The CW scored a ratings hit last year with Arrow, its Christopher Nolan-inspired take on DC Comics’ Green Arrow, and as the cast and crew gear up to go into production on season two, executive producer Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern) has been reflecting on a hugely successful first season, as well as offering some hints about Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) journey from hooded vigilante to fully-fledged hero.
“This was always sort of the trajectory we planned,” Guggenheim tells Comic Book Resources. “This has always been the first two years of Batman Begins. In fact, last year, around October, right before the show premiered, we had a meeting with the head of the studio and we basically said, it’s about going from being the Hood to the Arrow to Green Arrow. We knew all along that it would take us two years to do that. The thing that makes me worried is, the show works well because it has darkness to it. It’s not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows in Season 2, I don’t want people to get the wrong impression that the show is going to abruptly change, tonally. It’s actually consistent in its tone even though Oliver has a more ‘Aspirational’ mission.”
Arrow is set to return to The CW in October, with cast members Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Susanna Thompson and Paul Blackthorne joined by new series regulars Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes and Manu Bennett. It’s also been said on several occasions that season two will see an increase in familiar faces from the DC Universe although Guggenheim has confirmed that characters belonging to Batman and Superman are off limits for the time being.
Originally published July 4, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
