Stephen Amell Reflects on ARROW Season 5, Talks About This Year’s Crossover

Arrow starts its sixth season next week! After a stellar fifth season, fans can’t wait to see what happened after the show’s explosive finale. In an interview with TVLine, star Stephen Amell reflected on season five and said what he’s excited for season six. Details down below!

Regarding what made season five work better than the previous season, Amell said: I think that Season 5 began in earnest with a dinner that [Arrowverse executive producer] Greg Berlanti and I had just after the conclusion of Season 4. We’ve built out a really interesting universe on The CW, and I think that there are things that we [on Arrow] do better than everybody else. Supergirl has a bigger budget for VFX, I think, and it has aliens all the time, and The Flash is super power-laden, and Legends travels through time. We are best when we stay within the limits of Star City. Amell is talking about how Arrow is more street level than the other shows. He went on to say: Doing a show is like a relationship, right? You get in. It’s hot and heavy. Things are going great. You move in together. And then one partner turns to the other and says, “You know, you haven’t been to the gym in a bit….” That to me was us. If we’re going to do this show, let’s really do it. Let’s be morally ambiguous with the characters and make it more three-dimensional and put killing back on the table, let’s move away from trying to be like everyone else. Let’s focus on being Arrow.

After the beating Team Arrow went throughout season five, Amell was asked if the team has their confidence restored. There is with Oliver. I mean, I bristle at the notion that all of a sudden he’s, like, smiley and happy-go-lucky Amell replied. But I think that there’s a way to fill Oliver with a little more contentment without domesticating him in the way that we did a bit in Season 4. With a lot of the ways that he approaches things now, he just seems a lot more comfortable in his own skin.
You know, the most transformative moment in my eyes, for Oliver, was before everything happened. He had the opportunity to kill Chase and he simply says, “That’s who I was. That’s not who I am anymore.” And if the underlying issue really was blaming himself for his father’s death and he has forgiven himself, he has absolved himself of that, and that’s led to a lot of brighter days for me this year. It seems like Green Arrow will be somewhat closer to his comic book counterpart. Something fans have wanted to see for a while now.

Oliver has a son, and after the finale, it seems they’ll be spending a lot of time together. Amell talks about working with Jack Moore (William), and the fact that a child is now a major part of the show: First of all, I’d be a little more worried if [Oliver’s son] was like five or six, but we’re playing him as like a sixth or seven grader. Jack has been super equal to the task and it’s just been great. I remember when I read the [premiere] and it was just a bunch of Oliver calling William “Sport.” Like, “Hey, Sport!” And I got [co-showrunner] Wendy Mericle on the phone and she goes, “I know what you’re going to say. I know what you’re going to say. Oliver’s never going to call him Sport. You find what you’re comfortable calling him. It can be what you call your [own] kid, it can be ‘Buddy,’ it doesn’t matter.”

Immediately after that my first full day of work was a full day with Jack, and I was really taken with it — and, you take this with a grain of salt, apparently the studio and the network were really taken with it, too. So I think it’s a really interesting dynamic for Oliver to have to examine. Imagining Oliver as a parent is still pretty hard. How would you feel if your Dad was the mayor, but also a murdering vigilante? The relationship between Oliver and William is certainly fascinating.

Lastly, Amell gave us some details on this year’s crossover saying: The thing that I will tell you about the crossover is that for the very first time…. You know, when we first did them it was just Arrow and Flash, it was kind of simple. And even when we did them last year, it was like, “We’re doing an episode of Supergirl, and then an episode of Flash, and then an episode of Arrow, and then an episode of Legends.” This year it is a four-hour movie. The note that I got when I was speaking with one of our producers is, “When you tune in, aside from the opening graphic, stylistically, if you didn’t know what order the shows were in, you shouldn’t be able to tell.” Like, it’s just one through line.

That wasn’t even half of Amell’s interview. For entire conversation head over to TVLine. We can’t wait to see what happens next. This upcoming season has the potential to be the best one yet. Arrow returns next week on a new night! For more on Arrow and the rest DC shows, stay tuned.