The Flash” needed to do so to get the full scope of the storyline, which continued the following night with “Arrow.” This is an extra clever move by showrunners to get viewers tapped into “Legends of Tomorrow,” yet another series based in the so-called “Arrowverse” and expected to premiere in January, though no official date has been announced.

And here’s where the absolute glut of superheroes comes in.

“We shot a scene that had, like, nine superheroes in it,” Amell told reporters in October. “Nine people with either powers or super suits. It was an amazing thing to look at, to look out over the scene and see the world that has been built over the course of three-plus years.”

The group includes upcoming “Legends” characters Carter Hall, a.k.a. Hawkman (Falk Hentschel, “Knight and Day,” 2010), and Kendra Saunders, a.k.a. Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée, in her first recurring TV role); and immortal bad guy Vandal Savage (Casper Crump, “Tvillingerne & Julemanden”) also featured in the episode.

Looking at the success “The Flash” has enjoyed from the get-go, “Arrow” serves as a very profitable launch pad for new shows, giving “Legends” a valuable leg up. Whether we can expect further three-way crossovers remains to be seen, but it's a safe bet that Oliver Queen hasn't seen the last of the "Legends" gang.

These crossover events tend to be the high point of the season, but there's still lots more to tune in for. Catch a new episode of "Arrow," titled "Dark Water," airing Wednesday, Dec. 9, on CW.