The producers and cast of The CW’s Arrow held court at PaleyFest 2013 on Saturday night to reflect on the freshman hit’s recent reveals as well as tease what’s to come in the final third of the season.
For starters, Tommy now knowing his BFF’s vigiliante secret “changes everything,” series lead Stephen Amell told moderator/DC Comics god Geoff Johns. “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.” Plus, having Tommy in the know creates too thin of a “buffer” between Ollie’s worlds. “[Tommy] could just roll over in bed and say [to Laurel], ‘Oliver is the vigilante’ — and I don’t want that!”
As for the bombshell Dinah Lance dropped on daughter Laurel’s literal doorstep — that Sara is alive — executive producer Greg Berlanti’s intention was to start paying off notions set up in the pilot, and the sooner the better. “If we hadn’t planted [that] flag in the ground now, by the time you do, the audience wants to pay attention to other storylines.”
And Laurel’s reaction? “As if she didn’t have it hard enough!” Katie Cassidy joked. But seriously, following the initial shock, “She kind of gets sucked in by her mother a bit…. Her mother also has a lot more information than you necessarily think.”
Other topics touched on during the PaleyFest Q&A:
MOIRA VS. MALCOLM | Oliver’s mother, said Susanna Thompson, “is once again between a rock and a hard place,” charged by Malcolm to track down the person who ordered the hit on him — aka her! “Shes making another deal with this particular devil,” all of which she does “for her family.” Shedding a sliver of light on the elder Merlyn’s motivations, EP Andrew Kreisberg said, “In a way, Malcolm is ‘evil Bruce Wayne.’ We talk about that moment in Batman Begins when Bruce goes through the training with Ra’s Al Ghul, and then is told to execute a criminal. In the movie, Bruce doesn’t do it; in our minds, Malcolm did.” Coming up, “You find out a lot more about Malcolm and what’s driving him, and about the very scary-sounding Undertaking.”
WHEN WILL THE CANARY SING? | Noting that it took Oliver five years to turn himself from bad boy billionaire into a killing machine, Guggenheim stressed that Laurel’s corresponding conversion to Black Canary “has to be earned, it has to be real.” (Same goes for Roy Harper/Speedy.) “The inciting incidents have to have dramatic reality to them,” he stressed. “We don’t want to disservice Laurel or Oliver by saying she could have a bad day, put on fishnets and start killing people.”
LOVIN’ DEATHSTROKE | The producers love visiting the island via flashback and hope to have Slade Wilson back as much as Manu Bennett’s schedule permits. But in addition to he and Oliver as a dingy, dynamic duo, “an unexpected third element” will soon be injected into their existence.
Source: Full Article @ TVLine
For starters, Tommy now knowing his BFF’s vigiliante secret “changes everything,” series lead Stephen Amell told moderator/DC Comics god Geoff Johns. “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.” Plus, having Tommy in the know creates too thin of a “buffer” between Ollie’s worlds. “[Tommy] could just roll over in bed and say [to Laurel], ‘Oliver is the vigilante’ — and I don’t want that!”
As for the bombshell Dinah Lance dropped on daughter Laurel’s literal doorstep — that Sara is alive — executive producer Greg Berlanti’s intention was to start paying off notions set up in the pilot, and the sooner the better. “If we hadn’t planted [that] flag in the ground now, by the time you do, the audience wants to pay attention to other storylines.”
And Laurel’s reaction? “As if she didn’t have it hard enough!” Katie Cassidy joked. But seriously, following the initial shock, “She kind of gets sucked in by her mother a bit…. Her mother also has a lot more information than you necessarily think.”
Other topics touched on during the PaleyFest Q&A:
MOIRA VS. MALCOLM | Oliver’s mother, said Susanna Thompson, “is once again between a rock and a hard place,” charged by Malcolm to track down the person who ordered the hit on him — aka her! “Shes making another deal with this particular devil,” all of which she does “for her family.” Shedding a sliver of light on the elder Merlyn’s motivations, EP Andrew Kreisberg said, “In a way, Malcolm is ‘evil Bruce Wayne.’ We talk about that moment in Batman Begins when Bruce goes through the training with Ra’s Al Ghul, and then is told to execute a criminal. In the movie, Bruce doesn’t do it; in our minds, Malcolm did.” Coming up, “You find out a lot more about Malcolm and what’s driving him, and about the very scary-sounding Undertaking.”
WHEN WILL THE CANARY SING? | Noting that it took Oliver five years to turn himself from bad boy billionaire into a killing machine, Guggenheim stressed that Laurel’s corresponding conversion to Black Canary “has to be earned, it has to be real.” (Same goes for Roy Harper/Speedy.) “The inciting incidents have to have dramatic reality to them,” he stressed. “We don’t want to disservice Laurel or Oliver by saying she could have a bad day, put on fishnets and start killing people.”
LOVIN’ DEATHSTROKE | The producers love visiting the island via flashback and hope to have Slade Wilson back as much as Manu Bennett’s schedule permits. But in addition to he and Oliver as a dingy, dynamic duo, “an unexpected third element” will soon be injected into their existence.
Source: Full Article @ TVLine
There are more articles in Deadline and HR, good stuff. I wonder who is the guest star they are teasing of.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they're addressing that Laurel will become Black Canary.
ReplyDeleteUnless Slade loses his eyes, I'm guessing Wintergreen kills him and becomes the one Deathstroke in the show.
ReplyDeleteMe too but they also said it would happen in the long run - not soon.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is this third element is Yao Fei, Slade turns on Oliver and kills Fei after Fei teaches Oliver how to shoot. Oliver puts an arrow in Slade's eye, like Slade stabbed Wintergreen's eye, and thinks he's dead - only for him to resurface in Starling City as Deathstroke.
ReplyDeleteCall it my comic book instincts.
Well I was going with the same comic book instincts, since Slade stabbed Wintergreen in the eye
ReplyDeleteThe third element is Shado that would soon join them according to the recent TVguide spoilers
ReplyDeleteUnless I remember incorrected, isn't Wintergreen dead?
ReplyDeleteDead as Deadshot was? He could still be alive in this show
ReplyDeleteAnd he only was stabbed in the eye, which is the same wound Deadshot survived if I'm not mistaken
ReplyDeleteYeah, I just saw that.
ReplyDeleteAnother article touched on the topic of Roy and his slow methodical road to vigilantism similar to Laurel's. I honestly wish they'd drop the idea of Roy altogether and focus on improving the other Speedy (Thea) instead. She could be great on this show if they'd just give her better character arcs and better material.
ReplyDeleteJust re-watching the first episode, and Oliver just called Thea 'Speedy'....
ReplyDelete