The CW’s Arrow season six ended with Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) confessing he’s the Green Arrow. Season seven will pick up five months following the events of the season six finale, with Oliver locked up in the Slabside Maximum Security Prison. So, where does that leave the rest of Team Arrow? At the San Diego Comic Con, Rick Gonzalez did his very best to steer clear from season seven spoilers while discussing what’s in store for Arrow.
During our interview, Gonzalez talked about the team, season seven’s theme, and Rene’s journey in the upcoming season of the comic book-inspired series.
Arrow season seven premieres on October 15, 2018 at 8pm ET/PT.
What kind of headspace do we find Rene in at the beginning of the season?
Rick Gonzalez: “So, realistically because Oliver’s in prison he’s given us a directive to keep on fighting. We are all going to interpret that in our own way. I kind of want to leave that for you guys to see. That’s going to be the interesting part, like, ‘Oh I didn’t see that coming. I didn’t see him interpreting it that way.’ So, for me it’s important that we leave some things open, not teased, so you can genuinely have something to look forward to.
This season’s about redemption. Rene’s journey is going to be a story about trying to understand the choices he made becoming Wild Dog and why he made those choices. Being a dad. And, also having Oliver in prison what does that mean in terms of him continuing to fight back.
We still have Diaz still out there. We’ve never done that on the show before. We’ve never had a villain survive. So, there’s a lot of pieces in place that we left in six that still need to be resolved. So, that’s going to be the interesting part.
What I love about the show is the idea that we can not kill off a villain, that we can outlaw being a vigilante in Star City. So now the journey and the navigating as actors for the characters is going to be interesting to play and see play out.”
After the two teams were up against each other last season, what can you say about the team dynamics this season?
Rick Gonzalez: “I think that also lends itself to we did a lot of healing at the end of last year. We came together as a team and understood, ‘I’m sorry because I did this. I own it. I apologize.’ I think the team definitely grew. I mean, you have to have growth there, just people learning and growing with each other and respecting what they do. So, that won’t disappear.
I think that energy will permeate within the scenes when you see us next season. But it will also make it more interesting and complex to see characters make decisions that may feel like, ‘Wait, I thought we were good?’ Which is what makes the show awesome.”
His daughter knows what he does and has known for a while. How does that relationship play out this season?
Rick Gonzalez: “Interesting. I don’t know. I think William was okay with it, I think Oliver wasn’t in terms of revealing that world. William was like, ‘I’m fine knowing that.’ I think Zoe kind of proved that last season. Like, ‘Yeah, I know what you do.’
I think it’s interesting because kids are always like, ‘It’s not a big deal, dad.’ You know, like, ‘Okay, you like to play baseball. Cool. I don’t care.’ So is this that kind of thing of like Zoe is super smart, super mature, so I would imagine that she’d be totally fine with that idea. So, we’ll see how that plays out.”
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