The CW’s Arrow starring Stephen Amell is heading into its sixth season and during our roundtable interview at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, Amell talked about the upcoming season without revealing any spoilers. What he did have to say is that he’s working hard to make sure it’s just as good as season five, and that season six will find Oliver finally able to spend time with his son, William.
Season six will premiere on Thursday, October 12th at 9pm ET/PT after the season 13 premiere of Supernatural.
Oliver’s past has come full circle. What would you like to see him focus on for his future now that he’s not focusing on the past?
Stephen Amell: “I mean, it sounds like an easy answer but it’s character growth. You know what I mean? This first episode of season six was our 116th episode and I want to do new stuff with the character. Really, one of the only things that I can talk about for season six is that he has interactions with William. Him as a dad is something that I’ve never really been able to play, save for sparing moments in 523 and 408, maybe The Flash’s 208. So, I’m really, really excited I’m getting to play some new stuff with him.”
What’s driving him at this point? Is it revenge, protecting the city?
Stephen Amell: “It’s Star City. Always Star City. There’s a good speech in the pilot about how Star City is doing better. He says something pretty cool about how people are not only moving here, they’re staying here because they feel safe. So, from that standpoint, it’s been a couple of years since we put the city in dire straits. But, yes, Star City – making it better.”
What direction do you want to see Oliver go?
Stephen Amell: “It’s in the nooks and crannies. Like, we have a scene…god, I can’t spoil it. We do a scene where I’m talking to someone on the team and instead of barking a direction, I changed it so that I just look at them and they acknowledge what they have to do. It’s little things like that. It used to be I’d come back to the Arrow cave, I’d yell at people, I’d walk away. I try not to do that anymore because if we’re still doing that, then what is the point of season five? What was the point of season one, two, three, four and five? You’ve got to grow up along the way.”
There was a lot of growth for Oliver in season five. Do you think that was the most as far as learning how to work with others?
Stephen Amell: “Yeah, I think so. The whole idea of a team, there are people that he fully relies on now. And that’s really cool. I’m getting to have scenes with people on a peer level that I haven’t had before and that’s exciting because we have so many good actors on the show. This is the deepest bench that we’ve ever had on the show. It makes me really, really bullish about our ability to carry on.”
Do you expect to be doing more crossover episodes?
Stephen Amell: “I don’t know. I was in Nashville a couple of weeks ago and people were like, ‘Are you guys going to do a bigger crossover?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, yeah, probably.’ And people were like, ‘Stephen Amell declares bigger crossover.’ I don’t know.”
Is there a character you’d like to interact with?
Stephen Amell: “I’d love to go on Supergirl. My good buddy Shamus (Whiting-Hewlett) is the DP there now. Danielle (Fowler) who did my makeup for the first four years does Melissa (Benoist’s) makeup over on Supergirl now. I love going over and working with other people, but I don’t know what they’ve planned.”
Is season six a soft reboot?
Stephen Amell: “No. Every show has its ebbs and flows and I felt like by the time season four rolled around, we tried to be a bunch of different things as opposed to just being our show. And, I felt like season five was our show. So for season six, we can’t recapture the emotional gravity of season five. It’s impossible, right? There’s season one and there’s season five, and there’s whatever the last season is. That’s not to say season six can’t be better than season five. I’m working my ass off to make it just as good, if not better. But it won’t have the same emotional weight as season five.”
Watch the full Stephen Amell Arrow interview:
