'Arrow' Season 4 SPOILERS: Why Isn't Oliver Queen's Son Connor Hawke?

Season 4 of Arrow is rolling along after this year's crossover with The Flash, during which Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) finally found out he had a son. Comic book fans know Oliver has a child named Connor Hawke, but on the show, the child is named William Clayton. So why didn't Arrow use Connor Hawke?

Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg spoke to TVLine and explained that the writers did not want to be restricted by using Connor Hawke because Oliver's son on the show is so young. And that makes sense if you think about it. William Clayton is only nine years old, but Connor would have to be at least a teenager to truly fit into the Arrow world.

However, Kreisberg added that the show now has "the leeway to still have Connor Hawke be part of the universe" because of this decision.

"That was the biggest reason we made that decision," he said. "It's actually one of the things all of us are most proud of... that we were able to, basically, have one scene in one episode in Season 2, knowing that we were eventually going to get to this point, and that it is all set up and all tied in to Oliver's mother. [Her portrayer] Susanna [Thompson] hasn't been with the show for a while now, and yet her presence is still felt all throughout this story. There are some things that happen when you do a show for a long time that are just happy accidents, and then there are other things that you plan. This is one that we really planned."

The scene to which Kreisberg is referring is a flashback that occurred toward the end of Season 2 of Arrow, when Moira Queen paid off Samantha Clayton to leave town and tell Oliver she lost their baby. Of course, that was all a lie, and now Ollie must deal with the revelation that he has a son and all the ramifications that come with that.

Do you think Connor Hawke will ever appear on Arrow? Let us know in the comments section below.