The Arrow cast and producers headed to The Paley Center in Los Angeles last night to spill on what’s coming up on the CW’s hit show. The panel was moderated by DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns and the panelists included cast members: Stephen Amell (Oliver/Arrow), Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance), David Ramsey (John Diggle), Susanna Thompson (Moira Queen). They were joined on stage by producers: Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim and Greg Berlanti.
Spoiler alert: This article contains Arrow spoilers and clips. Watch at your own risk.
The panel started off with an amazing sizzle reel that includes footage from Arrow‘s March 20 return episode, “The Huntress Returns” as well as later episodes.
Highlights from the Arrow trailer:
- On the island, Oliver has another difficult decision to make. Is Oliver a hero?
- Diggle and Oliver try to figure out what’s happening in Starling City. The Dark Archer. The Undertaking.
- “Whatever they are planning, they aren’t good people.” — Oliver
- Helena/Huntress (Jessica De Gouw) shoots an arrow into a vehicle.
- The Count (Seth Gabel) returns!
- Oh la la! Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and Thea (Willa Holland) kiss.
- Moira tells Frank (Chin Han) that Malcolm knows.
- “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect my family.” — Moira.
- Detective Lance (Paul Blackthorne) arrests Helena and interrogates her for the name of “The Hood.”
- Uh oh. Roy’s got a gun. Then, he’s seen with an arrowhead.
- “His name?” — Detective Lance
“Oliver Queen.” — Helena
Wow. Will Detective Lance believe Helena after he was proved “wrong” about Oliver previously?
In addition to the massive teasers from the trailer, the panel talked a lot about what to expect for the rest of the season.
Mystery Guest Star
Kreisberg teased, “There is an episode coming up with somebody who is one of the stars of a very popular genre show that you will all recognize and be happy that they’re on our show.”
He wouldn’t say any more, but that’s enough to get the mind reeling. Who could it be? My initial thought was someone from Fringe or perhaps someone else from Doctor Who. If you could pick, who would you want to see on the show?
Tommy Knows
On “Dead to Rights,” Tommy found out that Oliver is the vigilante and Amell pointed out that Tommy’s the first one that knew Oliver before the island to find out his secret and it will have severe consequences for their friendship.
“He saw me in the pilot kill three guys. And Tommy’s a good guy, he doesn’t want to have to reconcile that his friend would do that.” Amell continued, ” He could just roll over in bed and say [to Laurel], ‘Hey, Oliver is the vigilante’ and I don’t want that!”
Laurel as Black Canary
When Katie Cassidy was introduced to the stage, Geoff Johns called her “Black Canary to be.” And, Kreisburg confirmed that she will eventually become Black Canary, but there will be a realistic transition period.
After reminding the audience that it took Oliver five years to become Arrow, he said, “For Laurel, where she’s at right now, we don’t want to do disservice to Laurel or Oliver that she could have a bad day and put on fishnets and just start killing people.”
Oliver and the Dark Archer
When asked if Oliver would regret saving Malcolm’s life, Guggenheim answered, “Yeah.” Kreisberg followed that up by calling Malcolm an “Evil Bruce Wayne.”
“The villain has to have sympathy. Everyone’s the hero of their own story.” Kreisburg continued, “What’s interesting about Malcolm and Oliver is they both want the same thing in an odd way. They both want what’s best for the city, they both want to clean up the city.”
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on The CW.
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(Image courtesy of Kevin Parry for Paley Center for Media/ Video courtesy of WBTV.)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Contributing Editor and Writer for Collider, BuddyTV, TV Fanatic, CliqueClack, and other publications. TV criticism, reviews, interviews with actors and producers, and other related content. Founder of TV Diehard.
