Arrows newest season has been a fan favourite, and rightly so. It kicked off with a bang and hasn’t slowed down since, and, according to star Stephen Amell, it won’t be slowing down any time soon.
Amell, who portrays the main character Oliver Queen, recently talked with IGN about this weeks episode, the upcoming The Flash crossover, and the evolution of the show since series one.
Amell, along with fans, were surprised by how much of the “shocking revelation” the episode trailer revealed. I’m not going to spoil it if you haven’t seen it, but chances are if you caught the episode “Brotherhood”, you know what Amell and I are referring to.
“Jeez, I was actually surprised by how much the preview showed, so I’m not going to say anything more about the shocking revelation. But I will say that I do very much think that episode 407 is our strongest episode to date this year. James Bamford directed it, and he was one of the first guys that I met in Vancouver when I arrived for the pilot.” Amell said. “On our second day of filming, I actually snapped his neck on the show, which was one of the first clips that was released. He’s a wonderful guy, and after 70-plus episodes choreographing the fights and coordinating the stunts, he got an opportunity to direct. All of the things that he has wanted to see on the show, from an action perspective, he puts into this episode. Really incredible. But even more so, he was incredibly deft, as a director, on the emotional aspects of this episode, of which there are many because of this “shocking revelation.” So I’m excited for everyone to see it. It has a different feel. I think fans are really going to enjoy it.”
When asked about the evolution of the show, from the dark Batman-esque vibe of season one, to the introduction of metas and magic, Amell said that it was important things be kept fresh to keep the show on its toes.
“Well, it has to. It has to. There has to be something new for me to do every year. There has to be something new for Katie and Willa and Emily and David and Paul. Paul Blackthorne and I have actually talked a lot this year about the relationship of Lance and Oliver and the quite possibly burgeoning relationship of Lance and Donna that gives him new things to do and new arenas to play in. Look, there has to be an element every year that you add to the show, otherwise it doesn’t distinguish itself. As much as we would like to look at it and go, “Alright, we had this one stretch in Season 1, or this was this great fight in 2. Let’s just try to replicate that,” that’s no fun. So it keeps it fresh for me. And of course the characters are changing so much too, not the least of which Oliver. So it’s remained fresh. I’m glad that our writers and producers are never satisfied.”
He also commented on the upcoming crossover with The Flash.
” Well, Barry actually encounters this situation where he wants to go to Oliver and Team Arrow for help, and that’s our tipping point. The fight takes us from Central City to Star City to Central City to a farmhouse… It’s good, man. It’s just good. It does feel like an event, as a fan of television. And that’s how you can tell; Greg Berlanti is a fan of television, which is why he’s so prolific at it. One of his favorite things growing up, as he has said in interviews, was to see multiple heroes and villains from his favorite shows show up on his other favorite shows. So we’ve done a really good job of creating something, and I think it doesn’t feel like The Flash, doesn’t feel like Arrow; it feels like both.”
You can catch Arrow on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM EST on The CW.
