Arrow

Series overview

The series follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen, who spent five years shipwrecked on the mysterious island Lian Yu, before returning home to Starling City.

In season one, Oliver returns to Starling City and is reunited with his family and friends, including Tommy Merlyn and Laurel Lance. By night, he acts as a vigilante, known as "The Hood", hunting down those listed in his father's notebook, with assistance from John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. A conspiracy known as "The Undertaking", led by Malcolm Merlyn, threatens the city. The season also features flashbacks to Oliver's first year on the island, and his struggle to survive, alongside both new allies, including Slade Wilson, and foes.

In season two, following the death of Tommy Merlyn, Oliver vows to no longer kill. Operating under a new alias, "The Arrow", he is tested when the city comes under attack from Slade. He also struggles to balance his vigilante activities alongside his role as CEO of Queen Consolidated. The season sees the return of Sara Lance, now also known as "The Canary", as well as the introduction of government agency A.R.G.U.S and its leader Amanda Waller. The flashbacks see Oliver face a new threat on Lian Yu, as well as revealing the origins of his feud with Slade.

In season three, following Sara's murder and the loss of his family's company to Ray Palmer, Oliver refuses to believe he can lead a normal life whilst continuing as The Arrow. He becomes embroiled in a conflict with Ra's al Ghul to protect his sister Thea. Felicity becomes vice-president of the now renamed Palmer Technologies and Laurel sets out to follow in Sara's footsteps, assuming the mantle of Black Canary. The season's flashbacks see Oliver escape Lian Yu, only to be forced to work with Waller in Hong Kong, attempting to stop the release of a lethal pathogen.

In season four, Oliver and Felicity are living in Ivy Town, but return to the renamed Star City, to fight terrorist group H.I.V.E., led by Damien Darhk. Oliver adopts the moniker "Green Arrow" whilst also running for mayor. The discovery of the existence of his son William, and his decision to conceal the truth, leads to the breakup of his relationship with Felicity. Laurel is killed by Darhk, and Oliver discovers his plan to detonate nuclear weapons. The season's flashbacks see Oliver returned to Lian Yu by Waller, where he attempts to infiltrate the criminal group Shadowspire.

Cast and characters

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Arrow / Green Arrow, a billionaire playboy turned hooded vigilante-hero who is initially known as the "Hood", "Vigilante", and simply "Arrow". He is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow. He survives on an isolated island for five years after the sinking of his father's yacht. Oliver returns to his home city with a mission—to right the wrongs of his father and save the city from the crime that has grown in his absence. Amell was one of the first actors to audition for the role, and Kreisberg felt that he "hit the target from the outset" and "everyone else just paled in comparison". In season six's finale, Oliver confesses he's the Green Arrow and is sent to prison where he's known as "Inmate 4587". The actor, who was already in shape from Rent-a-Goalie, did physical fitness training at Tempest Freerunning Academy in Reseda, California. Amell received archery training as well, which included watching a video on how archery has been displayed inaccurately or poorly in television and film before learning the basics of shooting a bow. For Amell, the appeal of portraying Queen was that he saw multiple roles tied to the same character: "There's Queen the casual playboy; Queen the wounded hero; Queen the brooding Hamlet; Queen the lover; Queen the man of action, and so on". Amell also portrays Dark Arrow (Oliver's Earth-X doppelganger) in the sixth season's crossover "Crisis on Earth-X".

Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance / Black Canary (seasons 1–4; guest: season 5–8) and Laurel Lance / Black Siren / Black Canary (seasons 6–8; recurring: season 5), based on the DC Comics character of the same name, an attorney turned vigilante and former girlfriend of Oliver Queen. Cassidy said she was drawn to the show by Berlanti, Nutter, Kreisberg, and Guggenheim, whom she called smart, creative, and edgy. She was the first primary character to be cast. Cassidy sees her character as a "caregiver" to her family, which led her to become an attorney. She said, "I think that she's very, very driven, and she has a huge heart ... she's sensitive. She has really strong morals and values, and she expects everybody to live up to them the way that she does". The Earth-1 version of the character dies near the end of season four, but Cassidy returned as a series regular from season six onward as the Earth-2 version of the character who first appeared in the spin-off show The Flash.

Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn (season 1; recurring: seasons 7–8; guest: seasons 2–3 and 6), Oliver's best friend, the son of Malcolm Merlyn and boyfriend to Laurel Lance. His character dies in season one's finale but Donnell reprises his role as hallucinations and flashbacks in subsequent seasons and also portrays his Earth-X doppelganger Prometheus and a posthumous impersonation by Human Target in season six. Donnell returns in the eighth and final season as Merlyn's Earth-2 doppelgänger and is brought back to life by Oliver when he restored the multiverse in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event.

Production

Development

The idea for a Green Arrow TV series was first discussed during the sixth season of Smallville, with talk of spinning off Justin Hartley's portrayal of the character into his own series. Hartley however refused to entertain the idea, feeling it was his duty to respect what Smallville had accomplished in five seasons, and not "steal the spotlight" because there was "talk" of a spin-off after his two appearances. According to Hartley, "talking" was as far as the spin-off idea ever got. A spin-off series in which Oliver led the Justice League made it into early development. The series was to have been helmed by Stephen S. DeKnight, who would later go on to be the showrunner for the first season of Marvel's Daredevil.

In January 2012, following Smallville's conclusion, The CW prepared a new series centered around the character Green Arrow. Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim were announced to be developing the series. A week later, the series was ordered to pilot with David Nutter signed to direct. Nutter also directed the pilot for Smallville, the aforementioned series following Clark Kent on his journey to become Superman. When developing the series, producer Marc Guggenheim expressed that the creative team wanted to "chart [their] own course, [their] own destiny", and avoid any direct connections to Smallville. Thus rather than continuing on with Hartley's incarnation of the character, they opted to cast a new actor in the role and establish the series as its own separate continuity. At the end of the same month, Stephen Amell was cast in the titular role of Oliver Queen.

The series does not initially feature super-powered heroes and villains. This decision was, in part, based on the executives' desire to take a realistic look at the characters in this universe. Production on the pilot began in March 2012 in Vancouver, which would continue to act as the primary filming location for the series. The series' skyline shots use a combination of footage from Frankfurt, Germany, Center City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Maryland, Back Bay, Boston, and Tokyo, Japan. The series was given a full season pick up on October 22, 2012.

For the first five seasons Arrow features two storylines: one in the present, and the other, shown in flashback, during Oliver's time on the island five years before his rescue. These flashbacks are used to illustrate how Oliver transformed into the man that returns to Starling City. Filming for the island flashbacks takes place in Vancouver's Whytecliff Park area, near beachfront homes. Much planning is required to keep the buildings out of camera frame. Guggenheim said, "Stephen [Amell] has to wear a wig, and his look has to be changed ... there's a lot. It's actually incredibly ambitious to do these flashbacks every week, every single episode. Because like Andrew [Kreisberg] said, it's almost like it's its own show." Regarding the flashbacks after the fifth season, Guggenheim and Mericle stated that the series would explore flashbacks from other character's perspectives, such as Curtis Holt, along with the possibility of flashforwards. Guggenheim said, "We still want to make [flashbacks] part of our storytelling, because we do like them. We like it when those non-island flashbacks sort of illuminate what's going on in the present day. That'll always be a part of the show and a part of the show's storytelling structure. It just won't be telling a serialized story."

Design

The realistic approach to the series included the costume design for Oliver's vigilante persona, created by Colleen Atwood. According to Amell, it was important for the suit to be functional, and the best way that he knew for that was if he could put the costume on by himself: "If I can put it on by myself, I think that people will buy it. And that was our idea. That's our world."

In the second half of season two, Oliver dons a domino mask, similar to one worn by the character in the comics. Kreisberg said of the mask, "It's actually a big plot point in an episode, and there really is a story behind, not only the need for the mask but also who provides him with it." On adding the mask now, Kreisberg stated that, "Conceptually, it was something we wanted to do because Oliver himself is [...] stepping out of the dark and being more of a symbol, so he has to take steps to conceal his identity more." He added that it will "allow the Arrow to interact with people who don't know his identity in a much more organic way than having him constantly keep his head down."

Costume designer Maya Mani put together roughly 50 mask options for the producers. Kreisberg said, "What's so wonderful about the design that Maya came up with is that it really is very simple, and it feels as if it's been part of his costume since the beginning ... once we finally had this mask and put it on Stephen [Amell], even Stephen was like, 'This is the right one.'" In the episode "Three Ghosts", Oliver receives the mask from Barry Allen, who is able to create a mask that will help conceal his identity, while still being functional and allowing Oliver to see clearly.

Music

To compose the score for Arrow, executive producer Greg Berlanti invited Blake Neely, with whom he had first worked on Everwood. Neely created a score that combined electronic and orchestral cues, varying between action themes and romantic ones. Berlanti told Neely the series would be dark, and the music should be as well. After reading the pilot script, Neely went away to start composing on his own. According to Neely, "Of course, Oliver has his main theme but also sub-themes for the many layers of his character. He and Laurel have a love theme. Mom had a theme for the Undertaking. The bad guys all have themes, which makes it sad for me when one of them dies. So I try not to become attached to bad-guy themes. Diggle has a theme. Even the Island itself has a theme." A soundtrack for season one was released on September 17, 2013, by WaterTower Music. Two versions of a soundtrack for season two were released on September 16, 2014, by WaterTower Music and La-La Land Records; the compact disc release includes two exclusive tracks not available on the digital release. On December 18, 2014, WaterTower Music and La La Records released a selection of music from The Flash / Arrow crossover episodes, as well as two bonus tracks from their respective 2014 midseason finales. The Season 3 soundtrack was released in December 2015, consisting of 2 discs for the first time (previous albums consisted of one CD).

Release

Broadcast

Arrow premiered on The CW network from October 10, 2012, during the 2012–13 television season. In Canada, the show is broadcast simultaneously on the same day as the United States. The show premiered outside North America throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, on October 22, 2012. In Australia, the series premiered on May 1, 2013, on the Nine Network, before moving to Foxtel for Season 4.

Home media

Each season release contains additional features, which include: making-of featurettes, episode commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reels, Comic-Con panels, and highlights from the Paley Fest. Starting with season four and continuing through each subsequent season, the boxsets included the crossover episodes from other connected series, as well as commentary on those episodes.

Reception

Critical response

The first season received favorable reviews, with a Metacritic score of 73 out of 100, based on reviews from 25 critics, making it the highest rated CW show in five years. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes calculated an approval rating of 85%, based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 7.47/10. The site's consensus reads, "The CW nails the target with Arrow, a comic book-inspired series that benefits from cinematic action sequences, strong plotting, and intriguing characters." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times called the series an interesting setup with a quality look, describing Amell as "a poster boy (no doubt literally) for the Katniss Everdeen set." Brian Lowry at Variety described the series as a "handsome but stiff surrogate for Batman that could benefit from sharper execution." In reviewing the final episode of season one, Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club gave the season as a whole a rating of B+, noting that the show "hasn't quite figured everything out yet, but it's had some standout episodes."

The second season received acclaim from critics for the action sequences, storytelling, performances of the cast, drama, and the portrayal of Slade Wilson. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 8.15/10. The site's consensus reads, "The second season of Arrow boasts more fantastic action, as well as a widening cast of intriguing, richly written characters." Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the first half of season two a rating of B+, saying, "Arrow possesses an intelligence that shines through its TV-budget production values, which aren't too shabby. The writing is adult and witty, the action is exciting, and Amell holds the center with well-cultivated ease." The A.V. Club's Carrie Raisler gave the first half of season two a rating of A−. She said, "Arrow [has] officially established itself as one of the most satisfying shows on television. The most satisfying thing of all is that it did so by respecting its characters ... [Arrow respects] the character's comic-book roots in its overarching plotlines, all while using the network-appropriate soap-opera stories to do the heavy character lifting."

Despite receiving positive responses for the season three premiere, the second half of the season was met with criticism. The flashback sequences were characterized as sporadic and "superfluous", with Ra's al Ghul described as a "shallow" and "underutilized" villain "absent of clear antagonism", although Matt Nable was generally praised for his portrayal of the character. Furthermore, while parallels to Batman had always existed in the show, the use of such a major character from Batman's rogues gallery and the essential application of the "Daughter of the Demon" and several other Batman and Ra's al Ghul storylines applied to Queen came under particular fire from viewers, who accused the show of "ripping off" Batman. The season finale was described as "dull", "lacking scope", and "underwhelming" by IGN's Jesse Schedeen in light of the "high standard" the show had previously established for its finales. He cemented the mixed reception of season three as being "haphazardly paced" and "struggling to develop a clear sense of direction". The third season holds a score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 8.37/10. The site's consensus reads, "Arrow stays on target with new characters and a steady supply of exciting action."

Ratings

In the United States, Arrow's premiere episode drew 4.14 million viewers, making it The CW's most-watched telecast of any show on any night in three years, and The CW's most-watched series premiere since The Vampire Diaries in 2009. In its second episode, Arrow became the only new network drama in the 2012–13 season to hold its ratings in both adults 18–34 and adults 18–49 from its premiere to its second week. In Australia, the premiere received 1.32 million viewers, making it the third most-watched broadcast on the network that night. The UK broadcast was the highest-rated telecast of the week on Sky 1, with 1.85 million viewers. In Canada, the first episode got 1.32 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched airing of the night and the twenty-third of the week.

Other media

Arrow has generated other media and spin-offs, including digital comic books and Internet-based mini-episodes with characters from the series.

Digital comics

To promote the series, DC Comics produced a 10-page preview comic for the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, written by Kreisberg, illustrated by Omar Francia, and featuring a cover by artist Mike Grell. The comic was regarded by the production crew as sharing the same canon as the series, with Kreisberg commenting, "[For] anyone who grabs a copy: Hold onto it and as the series progresses, you'll appreciate it more and more." It was later released free online. On October 10, 2012, DC Comics debuted a weekly digital comic tie-in written by Kreisberg and Guggenheim and drawn by various artists, including Mike Grell, which remained in continuity with the television series. The comics were to be released initially as digital chapters, and then later be collated to produce monthly print issues. The series lasted for 36 chapters, running until June 2013. These were collected, together with the initial preview comic, in two volumes with the first released digitally in October 2013 and the second in both print and digital formats in May 2014. Titan Magazines published the comics in a physical format in the UK. The first issue was published on October 17, 2013, and contained the first four chapters of the series, with the complete series lasting six issues.

A follow-up to the original digital title, Arrow: Season 2.5, is written by Guggenheim and Keto Shimizu, one of the show's executive story editors and writers, with art by Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson. Arrow 2.5 is intended to tell one continuous story across two arcs, that fits within the television narrative. Guggenheim stated, "We've tried to put in all the elements that people like about the show ... We're going to see what's happened to Detective Lance after he collapsed in the season [two] finale. A good chunk of the burning questions left over will get answered in the tie-in comic. Particularly towards the latter half of the series, we're going to start introducing characters [in the comic] who you'll see in Season 3 ... before they show up on TV." On the comic's relationship to season three of the show, Guggenheim said, "Season three is designed to stand on its own feet without requiring anyone to do any outside reading. But what the comic book will give is a deeper appreciation for some of the moments [in the show] and a more complete narrative experience. If you want to go deeper into the story, that's what Season 2.5 is for." Shimizu added that the comic also allows the writers to "accomplish things on the page that are nearly impossible to do with our production schedule and our budget", including bigger action sequences, as well as visits to locations that cannot be recreated on the show. The character Caleb Green, who has ties to Robert Queen, was created specifically for the comic. Guggenheim said "The goal is to end Season 2.5 basically five minutes before Season 3 begins." The comic launched digitally biweekly on September 1, 2014, with its first physical release featuring a collection of the digital releases releasing on October 8. The series featured 24 digital issues, which constituted 12 physical issues.

Blood Rush

On November 6, 2013, a six-episode series of shorts, titled Blood Rush, premiered alongside the broadcast of the show, as well as online. The series, which features product placement for products of its sponsor, Bose, was shot on location in Vancouver, similar to the main show. The miniseries features Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes and Paul Blackthorne reprising their roles of Felicity Smoak, Roy Harper and Quentin Lance, respectively.

The episodes set during the course of the second season of the television series, show Roy coming to Queen Consolidated to have a meeting with Oliver. As he is out, Felicity tells Roy to go wait in the lobby. As Roy leaves, Officer Lance calls Felicity, telling her that the blood sample the Starling City police found on the vigilante, which Felicity destroyed, has resurfaced. Felicity then calls Roy, using Oliver's voice encoder, asking him to break into the lab to retrieve the sample. Felicity guides Roy through the lab, where he is able to recover the sample. As Roy is leaving, doctors enter the room, seemingly trapping him. He notifies Felicity, who then hacks into the building's PA system, and issues an evacuation notice, giving Roy a chance to escape. Roy gets out of the room before it enters into lock down, and is able to avoid two guards with the help of Felicity and exit the lab. Roy returns to Queen Consolidated, and Felicity offers to mail the acquired sample for Roy as he goes in to meet with Oliver.

Video games

A Green Arrow skin based on Oliver Queen's appearance in Arrow appears in the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us as downloadable content. The playable skin was given as a bonus reward to the first 5,000 voters of Injustice's promotional Battle Arena competition, but was later released as a free download. Stephen Amell lends his voice and likeness to the skin.

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham features an Arrow downloadable content pack that adds multiple playable characters, including Arrow, John Diggle, Felicity Smoak, Huntress, Slade Wilson, Roy Harper, Canary, and Malcolm Merlyn as well as vehicles and an exclusive level set during Oliver's time in Lian Yu. Amell reprised his role in addition to voicing the traditional Green Arrow in the game, while Cynthia Addai-Robinson reprised her role as Amanda Waller.

The video game Lego DC Super-Villains features DLC inspired by Arrow in the "DC Super Heroes: TV Series DLC Character Pack". The DLC pack includes The Atom, Green Arrow, and Mister Terrific as playable characters.

Novels

On February 23, 2016, Titan Books released Arrow: Vengeance, a tie-in novelization written by Oscar Balderrama and Lauren Certo, which is set before and during the second season, detailing the origins of Slade Wilson, Sebastian Blood, and Isabel Rochev, and how they eventually meet and collaborate with each other to battle Oliver's alter-ego as seen in the television series. On November 29, 2016, Titan Books released The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen, a tie-in novelization written by Susan and Clay Griffith, set during the second season of The Flash and the fourth season of Arrow, which features characters from both shows; the story continued in Arrow: A Generation of Vipers, released on March 28, 2017, again written by the Griffiths.

In August 2017, it was confirmed that Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim would co-author a fourth novel, alongside James R. Tuck, entitled Arrow: Fatal Legacies, which was released in January 2018. The novel focuses on events between the fifth-season finale and sixth-season premiere.

Guidebooks

The first guidebook to be released was Arrow: Heroes and Villains by Nick Aires and published by Titan Books, released in February 2015. Described as "a companion" to the series, the book features sections on the various characters of the series, along with descriptions, backgrounds, comic book origins, and "where they stand as of the end of the second season of Arrow".

A follow-up to Heroes and Villains by the same author and publisher, titled Arrow: Oliver Queen's Dossier, was released in October 2016, during the series' fifth season. The book is presented as information collected by the Green Arrow and Felicity Smoak over the course of his four years of activity. Included in the book are "handwritten notes" and "police reports" regarding the Green Arrow and those he targets.

Arrowverse

Spin-offs

In July 2013, it was announced that Berlanti and Kreisberg, along with Nutter and Geoff Johns, would be creating a television series, The Flash, based on the character of the same name, with an origin story for Barry Allen. The character, portrayed by Grant Gustin, was set to appear in three episodes of season two of Arrow, with the final one acting as a backdoor pilot for the new series. However, it was announced in November 2013 that the backdoor pilot would not be happening, with a traditional pilot being made instead. In January 2015, The CW president Mark Pedowitz announced the intention to do a Flash and Arrow crossover every season, and The CW announced that an animated web-series, Vixen, featuring the DC heroine of the same name and set in the universe of Arrow and The Flash, would be debuting on CW Seed in late 2015. The character later made a live-action appearance on Arrow in the fourth-season episode "Taken". The next month, it was reported that a spin-off series, which is described as a superhero team-up show, was in discussion by The CW for a possible 2015–16 midseason release. Berlanti and Kreisberg would executive produce alongside Guggenheim and Sarah Schechter. The potential series would be headlined by several recurring characters from both Arrow and The Flash, with the potential for other Arrow/Flash characters to cross over to the new series as well. In May 2015, The CW officially picked up the series, titled Legends of Tomorrow. A series titled Justice U that would star Ramsey was announced to be in development on January 13, 2022, however, it was passed on in May 2023.

Several characters from previous seasons returned in "Invasion!", a crossover episode with The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow (and features Kara Danvers / Supergirl from Supergirl) which also doubles as the 100th episode of Arrow, where Thea, Diggle, Sara, Ray and Oliver are abducted by the Dominators and were put in dream stasis to gather intel, while they are shown what their lives would have been had Oliver never gotten on the Queen's Gambit. Further crossovers occurred with "Crisis on Earth-X" in 2017, "Elseworlds" in 2018, and "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in late 2019 and early 2020.

Constantine

In August 2015, it was confirmed that Matt Ryan would appear in the fourth-season episode "Haunted", reprising his role as John Constantine from the short-lived NBC series Constantine per a "one-time-only-deal" that would involve his character being "brought in to deal with the fallout of the resurrection of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) via Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pit." Due to Arrow and Constantine sharing the same studio, the producers of Arrow were also able to acquire Ryan's original outfits. John Badham, who was a director on Constantine, directed the crossover episode. On filming the episode, Guggenheim stated it felt like the production team was "doing a Constantine/Arrow crossover, and it's so exciting ... we're just really glad we got the chance to extend Matt Ryan's run as Constantine by at least one more hour of television. I think you'll see he fits very neatly into our universe. It never feels forced, it feels right." Ryan would later reprise his role as Constantine in Legends of Tomorrow, beginning with its third season as a recurring cast member before being promoted to series regular status for the fourth season.

Green Arrow and the Canaries

In August 2019, it was reported that another untitled spin-off was in development. The next month, The CW announced it was developing a female-led spin-off series, with Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy, and Juliana Harkavy as the leads, reprising their roles from Arrow. An episode of Arrow's final season would serve as a backdoor pilot for the potential series. Filming for the backdoor pilot began on October 21, 2019, with its title, along with the series, being named Green Arrow and the Canaries.

In May 2020, after the series was revealed not to have been picked up for the early part of The CW's 2020–21 television season, CW president Mark Pedowitz said the series was "very much alive" and remained under consideration. In June, Guggenheim said that, should the series not be picked up, he would potentially resolve the cliffhangers introduced in the backdoor pilot in a comic book. In January 2021, The CW officially passed on the spin-off; Guggenheim said this decision was made at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Guggenheim feeling the pandemic was the "deciding factor" in not moving forward with the series. Having the series move to HBO Max was also reportedly "thoroughly explored", which was another contributing factor to the length of time it took to officially announce its cancellation.