Stephen Amell, the original leading man of the CW's popular Arrowverse franchise, has weighed in on his return to The Flash to help mark the end of the long-running series of interconnected shows he helped make a reality before hanging up his bow and hood.
Before The Flash, the Arrowverse kicked off in 2012 with Arrow, a small-screen superhero story based on the eponymous character from the pages of DC Comics that told the story of Oliver Queen, a billionaire who returns from a 5-year isolation period on a deserted island after a shipwreck. Oliver returns with a passion for improving his home of Star City through earnest efforts in the public eye and as the vigilante Green Arrow, complete with impressive physical conditioning and archery skills courtesy of his time fighting for survival. The series was massively successful and helped to kickstart and headline the CW's shared superhero universe, with many left at a loss as to what to call the Arrowverse franchise when Arrow ended in 2020.
Due in part to this role as the franchise starter and also the interconnected nature of the Arrowverse, it came as no surprise to fans when it was announced that Amell would return as Green Arrow for the final season of The Flash, the show which acted as the linchpin in the CW's multiversal strategy for Arrowverse storytelling and took over as headliner when Arrow came to an end. In a recent interview with Deadline, Amell discussed this return and his feelings about it, starting with how it happened. "Greg Berlanti called me up, and he and I had more of a general conversation,” Amell said, recalling his interaction with The Flash showrunner. “He basically said, ‘It’s the last season of The Flash, and you’re one of the people that was responsible for the show being there in the first place. So would you like to come back?’ And I said, ‘Greg, I can’t believe I’m actually gonna say this because it sounds so cliche, but it really depends on what the story is.’"
The story was certainly to his liking, as Amell's Green Arrow was one of the key returning characters in The Flash's final season, helping Barry as a fellow hero and as a friend who could bridge his start as the Flash with the end of the journey." [Green Arrow] met him at a really interesting point. He met him at the start of his journey. So I think that whenever the two of them talk… I think in Oliver's case, he enjoys the levity of Barry and I would think that in Barry's case, he just enjoys the mentorship of Oliver," Amell said. "So it’s nice. I always felt like the scenes between Grant and myself, there was just always this nice bit of levity. I don’t know if he always got to do something unique as Barry with Oliver, but I thought that Oliver always got to do something unique with Barry."
The Flash season 9, episode 9, was also a fitting last curtain for Amell. “All of it felt very, very oddly familiar. …On the crew side, they were very excited for me to come back because a lot of them were on Arrow," Amell said. "Danielle Panabaker directed the episode and was really excited….So overall, the experience was just, it was really lovely. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
The Flash season 9 airs on Wednesdays on The CW.
Source: Deadline