Arrow: Season 5 is going to be exploring the theme of legacy and what happens when the past comes back to haunt you. For Oliver Queen, that means wanting to have a solid team of heroes ready to protect Star City, especially now that he’s mayor and Team Arrow as we know it has disbanded.

“[Season 5] deals with legacy, it deals with the past, and the dramatic irony, the dramatic tension, that we get from it is Oliver’s always been a guy — admittedly, not the most self aware dude ever — but he’s always been someone who is trying to move forward. He’s always trying to evolve,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim told IGN. “The challenge for Oliver this year is how do you evolve and move forward when the past keeps grabbing at you, trying to pull you back.”

Part of that is going to be striking a balance between his former team members and the new heroes who will be joining Team Arrow. Below, Guggenheim and executive producer Wendy Mericle offer teases of what to expect for Arrow’s main characters.

Oliver Queen

Oliver Queen understands that he can’t protect Star City on his own, and in Season 5 he’s assembling a new Team Arrow to work alongside him. He, Felicity and Curtis will bring on newcomers like Evelyn Sharp and Wild Dog, who will then face off against an array of villains popping up in the wake of Damien Darhk’s death.

“He’s going to have a team, so we have talked about having a team of villains, and how would Oliver get his new guys who are really rough around the edges — totally wet around the ears, not ready for this — how does he get them ready to take on really trained [enemies]?” said Mericle. “He’s very cognizant of the fact that Laurel died in this line of work and he doesn’t want that for them.”

Guggenheim promised an Oliver who is “trying to be an optimistic” and “trying to be bright” — though of course “circumstances just keep trying to pull him back into the darkness.”

Read full article on IGN!

IGN TV: We’ve got two big shows to talk about, but let me start off with Arrow. Damien Darhk has certainly found a way to cross a new line, going after William. Suffice to say Oliver is going to be pretty pissed off about this situation?

Stephen Amell: Yeah, it’s kind of an unprecedented pissed off for Oliver, because he’s never had to deal with this before. There are instincts that exist as a brother, as a son, as a boyfriend/finance/lover, as a best friend, but those instincts pale in comparison to the instincts of a father, and that’s a dangerous spot for Oliver. If he’s not making sound decisions against an opponent like Damien Darhk, then he’s going to be in big trouble.

IGN: Of course, in the middle of this, this is all news to not just Felicity but a lot of people except for Thea right now, but is there even time to deal with the “I have a son” of it all given the fact that this boy’s life is in danger?

Amell: No, there’s not. Felicity finds out, and then there’s a quick moment where everyone on the team that doesn’t know about it finds out. So there’s the fact that I kept a secret from Felicity. There’s also the consideration of Laurel doing the math and figuring out who William is, who his mother is and when he was conceived, which is also something that we have to touch on in the episode.

IGN: Yeah, that’s a dicey situation. [Laughs]

Amell: It is a dicey situation! But that all has to wait, and I was actually very happy — because it would have been easy to get stuck in the melodrama of that situation when, realistically, there’s a mother [Samanatha] who’s lost her child, a father who’s lost his son and an understandably worried mother. So we compartmentalize all of that stuff in pursuit of William.

IGN: They set up Oliver having a son a couple years ago on the show, and it was always kind of there in the background. Do you like that now’s the time that you guys are really delving into what it means that Oliver has a son?

Amell: Yeah, I have to say, just from a personal standpoint, I think that this is probably my favorite storyline, for a variety of reasons. The fact that we introduced it in Season 2, I was actually part of the pitch for touching on it again in Season 3, and then the fact that we got into it this year with a little bit more depth — just the fact that we’ve been able to tell a story over the course of three years is not something that a lot of television shows are able to say. So many things have to go right for you to be able to tease and tell a story over the course of three years. It’s very rare. I’m very proud of it, and I think everyone involved has done a good job. It’s not that it ends this week, but it’s a very definitive chapter in the story.

IGN: And then of course in the midst of this, this episode is also introducing Vixen into the show and into live-action. How does she come into this story?

Amell: Megalyn did a fantastic job. She was such a pleasure to have on set, to work with. She had obviously voiced the character, but she dropped right into the action of it. She’s just a totally kick-ass, badass, interesting character that I hope we get to see again, certainly somewhere within this DC universe, whether she gets her own show or comes back and plays with us for a little bit.

You know, every time that Team Arrow goes up against Damien Darhk, he’s just summarily defeated them quickly and efficiently and without a ton of effort. So Oliver, once he finds out that Darhk has William, he’s just going to go back at Darhk in the same way that he’s been going all season, and it’s actually the team, Felicity in particular, that talks him out of his thing. Basically, “This is the definition of insanity. You’re just doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” which prompts Oliver to think outside the box and track down Vixen.

continue reading